Lemon Cream Cheese Buttercream
We celebrated 5 years of taproom business, and if there was one thing I was SET on, it was having cake on hand to celebrate. I had a few lemon cake layers frozen & ready to roll, so I brought them out of a retirement for a sweet treat Jordan + I could enjoy after our shift. I whipped up a quick strawberry-raspberry jam + a graham cracker crunch to sandwich in between the layers, and this Lemon Cream Cheese Buttercream to tie everything together. & it was so good! A novel concept really - juice a whole lemon and add it to the cream cheese buttercream frosting I always use, and there it is. It was sweet, but the lemon cuts the sugar just enough for it be this zippy little buttercream. Loved it, Could eat spoonfuls of it. Thrilled to have it as the icing on the cake!
Cake has become our at-home, celebratory “thing” and it feels like it makes the milestones a little bit sweeter, and it’s a fun way to add in a celebration when maybe we wouldn’t have before. Things like coming home from a business trip, celebrating a half birthday, friends coming to visit - we’ve turned them into “cake-able” moments, and I just love that routine for us. 5 years at our taproom was a cake-able moment.
I mean 1st a foremost, a great excuse to practice some piping and get a good color story together. Even more importantly, it feels justified to have a celebration for just us two + the bar. We’ve had a lot of fun moments at the bar. I can’t say enough how much I used to LOVE Friday night shifts with Jordan - grinding behind the bar, a little post work shiftie, and the routine stop at Red Star for late-night happy hour. It was on repeat, and hold such a special place in my heart. We’ve also made it through some tough times at the bar, many of which are rooted in dealing with shitty humans who worked for us for period of time before showing was true losers they were. But we made it through. The arguments, the tears, the stressful moments - we find ourselves on the other side five years later with more work-life balance and I can genuinely say I’m happier. We’ve remained a team, Jordan and I, and though it hasn’t been perfect and there have been errors made + arguments over dumb shit, we’ve always tried to use those as opportunities to learn + do better. The tougher moments also don’t outweigh the fun we’ve had. And where we’re at now - we love our team, we are so grategul for them, business is good, and we’re on a really good life path. All things I am grateful for, and will eat a piece of cake over.
For the frosting (21batch was enough to cover and decorate a 6-in. cake)
1 c. butter, at room temperature
16 oz. cream cheese, at room temperature
8 c. powdered sugar (1 lb; 907 g)
Juice from 1 lemon
1/2 tsp salt
Add the butter + cream cheese to an electric mixer, and cream together. Add in the powdered sugar one cup at a time, mixing on a low to medium low speed. When all of the powdered sugar is mixed in, mix on medium for one minute, add in the lemon juice + salt, and increase the speed to high for 2 to 3 minutes.