Anne with an 'e': Lemon Yogurt Cake with Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting

Here's the first of the promised recipes from the garden party baby shower I hosted for Jessie. I swear by this recipe for both cakes and cupcakes, and it is--overwhelmingly--the most popular/requested cake I make.

The cake I make is adapted from a loaf cake recipe by Ina Garten--the lovely Barefoot Contessa herself. All credit for the dense, moist, lemony goodness goes to Ina!

Lemon Yogurt Cake with Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting

Cake Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup plain whole-milk yogurt
1 cup sugar
3 eggs
2 teaspoons lemon zest (about 2 lemons)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup vegetable oil

Directions:
Sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt in one bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk together yogurt, sugar, eggs, lemon zest, and vanilla. Whisk the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. Using a rubber spatula, fold the vegetable oil into the batter until well incorporated. Divide the batter into two 8-inch round cake pans, greased and floured. Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes--until it springs back with the touch of your fingers.
(For mini-cupcakes, the recipe yields 48. Fill the baking cups up to 3/4 full. Bake 15 minutes--until they spring back.)

Frosting Ingredients:
6 T softened butter
9 oz softened cream cheese (I realize that's just over one package. I know it's annoying, but I've played around with amounts and this works best!)
4 1/2 cups powdered sugar
2 T lemon zest (or more if you wish!)

Directions:
Beat butter, cream cheese, and powdered sugar with a mixer. Stir in lemon zest with a spatula (otherwise you annoyingly end up with all of the lemon zest (=all the flavor!) on your beaters).

If you are making a cake, frost between layers in addition to the top and sides. (Try this post on Taylor's old food blog for cake building tips.) For decorating Jessie's cake, I gave Taylor this picture, a handful of various citrus (orange, grapefruit, lemon, lime), and some fresh mint, and he came up with this:

For cupcakes, use a fat tip to make a little mound of frosting, then top with raspberries. Mini cupcakes are perfect because you can eat three with no guilt. They're like cupcake vitamins.