Raspberry-Lemon Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

There's something beautiful about the combination of raspberry and lemon. Is it the colors? I've always been a fan of bright colors but that can't be the only reason because I refuse to wear yellow. Of course, I'm sure there are other reasons. Most obviously, taste. I remember, as a kid (heck, who am I kidding: even today) I loved loved loved raspberry lemonade. I also loved cake.

Like, a lot.

My dad would make such cool cakes for my brother's and my birthdays. It was seriously the best. He made a barbie cake, and a Jurassic Park one, along with a few that involved the Disney princesses and Titanic. This is from a guy who had no cake decorating experience. I think he probably spent hours on those things, just because we asked for them. I bet there a pictures floating around in our photo albums (because yes, we are old and don't have everything on the Cloud, or whatever it's called).

Anyways. I figured raspberry+lemon+cake, and then covered with a creamy frosting that adds just enough sweetness to balance the tang of the raspberry and lemon, would be awesome.

It was awesome.

You should make it.

And then eat it (because trust me, you'll want to just stare at it for a while because it's so beautiful but BE STRONG, eat the cake).

Because P.S:
There's chocolate!

Raspberry-Lemon Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

Adapted from Cooking Light

Serves 12                    Serving Size: 1 slice 

Ingredients

Cake:

• 1c. light vanilla soymilk
• 1tsp apple cider vinegar
• 1c. all-purpose flour
• 1c. whole wheat flour
• 1tsp baking powder
• 1/2tsp baking soda
• 1/2tsp salt
• 1 and 1/2c. splenda or other calorie-free sweetener
• 2tbl olive oil
• 1/4c. plus 2tbl applesauce
• 2 large eggs
• 1 large egg white
• 1 large lemon, zest and juice
• 2c. raspberries, fresh, washed and dried

Frosting:

• 8oz low fat cream cheese, at room temperature
• 1tsp vanilla extract
•  1/4c. brown sugar
• 1/2c.sugar OR splenda
• 2tbl mini chocolate chips

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350F.
2. Meanwhile, combine soy milk and vinegar in a small bowl; set aside for at least ten minutes (it should get a bit foamy).
3. In a medium bowl, combine flours, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
4. In a large bowl, beat the splenda, oil, and applesauce together with an electric mixer for 1 minute, or until well-combined. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well with each egg added. Add the flour mixture and the soymilk mixture alternately to the sugar mixture, beginning and ending with the flour. Beat in the zest and juice of the lemon.
5. Coat 2 (8-inch) round cake pans with flour-added cooking spray, line the bottoms with wax paper (great how-to instructions here), and then spray with more cooking spray. Pour the batter into the [ans, and sharply tap each one once to remove any air bubbles. Bake at 350F for 32 minutes, or until cooked through. Cool for 20 minutes on a wire rack; then carefully invert the pans onto the rack so the cakes can cool out of the pans for another hour. Make sure to remove the wax paper!
6. To make icing, combine cream cheese, vanilla, brown sugar, and sugar; beat on high until fluffy and light (about 5 minutes).
7. To make the actual cake, place one of the cakes on a serving platter. Frost with about 1/3 of the frosting, and place 1c. of raspberries on top. Make dots of frosting on top of the raspberries, until only 1/2 of the frosting remains. Top with the other half of the cake, and frost that as well (it helps to make a huge pile of frosting in the middle and then spread it out gently to the edges). Top with remaining raspberries, and chocolate chips. 

Nutrition Information:
Sodium: 267mg
Fat:8g
      Saturated: 3g
      Mono: 3g
      Trans:0g
Sugar: 8g
Protein: 6g
Calories: 196