Spring is a Springing, the weather is beautiful, the flowers are in bloom and there are so many wonderful celebrations this time of year, such as Mother’s Day. I recently came across Simplicity and Starter on Instagram and have been blown away by her creativity and fun approach to food! This Lemon Sourdough Cake is no exception and when I say its delicious, its like really, really delicious. I have already made it twice and added just a couple of tweaks to make it my own a bit! Full recipe below, I hope you love it as much as we do!

Sourdough Lemon Cake

Ingredients

• 3 cups, sifted all-purpose flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 1 cup milk
• 1 cup sourdough discard (Buttermilk can be used in place of sourdough discard, if you do not have discard).
• 1/3 cup fresh lemon juice (about 2 lemons)
• 1 cup butter, room temperature
• 1 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 Tablespoons lemon zest
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 3 eggs, room temperature

Instructions

1. First, sift 3 cups of flour into a bowl. Then spoon the sifted flour into a measuring cup and level off with a knife. This will give you the most accurate flour measurement.

2. In a medium bowl, mix flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt until combined. Set the dry ingredients to the side.

3. In a large bowl, whisk the milk, sourdough discard, and lemon juice until smooth. Set to the side.

4. With a hand mixer or a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the soft butter until creamy, about 2 minutes, on medium speed.

5. Add the sugar and lemon zest and beat on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Stop to scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl when necessary.

6. To the butter/sugar mixture, add the vanilla extract and then the eggs, one at a time. Scrape down the bowl between each addition. Beat on medium speed until the mixture is fluffy and a pale yellow color, about 3 minutes.

7. Now, alternate adding the dry and wet ingredients to the stand mixer. First add a third of the flour mixture, followed by half of the liquid ingredients. Be sure not to over-mix the cake batter! This can lead to a tough crumb. Stop mixing once the flour mixture is just combined. Sometimes I will fold in the last third of the flour mixture by hand with a rubber spatula.

8. Divide the cake batter into two and pour the batter into the prepared pan. Tap the pans on the counter to release any air bubbles in the batter.

9. Place both cake pans into the oven on the middle oven rack. Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until it’s golden brown and a toothpick comes out clean.

10. Place the warm cake on a cooling rack and cool completely before frosting.

Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting

• 1 stick butter, room temperature
• 4 1/2 cups confectioner’ sugar
• 2 1/2 Tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 2 tsp lemon zest
• 1 Teaspoon vanilla extract
• pinch of salt