Instructions
- Filling:
- Add cream cheese, condensed milk, and lemon juice and zest to a bowl. Beat with a hand mixer until smooth. Spoon into a bowl and cover with a lid. Refrigerate overnight.
- Cake:
- In a stand mixer add olive oil and sugar. Mix at medium speed. Add eggs one at a time, vanilla, lemon juice and zest. Mix again. Add dry ingredients. Mix and add buttermilk at the same time
- Oil & flour three 6 inch baking pans. Divide batter between them. Bake in a 350 degree pre-heated oven for 40-50 minutes. Cool completely on a wire rack.
- Place all the buttercream ingredients in a standing mixer. Blend at a medium setting
- Frosting:
- Add butter and powdered sugar to a stand mixer. Mix on medium speed while adding lemon juice and zest, vanilla, and cream. Add a few drops of blue food gel until you get to your desired shade.
Place frosting in a piping bag and cut off the tip for a 1/2-1 inch opening. - Assembly:
- Level each cake layer. Place one layer on a cake plate. Pipe a ring of frosting around the outside of the first layer.
- Fill a second piping bag with 1/2 of the cheesecake filling and cut off the tip as well. Save the other half for another time. You will only need half for the recipe.
- Pipe the filling in the inside of the ring of frosting. Use an offset spatula to smooth the filling. Place a second layer of cake on top. Repeat adding the frosting and filling on the second layer. Place the third layer on top face down. Frost the entire cake.
- To make the speckles, add the cocoa powder and vanilla to a small dish and mix. Take a large paint brush, dip the brush in the mixture, and use your fingers to flick the cocoa mixture all over the cake.
- Garnish with Easter eggs if desired.
- Recipe by our friend Monique Polanco from Peaches to Peaches