Limoncello Layer Cake with Trader Joe’s Lemon curd and Homemade Lemon Butter cream icing

Lemon Doberge is a staple of the south, it’s thin layers slathered with deliciously sweet/tart lemony fill and topped with a pour-on icing is one of my mum’s favorite desserts. A few years ago, I couldn’t get her the prized gem she so wanted for Mother’s Day due to Covid lockdowns, so I decided to bake something for her myself. I wanted a new spin on her old favorite and I totally nailed it with this Limoncello Layer Cake topped with a lemon buttercream icing and a lemon buttercream and lemon curd filling. Most of my ingredients came from Trader Joes.

Okay, I admit, I cheated this. I used Betty Crocker golden yellow cake mix as my dry base. I added 4 eggs, substituted whole milk for the water, substituted salted butter (softened), and added about 1.5 tbsp of vanilla extract and 4 tbsp of Trader Joe’s Limoncello liqueur. Then, I created a delicious buttercream with powdered sugar, heavy whipping cream, butter, and lemon curd. Is your mouth watering? Here’s whatcha need when you’re making groceries:

For the cake:
Betty Crocker Golden Cake Mix
1 cup of Whole Milk (don’t skimp with skim milk, the fat content is a big deal)
1 cup of Trader Joes softened salted butter (yes, it has to be salted, it makes a difference)
4 large eggs (yes large, yes it matters)
4 Tbsp of Trader Joe’s Limoncello
1.5 tbsp of Vanilla extract

For the icing

1 cup of salted butter (you can use unsalted if that’s all you have), SOFTENED
3 cups of Domino powdered sugar (confectioners sugar)
1 tbsp of Limoncello
2 tbsp of vanilla extract
1/4 cup to 1/2 cup of Trader Joe’s Lemon Curd
2 tbsp of Trader Joe’s heavy whipping cream (it’s shelf stable until you open it)

Optional: A block of white chocolate (ribbon it using a carrot peeler or scraper)

Okay, here’s what you do:
For the cake:

1. Dump your dry mix in a bowl or use your favorite recipe if you have the extra time
2. Break your eggs and blend them well, make sure those yolks are nice and broken and place them in another bowl (this will hold all of your wet ingredients)
3. Add your Limoncello and vanilla to your eggs
4. Stir in your softened butter and blend well
5. Add all of your wet ingredients to your dry mix
6. Mix as directed
7. Cover your cake pans in parchment (not wax paper! That’s not the same thing) or line your cupcake pans with papers. If you’re using coated cake pans, spray the bottom, cut your parchment paper to fit the bottom and cut a nice strip on the side that sticks out. This will help you get the cake out easily (see picture below instructions)
8. Now place your cakes in a pan with a little bit of water in the bottom. This allows the cake to eat evenly and will make your cake rise so much nicer. pop it in the oven on 280 (just below 300) and keep an eye on it. This is going to be a slower bake but it’ll rise much nicer and more evenly. When your cake is done, it’ll actually pull away from the sides.
9. When the house starts smelling divine, it’s time to check with a toothpick, you want a nice golden color on top and the toothpick should be poked in the center in a few places and come out clean. You’ll notice your cake has pulled away from the edges. As soon as it does, take the pans out, remove them from the water bath, place on a the stove top grates or a cooling tray.
10. Let it cool completely
11. Wrap your cakes in parchment or wax paper, then wrap that in foil or saran and put that in a freezer bag. Place in the freezer until frozen.
12. Make a crumb coat of regular buttercream (or you can use a container of icing for this). Remember, a crumb coat is a very thin layer of icing so that your real icing will go on flawlessly. I mixed up a quick small batch of regular buttercream

Cutting your parchment with a little “handle” will make getting the cake out a million times easier. Spray the bottom of the pan with pam and put this on top (it helps hold it)

Now let’s make the icing

1. You want your butter to be room temperature to slightly soft. You can achieve this by letting it sit out or you can put it in the microwave for 30 second increments on powerlevel 1-2 until it is slightly softened.
2. Now put it in a bowl and using a mixer, beat the butter until fluffy
3. Start adding your powdered sugar about a cup at a time and incorporate before adding more
4. Once all of your sugar is incorporated, add the 2 tbsp of Heavy Whipping Cream, vanilla, lemon curd and your Limoncello (no one will blame you if you pour yourself a bit- baking is always better when you sample your ingredients, right?) and blend all of that until fluffy. If you’re doing food coloring, you can add that here too (no one says you have to make it yellow, I made the one for my mum’s blue!)
5. Now take your cake layers out of the freezer (already crumb coated) and spread a thin layer of lemon buttercream to the first layer, then slather on the lemon curd. This is your filling so place it as thick as you want. Place another layer on top and repeat. If you have multiple layers, keep going. Then top with your Lemon Buttercream icing as you would a regular cake, vanilla buttercream is a delicious compliment for decorating or you can check out my white chocolate buttercream icing which gives it a thicker, more set icing rather than a fluffy and soft one.

Optional: Press the ribboned white chocolate into the side for a super delicious add on.