Lemon KitKat Cake
Lemon cake layers with wafer cookie crunch and white chocolate lemon buttercream.
Servings: 18
Ingredients
FOR THE CAKE
- 3 cups (345 g) cake flour
- 2 teaspoons (8 g) baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon (3 g) salt
- 3/4 cup (169.5 g) unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 1 3/4 cup (350 g) granulated sugar
- 1/4 cup (2 oz.) instant lemon pudding mix
- 6 large egg whites, at room temperature
- 1 1/4 cup (300 g) buttermilk, at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon (4.2 g) lemon extract
- Yellow food coloring optional
FOR THE WAFER COOKIE CRUNCH FILLING
- 1 1/2 cups (75 g) milk powder, divided
- 8.8 ounces (250 g) lemon wafer cookies, crushed but not finely ground
- zest of one lemon
- 1/2 cup (113 g) unsalted butter, melted
- 6 ounces white chocolate chips, melted
FOR THE LEMON WHITE CHOCOLATE BUTTERCREAM
- 6 ounces white chocolate chips
- 1/4 cup (60 g) heavy whipping cream
- 2 cups (452 g) unsalted butter, slightly cold
- 6 cups (750 g) powdered sugar, measured then sifted
- 2 teaspoons (8.4 g) lemon extract
- Pinch of salt
- Yellow food coloring, optional
Instructions
FOR THE CAKE
- Preheat your oven to 325 degrees F. Spray three 8-inch round cake pans with nonstick spray, line the bottoms with parchment paper, and spray again. Set aside.
- In another medium size bowl, whisk together the cake flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
- In a bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter, sugar, and pudding mix together on medium-high speed, until light and fluffy, about 2 to 3 minutes.
- With the mixer on medium speed, add the egg whites, one at a time, making sure to scrape downt he sides and bottom of the bowl between additions. Stir in the lemon emulsion.
- Continue to beat on medium-high speed for about 2 minutes, until the mixture gets smooth in texture and slightly bigger in volume.
- With the mixer on low speed, alternately add the flour mixture and the buttermilk, starting and ending with the flour mixture. Mix until combined. Fold in food coloring, if using.
- Divide batter evenly among your pans, about 16 ounces of batter in each pan.
- Bake the cakes, about 20 to 25 minutes. Let cool on wire racks for 10 minutes before inverting them onto cooling racks to cool completely.
FOR THE WAFER COOKIE CRUNCH FILLING
- Preheat your oven to 275 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Set aside.
- In a medium size mixing bowl, stir together 1 cup of the milk powder, the wafer cookies, and lemon zest.
- Pour in the melted butter and stir the mixture until the wafer cookies are "wet."
- Spread the cookie clusters on the baking sheet and bake for 15 minutes. Let cool completely.
- In a medium size mixing bowl, combine the baked cookie clusters and the additional 1/2 cup milk powder.
- Pour the white chocolate over the crumbs and toss until the clusters are covered. Spread the clusters are parchment to dry.
FOR THE BUTTERCREAM
- In a microwave safe bowl, combine the white chocolate and heavy cream. Heat in 30 second intervals, stirring between each, until the white chocolate is melted and the mixture is smooth. Set aside to cool.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter on medium-high until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes.
- Gradually add the white chocolate ganache and mix until the mixture is smooth. Turn the mixer off and scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl.
- With the mixer on low, gradually add the powdered sugar, followed by the lemon extract and salt. Mix until combined. Add yellow food coloring, if using. Mix until incorporated completely. Turn the mixer to medium-high and beat the frosting for an additional 3 to 5 minutes.
ASSEMBLY
- Spread a small dollop of frosting onto a cake board. Place the first cake layer, top side up, on the board.
- Evenly spread about 1 cup of buttercream over the cake. Cover with the wafer cookie crunch. Pat the clusters into place.
- Place a second cake layer on the filling and repeat step 2.
- Place the third cake layer, top side down, on top of the second layer of filling. Lightly coat the cake with a thin layer of buttercream to lock in the crumbs. Freeze the cake for about 10 to 15 minutes to set the frosting.
- Finish frosting and decorating the cake with the remaining buttercream. Top with more wafer cookie clusters.
Notes
*If you can't find the lemon flavored wafer cookies, you can use vanilla wafer cookies. Add the zest of a second lemon to the recipe.
**These cake layers bake about 1.25" tall. If you want thicker cake layers, you can use two 8-inch pans or 1.5x the recipe. For both, the bake time will increase about 10 minutes.