Easter Cake is the perfect fancy spring dessert with a spongy lemon cake, rich cream cheese frosting, and a festive candy nest topping.
This showstopping cake is the perfect addition to your Dessert table for Easter or any other spring celebration. If you’re looking for more festive cakes, Carrot Cake and Lemon Bundt Cake are two more excellent options!
Sabrina’s Easter Cake Recipe
This beautiful and fun dessert is perfect for Easter! It starts with a simple sponge cake with a touch of lemon flavor that makes it feel bright and fresh. The creamy frosting gets dyed green and then you add adorable Spring decorations of chocolate candy eggs and toasted coconut. The coconut also looks like the base of a bird’s nest, making it a bit more festive. While there are a lot of steps, it really isn’t that hard to make a layer cake. The important thing to remember is to leave yourself plenty of time to cool the cakes completely and take your time decorating. The patience is worth it for a stunning dessert for your holiday dinner spread!
Ingredients
Lemon Layer Cake:
- 3/4 cup unsalted butter
- 1 1/3 cups sugar
- 3 large eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 cup whole milk , room temperature
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon lemon zest
- 2 1/4 cups flour
- 2 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
Cream Cheese Frosting:
- 24 ounces cream cheese , softened
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter , softened
- 3 tablespoons sour cream
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 6 1/2 cups powdered sugar , about 2 pounds
- 6-10 drops green food coloring
- 3 cups sweetened shredded coconut
- 1 cup Easter egg chocolates
Instructions
Lemon Layer Cake:
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and butter and flour two 8 inch cake pans.
- Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt then set aside.
- To your stand mixer add the butter and sugar and beat them together until light and fluffy on medium speed, 2-3 minutes, then add in the eggs one at a time 15 seconds apart.
- Add the lemon juice, lemon zest and the vanilla then lower the speed to low.
- Add the flour mixture and milk, alternating a little of each at a time.
- Pour into the cake pans evenly and baked for 25-30 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean.
- Cool cakes completely before frosting.
Cream Cheese Frosting:
- Add the cream cheese, butter, sour cream and vanilla to a stand mixer and beat until light and fluffy.
- Add in the powdered sugar one cup at a time until smooth and incorporated.
- Add in the green food coloring while beating the frosting, 1 drop at a time until you get a pastel green color.
To Finish:
- To your cake stand add a spoonful of frosting.
- Level the cakes with a large serrated knife and discard the cake pieces.
- Brush off excess crumbs.
- Add the first layer of the cake to the cake stand.
- Top with 1 cup of frosting, spread evenly.
- Top with second layer of cake.
- Add 1 cup of frosting to the top of the cake and spread evenly.
- Add 1 cup of frosting, coating the outside of the cake.
- Refrigerate for 30 minutes to allow to harden.
- Frost the cake with half the remaining frosting.
- Pipe swirly mounds onto the top of the cake.
- Add the shredded coconut to a dry skillet on medium heat and stir, toasting it until it is golden brown.
- Add to the bottom half of the sides of the cake and the top middle.
- Top the swirly mounds with Easter egg candy.
Nutrition
