peep sunflower lemonade cake

the sunflower part of the cake was inspired but this recipe here here.. i decided to go with a lemon cake for the base.. and not just any lemon cake.. a lemonade cake.. it was tart.. sweet.. lemony.. delicate.. in a word scrumdelicious... for some strange reason i didn't get a photo of the cake from the top so you could see the sunflower part.. it was really cute check out the link above and you will get the idea of cute it really was..

i made this cake last year for easter and it might make an appearance again since it was so yummy..

i am not much of a peep fan.. matter of fact i probably have never in my entire life eaten an entire one.. they are to sugar sticky augh but on a cake they are pretty darn cute.. i loved how this cake turned out..

sunflower lemonade cake

prep time: 1 hour
cooking time:30-35 minutes
servings: 8-10

ingredients:

lemonade cake: 

2 sticks of unsalted butter, room temperature
2.5 cups ap flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1 tbslp. lemon zest
1 1/2 cups sugar
4 large eggs
1/4 cup lemonade from concentrate
1 cup low fat buttermilk

lemonade frosting:

8 oz.  block of 1/3 less fat cream cheese, room temperature
1 stick butter, room temperature
3 tblsp. lemonade from concentrate
1/2 tsp. vanilla
4 cups powdered sugar

decorations:

19 yellow peeps
1 1/2 cups semi sweet chocolate chips

directions:

making the cake:

preheat oven to 350 degrees {f}..butter or spray pam in two 8 by 2 inch round cake pans. line bottoms with parchment paper and then butter or spray it with pam.. dust with flour, tapping out excess..(this is so genius they pop right out no muss no fuss!) whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and lemon zest..in a large mixing bowl, using an electric mixer, either hand held or stand mixer, beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy.. with mixer on low, beat in eggs one at a time.. then beat in lemonade.. alternately beat in flour mixture and buttermilk, beginning with and ending with flour.. mix until well combined.. divide batter between pans.. smooth tops and bake until cakes are done.. about 30-35 minutes.. let cool in pans about 10 minutes then run a knife around the edges of pans and invert cakes onto wire rack to cool, once cool start to frost cake.

making the frosting:

while cake is cooling make frosting..  in a medium mixing bowl with an electric hand held mixer or stand mixer cream butter and cream cheese together until fluffy.. with mixer on low add lemonade and vanilla.. slowly add in your powdered sugar once all added then beat on medium until smooth..


frosting the cake:

trim the tops off of your cake layers with a long serrated knife so they have a nice flat top.. place one layer on the bottom side up on your cake stand.. spread frosting on top of bottom layer.. place second layer on top.. apply a thin coat of frosting to the entire cake and put in the fridge for 15 minutes.. this is called a crumb coat.. remove from fridge and frost entire cake with a thick layer of lemonade frosting.
 
for the flower petals: arrange peeps around edge of cake, curving slightly and being careful not to separate chicks to much, then add the sunflower seeds by arranging chocolate chips in center of cake.. i ended up kinda dumping mine in because the carefully placing each chocolate chip became to tedious to bare.. but it still ended up being very cute..

enjoy and get cook'n!!!