Starry Night Lemon Cake With Cream Cheese Frosting

Ever since the pandemic started I have extended my collection of hobbies.I baked a cake for my birthday as a joke and now whenever there is a birthday,an anniversary or it's New Year's Eve I am in charge of the dessert.I am not complaining at all,though.

I baked this cake without a special occasion.I love Van Gogh's art and I have been wanting to try to recreate it on a cake.I can't compare my painting skills to his,of course but I am happy with the way this cake turned out.

I had not baked a lemon cake before but I thought the cake's yellow color would contrast the blue Starry Night nicely and it did.Don't be intimidated by the decorating part - I actually ''painted'' wherever I wanted and still managed to pull it off.Everyone loved the way this cake turned out.

Grab your butter,mixer and baking pans and let's get started!

For the cake:

• 160ml milk
  
• 80ml lemon juice
• 285 g white sugar
• zest of one lemon
• 115 g softened butter
• 240 g all purpose flour
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 3 eggs

For the cream cheese frosting:

• 400 ml whipping cream
• 200 g cream cheese
• 120 g powdered sugar

Equipment and tools:

• Hand or stand mixer
• Bench scraper
• Cake decorating knife
• Food coloring - brown,blue and yellow
• Brushes
• Ruler
• Toothpicks
• Cake turntable
• Cake board

Start out by adding the lemon juice to the milk.Mix it all well with a whisk and set it aside.Some curdling may occur but don't worry - essentially you are making buttermilk.

Measure out the sugar and put it in a food processor.Zest one or more lemons if you like and add it into the sugar.Pulse the processor so that everything is well incorporated.This way the lemon aroma will be infused into the sugar.

Cream the butter with a stand or hand mixer.I only have a hand mixer so that's what I used.Once the butter is light both in color and texture,add in the lemon infused sugar and keep beating the mixture.The sugar needs to be perfectly incorporated into the butter.Next,add in the eggs one at a time.

In a seperate bowl sift your flour,baking powder,baking soda and salt.It's best if you sift it at least twice.

It is now time to mix in the wet with the dry ingredients.Since the butter mixture is basically fat,you need to first add in about half of your flour.Start mixing on a low speed so that the flour doesn't get everywhere.Continue mixing by slowly pouring half of the milk.Finish off the mixing process by adding the rest of the flour and milk,in that order.

Make sure not to overmix the cake batter.Overmixing the batter will lead to gluten development which in this case we do not want.

This batter was enough to make two large cake layers in a 7'' cake pan.

Prepare the pan by oiling or buttering the inside of it and put some parchment paper on the bottom.You could use some flour,too.

Pour in about half of the cake batter.If you want to be super precise you could weigh in the batter.

To ensure even baking and flat cake layers I always use cake strips.It's essentially a long strip of fabric.The way it works is simple - you wet it with cold water and wrap it around the pan.Uneven cake layers and doming occur because the center of the cake bakes slower than the sides.Having something cold to cool down the sides makes the layers even and you end up with perfectly flat cakes.

Bake the cakes at 175 degrees Celcius for 30 min or until the centers are set and the edges are pulling inwards slightly.

Once the cakes are baked let them rest in their pans for 10-15 min and then take them out on a cooling rack.Make sure they cool down completely before you move on to cutting them.

As I mentioned before this recipe makes two large cakes.In order to cut them you need to make sure that they are completely cooled down.

The cutting process is very easy - using a ruler mark where you want to cut your cake and put in a toothpick.Repeat the same process around the whole cake.Cut the cake with a sharp knife - keep it straight all around the cake.Cut in small sections and rotate the cake as you go.

Take the now two cake layers and set them aside.

I think my favorite frosting is cream cheese frosting.It paired so well with the lemon cakes,too.

To make the frosting measure out 400 ml of whipping cream and whip it with a hand mixer until some soft peaks occur.Next,add in the powdered sugar and keep beating.Finally add in the cream cheese and beat until everything is nicely incorporated and smooth.

Before you assemble your cake you could remove some of the caramelization but I skiped this step.

Take your cake board and place it onto your turntable.Add a tiny amount of frosting to the board so that your first cake layer doesn't move as you work on it.Place the first cake layer and add a generous amount of frosting.Using the frosting knife smooth everything out as you turn the cake and add in more frosting if needed.Some frosting will get on the edges of the cake - leave it there because you will be smoothing it out later.

Repeat the same steps until all of the cakes are stacked on top of each other and frosted.

Once you get to frosting the top layer add some more frosting.To smooth out the sides of the cake use a bench scraper and keep it as straight as you can.Turn the cake around and spread the frosting.Add more frosting to any bald spots and smooth out again.To make the top layer of frosting flat take a smaller frosting knife and bring any excess frosting from the edges inwards.

Put your cake in the fridge and let it rest for at least 30 minutes.The first layer of frosting is called a crumb coat and it does exactly that - coats any crumbs with frosting.This is nessecary to make the second layer of frosting go smoother and avoid any imperfections.

Once the cake is well rested add more frosting and smooth everything out.

To decorate the cake you will need a couple of different shades of blue.Mix in a darker,lighter and a sky blue on a plate.Using a reference image of the painting ''carve'' some rough outlines into the frosting.

Start ''painting'' by using a brush.Not going to lie this step was a lot harder than I had expected.The frosting is definitely not paint but with some patience you can achieve great results.Van Gogh was known for his use of thick paint and small brushstrokes so use that to your advantage.Paint around each of the stars,make some swirls.It doesn't have to be perfect.

''The sight of the stars makes me dream'', Vincent once said.

Mix some light and bright yellow and paint the stars and the moon.

Paint the crescent moon a bright yellow and fill in the gaps with a lighter shade.Repeat the same with the stars.

The only part left from the painting is the lonely cypress tree.

Mix some brown paint with the frosting and again using bold brushstrokes apply it to the cake.I started from the bottom and made my way up.

Paint some stars on the top of the cake with yellow and swirl different shades of blue around them.Use your imagination.

The cake is complete!

I know it's not an exact replica of the painting but I'm happy with the way everything tured out.It's a little abstract,a little post-impressionistic.It was delicious and everyone complimented it.

Thank you for reading or scrolling through this Instructable.

Happy baking!