My mom’s become quite the food photographer over the years. She’s a great cook and baker and often shares details of her culinary experiments with me and sometimes, I even get pics!

Last week, she had many lemons on hand and fixed a lemon cake with a creamy lemon sauce that sounded so great I’ve decided to share it, along with two of her photos!

Ingredients

Cake:

• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 ½ tsp. baking powder
• Pinch of salt
• Zest of three lemons (reserve 1 tsp. for the buttercream and 1 tsp. for the sauce)
• 1 ½ cups granulated sugar
• 1 cup plain yogurt
• ¼ cup melted butter
• ¼ cup freshly-squeezed lemon juice
• 2 eggs
• ½ tsp. baking soda

Lemon Buttercream:

• 1 cup butter, softened
• 5 cups powdered sugar
• ¼ cup freshly-squeezed lemon juice
• Reserved 1 tsp. of zest

Creamy Lemon Sauce:

• 1 cup plain yogurt
• 2 Tbsp. granulated sugar
• Reserved 1 tsp. of zest
• 2 cups fresh berries (optional)

Directions:

For the Cake:

1. Preheat oven to 350F degrees.
2. Butter, or coat with cooking spray, an 8”x8” cake pan.
3. In a small bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, salt and the zest.
4. In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the sugar, yogurt, butter, lemon juice and the eggs until just combined. Add the baking soda and mix to incorporate.
5. Using a large spoon, add the flour mixture to the batter, one spoon at a time, until just combined – don’t overmix! Pour the batter in the prepared pan and bake for 40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the cake comes out clean.
6. Allow to cool in the pan for 15 minutes then unmold and allow to cool completely.

For the Lemon Buttercream:

1. In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream the butter until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes.
2. Add the lemon juice and beat for 30 seconds.
3. One cup at a time, add the powdered sugar until fully incorporated.
4. Add the zest and beat 30 additional seconds.

For the Creamy Lemon Sauce:

1. In a small bowl, mix the yogurt, the sugar and the teaspoon lemon zest.

Frost the cake with the lemon buttercream, drizzle with the creamy lemon sauce and serve with berries.

Yields 6 Servings.