Pink Lemonade Cake

It was the lovely Aggie's birthday on Monday, so my sister and I made her a cake.  Aggie's mom used to always make her a lemon cake for her birthday while she was growing up, and she loves all things pink, so we decided on a pink lemonade cake and used the recipe from Better Homes and Gardens.



It was a big success, and such a pretty cake.  The cake itself wasn't quite as lemony as we wanted, so we went ahead and added a jam layer along with some of the buttercream frosting between cake layers to punch up the flavor.



It is hefty and dense though.  When Megan was at the store buying all the marshmallow fluff for the frosting, the store clerk asked if she was trying to give her friend diabetes for her birthday.  Which maybe brings us to the point, that while the idea and visual from BHG was brilliant, we maybe should have evaluated the source and adapted a Dorie Greenspan lemon cake recipe instead.  The BHG recipe only relies on lemonade concentrate thawed and lemon extract for the lemon flavor, while I think adding lemon zest to the batter would give it that almost punch you in the mouth flavor and tartness I prefer in lemon baked goods.



All together though, I would call it a success, and an appropriate way to celebrate Aggie's birthday.