{Recipes} - Lemon Raspberry Rose Swirl Cake

I made this pretty in pink ombre cake for my grandmother's 80th birthday.  The directions and recipe for this cake were found on one of my go to baking sites -- Glorious Treats.   I am always looking for beautiful ways to frost a cake and just adored the look of this cake.  It was a big hit!  Even my grandmother exclaimed it was the most beautiful birthday cake anyone had ever made for her birthday.

Lemon Raspberry Rose Swirl Cake (adapted from Glorious Treats)
Ingredients

Cake:

2 1/2 cups cake flour

2 1/2  teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

4 eggs

1 1/2 cups sugar

1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

2 1/2 teaspoons lemon extract

2 teaspoons of lemon zest

1 cup canola oil 

1 cup buttermilk

Filling:

Raspberry Jam

Icing:

1 1/2 cups of butter, softened

1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract

1 1/2 teaspoons of lemon extract

6 cups of powdered sugar

4-6 tablespoons of milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line the bottom of four 6 inch cake pans with parchment paper.  Grease and flour the cake pans. 

Mix together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.  Set aside.  In another bowl, beat eggs about 10 seconds with a mixer.  Add sugar to eggs and beat for about 30 more seconds.  Beat in oil, vanilla extract, lemon extract and lemon zest.  With electric mix on low, add half of flour mixture and half of buttermilk.  Beat until just combined.  Add the remaining flour and buttermilk until fully combined. 

Separate mixture, equally, into four separate bowls.  Starting with the lightest color pink, add food coloring to get four separate colors.  I used Wilton's Icing Colors in Pink and Rose to achieve the four pink shades. 

Bake for about 20-25 minutes or until the cake is lightly browned and a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.  Cool cakes completely. 

For the icing:  Cream together butter, vanilla extract and lemon extract.  Gradually add 1 cup of powdered sugar alternately with 1 tablespoon of milk, beating on low speed on until blended and smooth after each addition. Separate icing, equally, into separate bowls, with one bowl containing about double the amount of the other three bowls. 

Color the icing by adding food coloring to achieve four shades of pink.  Make sure the bowl with the greatest amount of icing is the lightest color.  You will use the lightest icing to put a crumb coat on your cake, in between the layers and for the top row of roses on the outside of the cake.   

To assemble the cake:  Spread a thin layer of raspberry jam on the top of the darkest layer of cake.  Spread about two tablespoons of icing on top of the jam.  Repeat with each of the layers, from the darkest color to the lightest.  Cover the cake in a thin, crumb coat layer of the light icing.  Put the cake in the freezer or refrigerator for about 15 minutes. 

Cake assembly:  Attach a #21 Wilton tip, or any star shaped tip, to a frosting bag.   Fill the bag with the darkest icing.  Starting about one inch from the bottom of the cake, pipe one rose.  To pipe the rose, start in the center and pipe a swirl, with about one and a half rotations around.  Continue around the bottom of the cake.  Fill in any empty spaces below the roses.  Repeat with each color of icing being a new row of roses.  When you get to the last color, you also want to begin piping roses on the top of the cake.  Fill in any empty spaces with "c" shaped curves. 

Once finished, place the cake in the refrigerator, until ready to serve. 

Enjoy!