Summer just isn’t the same without the perfect summertime dessert. And boy do we have a good one this year. We’ve been experimenting with all types of cakes – from sheet cakes to pound cakes and lemon zest to strawberries – to find the ultimate summer cake. Good news – we found it!

The Summer Layer Cake

After much debating, we decided that the dessert of the summer should be a layer cake. Now, sometimes a layer cake can be heavy, but to combat that we chose light summer flavors to counteract the layers of cake and icing and filling. There’s no flavor that’s better for summer than lemon, so we chose that as our primary layer cake flavor. And once we figured that out, we needed to decide what type of cake we were going to use for our summer layer cake. We wanted something light and fluffy to complement the lemon, so we chose angel food cake.

Now, you can make angel food cake from scratch, but if you don’t want to try that out (angel food requires precision prep and baking to get perfect), you can always use an angel food cake box mix just as easily. And in this recipe, we’re going to use the simple box mix version.

What you need

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You’ll need a simple angel food cake box mix (most of these require only water to bake), along with lemon curd, buttercream frosting, and a lemon. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.  Start by prepping the angel food cake according to directions. Next, using a microplane, grate some lemon zest into the batter and mix well. Using the directions on the cake box, make the angel food cake batter and pour into an ungreased 9 inch round pan. A good secret for getting your angel food cake to rise the way it’s supposed to is to use a baking pan that has ridges on the inside, so that the batter can “cling” to the sides of the pan as it bakes). Bake for 40 minutes

Once the cake is finished baking, set it aside and let it cool completely before removing it from the pan. Take buttercream frosting and add in a teaspoon of lemon juice. Whip the mixture in a medium bowl to mix it together completely. Set aside at room temperature.

Once the cake has completely cooled, use a cake cutter or a serrated knife to cut the cake in half horizontally so that you have a top half and a bottom half. Place the bottom half of cake on a cake stand or a cake plate. Add a few dollops of icing onto the plate so that it doesn’t move while you’re icing it. Spread a layer of lemon curd on top of the bottom layer of the cake. Top with the second layer of cake. Spread the lemon buttercream icing on top of the second layer of cake. Next, spread the rest of the icing around the side of the cake. Top with blueberries or strawberries if you wish – or just leave it plain. And voila! You’ve got the perfect complement to your next summer picnic.