My Baker Spotlight Rebekah Pierce of Maggie’s Cupcake Cafe calls this the Shut-In Triple Layer Chocolate Lemon Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting! 😮 FULL RECIPE below!

Ingredients for Chocolate Cake (double the ingredients for two cakes):
1 cup of flour
½ tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
¾ cup of milk (preferably 2% or Lactaid 2%)
½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 cup of sugar
¾ cup of vegetable oil
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract (preferably Watkins brand)
1 tbsp Hershey’s Chocolate Syrup

Ingredients for Lemon Cake (makes 1 cake):
1 ½ cup of flower
1 tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
1 cup butter, softened
1 cup of sugar
2 large eggs
2 tablespoons lemon juice (fresh) or to taste
2 tsp vanilla extra (preferably Watkins brand)
½ cup of milk (preferably 2% or Lactaid 2%)
2 tsp lemon zest

Ingredients for Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting:
8 oz cream cheese, softened
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
4 cups confectioner’s (powdered) sugar
2 tablespoon lemon juice (fresh) or to taste
2 tsp vanilla extract (preferably Watkins brand)
Lemon sprinkles/beads for decoration
2 tsp lemon zest

Directions:
• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease your 3 cake pans (I use springform pans) with shortening and then dust with flour so that your cakes don’t stick to the pans.

• For the chocolate cakes: whisk 1 cup of flour and ½ tsp each of salt and baking soda in a medium bowl. Heat ¾ cup of milk until hot but not boiling; pour over ½ cup of unsweetened cocoa powder in a large bowl and whisk until smooth. Let cool slightly. Whisk 1 cup of sugar, ¾ cup vegetable oil, 1 egg, and 1 tsp vanilla extract until smooth. Whisk in the flour mixture until just combined. Add the tbsp of Hershey’s Chocolate Syrup and mix well. Pour batter into two cake pans. Batter will be thin.

• For the vanilla cake: whisk 1 ½ cups of flour, 1 teaspoon baking powder, and ½ teaspoon salt in a medium bowl. Beat 1 stick of softened butter in a large bowl with a mixer on medium-high speed until smooth, about 1 minute. Beat in 1 cup of sugar until creamy, about 4 more minutes. Beat in 2 eggs, one at a time, then 2 teaspoons vanilla. Scrape the sides of the bowl, if necessary, to help make sure all the ingredients mix together. Beat in the flour mixture in three batches on low speed, alternating with ½ cup of milk. Beat on medium-high speed until just combined. Pour into cake pan. Batter will be thin.

• Bake until the tops spring back, or 22-24 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack and let cool for 5 minutes, and then remove the cakes from the pan and let cool completely on the wire rack.

• Icing: Combine the cream cheese and butter with a mixer until smooth. Add about half of the powdered sugar and vanilla extract and mix until smooth and well combined. Add the remaining powdered sugar, lemon juice, and zest and mix until smooth. If you like a really lemony icing, add a ½ tsp more lemon juice.

• Place your first cake button down and smooth one cup of icing (or to preferred thickness) on top. Then, place your second cake top down and smooth another cup of icing on top. Finally, place the third cake bottom down on top and use remaining icing for the top and sides of the entire cake to your preferred thickness. Decorate with the lemon beads according to your tastes.

**Note: I use a cupcake recipe to make my cakes as I love light, fluffy cakes. But you can use whatever cake recipe you might have for this dessert.