PURPLE CAKE WITH LEMON CREAM

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PURPLE CAKE WITH LEMON BUTTERCREAM IS CUT INTO MINI INDIVIDUAL CAKES, DECORATED WITH FRESH BLACKBERRIES, FOR A BEAUTIFUL AND TASTY DESSERT.

Please meet my Vanilla Purple Cake with Lemon Buttercream and fresh, juicy blackberries. I keep telling the world how much I love cute desserts, and since purple is one of my favorite colors I just couldn’t resist, I had to make a Vanilla Purple Cake and to actually make it even better, I cut it into individual mini cakes, that are almost too pretty to eat.

Why You’ll Love This Vanilla Purple Cake with Lemon Buttercream:

• The cake is gorgeous, with a beautiful purple color, a mild vanilla taste and a refreshing lemon buttercream
• The cake is very easy to make, you basically bake a huge one layer cake and cut it into squares
• The individual desserts are the perfect single serving, looking also festive and easy to transport
• The cake is perfect for a special occasion, like a baby shower or birthday
• Super fun to make with kids

Tips and Tricks to Make the Best Vanilla Purple Cake with Lemon Buttercream:

• Make sure you use gel food coloring, as it won’t add extra water to the batter
• Make sure all the ingredients are at room temperature
• Make sure you have enough gel food coloring as just a few drops are not enough to make this cake purple
• You can customize the cake and use lavender extract instead of vanilla, also you can make the cake a different color
• Vanilla beans can be replaced with vanilla extract
• Don’t skip the lemon zest, it adds a punch of fresh lemony flavor to the cream
• Be careful not to over-bake the cake, start checking after 25 mins of baking

Tools/Ingredients I used to make the Vanilla Purple Cake with Lemon Buttercream:

• Sheet Pan – I love these pans, they are 17×12 inches and also have a lifetime warranty, can be used for desserts, cookies and savory recipes
• Square Cookie Cutter – can be used to cut square cookies or to cut mini cakes
• Gel Food Coloring – I like having a range of colors of hand for when I bake something fun, gel food coloring is the best as it doesn’t add extra moisture to the batter or frosting
• Vanilla Extract – love this vanilla extract, the flavor is great, I always have some on hand
• Piping Bags – I like using disposable piping bags, I really don’t like the idea of cleaning another item after I make cupcakes and frosting
• Piping Tips Set – I used the star tip to pipe my frosting, this is a great set at a very good price
• Cake Leveler – Absolutely love this one, I use to remove my cake crowns and to make the flat

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4.86 from 7 votes

Servings: 9

VANILLA PURPLE CAKE

Prep Time:

1 hr

Cook Time:

45 mins

Total Time:

1 hr 45 mins

Vanilla Purple Cake with Lemon Buttercream is cut into mini individual cakes decorated with fresh blackberries, for a beautiful and tasty dessert.

Ingredients

Vanilla Purple Cake:

• 3 sticks unsalted butter (1½ cups/340grams), at room temperature, plus more for the pan
• 4½ cups (563 grams) all-purpose flour plus more for the pans
• 1½ tablespoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2½ cups (500 grams) white granulated sugar
• 6 large eggs room temperature
• 2 vanilla beans seeds only or 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 1½ cup (375 ml) heavy cream or whole milk*
• 15 drops purple food gel color or violet you can use more or less, depending of the color you want to achieve

Lemon Buttercream:

• 1 cup (2 sticks/226 grams) unsalted butter room temperature
• 4-6 cups (400-600 grams) confectioners sugar
• 1 tablespoon lemon zest
• 4-6 tablespoons fresh lemon juice depending how lemony you want the buttercream
• pint of fresh blackberries

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Line a half sheet pan ( 17"x12"x1") with parchment paper, spray with baking spray or grease with butter and dust the pan with a little flour, tapping out the excess.
3. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt, set aside.
4. In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat together butter and sugar on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Reduce the mixer speed to medium and beat in the eggs, one at a time, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Beat in vanilla seeds (or vanilla extract) and gel food coloring.
5. On low speed, start beating in the flour mixture into the butter in 3 batches, alternating with the heavy cream (or milk), beginning and ending with the flour mixture, until just smooth. Add more food gel color if needed for the desired color.
6. Transfer the batter to the prepared pan and bake until the cake is lightly golden on top and the center springs back when pressed, 30 - 35 minutes, depending on the oven, start checking after 25 minutes. A toothpick inserted in the middle of the cake should come out clean. I baked mine for 32 minutes.
7. Remove from the oven and let it cool in the pan for 15 minutes, after that, with the help of the parchment paper, slide the cake from the pan, to the counter to cool completely.
8. Once completely cooled, trim the top of the cake with a long serrated knife or a cake leveler to make it even. Trim the sides of the cake.
9. Using a stainless steel square form, cut the cake into mini cakes and set aside.

Lemon Buttercream:

1. In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat butter until creamy. Beat in the confectioners' sugar starting on low speed, I added 4 cups, if you want the buttercream sweeter you can add 1 more cup of confectioners sugar. Mix in lemon zest and lemon juice. Stop to scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl.

Assemble:

1. Pipe lemon frosting over a layer of cake, top with another layer of cake, followed by the last (top layer) of lemon frosting and decorate with fresh blackberries. Repeat with the remaining cakes.
2. Refrigerate at least one hour before serving.
3. Store cakes in the fridge. The cake is better served same day, when it's the most tender and fresh, second day it's also good, but by the third day, it may start to dry out as it's not fully covered in frosting.
4. Enjoy!

Recipe Notes

* Use milk for a lighter, more airy texture and use heavy whipping cream for a more denser, rich texture.
*You can use lavender extract to make a lavender cake, or you can use peach extract and peach color to make a peach cake. You can play with the flavor color combo as you want.

Calories: 800, Fat: 55g, Saturated Fat: 34g, Cholesterol: 248mg, Sodium: 506mg, Potassium: 384mg, Carbohydrates: 196g, Fiber: 1g, Sugar: 146g, Protein: 11g, Vitamin A: 35.9%, Vitamin C: 4.2%, Calcium: 17.3%, Iron: 20.3%

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

All images and text © for Peas and Peonies, LLC.

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