Since I am just a hobby baker I don't have a large expanse of flavors that I offer.  I want to change that and start expanding a bit.  I have an acquaintance who gets a lot of cakes from me and her favorite flavor is lemon blueberry with cream cheese frosting.  So for her next order that is the flavor I want to do but I want to get some opinions on how I plan to add to the WASC recipe, which I use all the time and love, to make it lemon.

So I was going to start with a white cake mix from DH instead of lemon because I don't want that yellow color.  So I was considering adding a lemon pudding mix, lemon zest and lemon extract to the white cake mix.  Do you think that would add enough lemon punch?

And because I like to over think things, since I have a few cakes coming up the next few weekends I wanted to try and get a good amount of baking done this weekend just to get ahead.  I have never frozen a cake with fruit in it, and even though my gut is telling me it will be fine, would there be any issue freezing a cake with blueberries baked into it?  Just wasn't sure if the thawing process would randomly do something strange to the berries.

You MUST call me when your flavor creation is done so I can enjoy it!!   Yes it will fz just fine :)    I think I would add up to 1/2 cup lemon juice as part of the water in the recipe    Now run into the kitchen & start baking LOL! 

I've made that cake numerous times because I LOVE it! I just do lemon extract and zest, and for me, that is enough for the flavor to come through; never thought of pudding! I have not frozen a cake with fruit, per se, but I have frozen blueberry bread and thawed just fine.

BTW  have you ever fzn blueberry muffins?  Of course they were fine :) 

I definitely have an overthinking problem LOL!  Using lemon juice for some of the water is a good idea!  Thank you both for easing my worries.  One of these days I may stop questioning my gut...maybe :)

I'm excited about making a different flavor because lately everyone has been wanting chocolate cake.  Don't get me wrong I love chocolate cake, but after baking batch after batch after batch a change would be nice.  Even my husband who loves the fact that he constantly has cake scraps to eat is all "ugh, can't they get something besides chocolate?!"

No, I've never frozen blueberry muffins. We all have a tendency to overthink! That cake is going to be delicious *drools*

From a previous post of mine: the BC lemon cake mix doesn’t look very yellow at all and then I don’t have to use extract...:

All I do is WASC it up with a Betty Crocker lemon cake, add the ZEST of a whole lemon to the dry ingredients and replace some of the cup of water/liquid with the JUICE of that whole lemon.

I know everyone has different tastes, but this recipe has proven itself time and time again with lemon cake lovers....thanks @Kakeladi!!!!

Came upon this link and thought of you.  Haven't tried it - don't know for sure how it turns out but thought you might like o play geek and tell us all how it works:)   

I've made the lemon version of WASC several times.  Like MerMadeBakedGoods, I start with a lemon cake mix, substitute lemon juice for most of the water and add a big helping of lemon zest.  If that is not enough of a punch, I add a teaspoon of lemon extract.  I like the lemon flavor to explode!

Thanks for all the input and suggestions!  I plan on baking Sunday so I will let you all know how it turns out.

...and if you rub the zest into some white granulated sugar it releases the oil and zips the zest up considerably -- just rub for a minute or two until it starts to smell heavenly 

Please google Cakepro amazing lemon cake recipe you can print right from this site!! Delicious!! 

Cakepro's recipe looks nice.  I'll give it a go this summer.

MBalaska you won’t be disappointed I hope 

MBalaska you won’t be disappointed I hope 

Ok so my plans went awry and I didn't get to bake my cakes until yesterday.  But the lemon WASC cake baked beautifully!  I used the base recipe and added lemon pudding mix, lemon zest, lemon juice and lemon extract.  Definitely gives you lemon flavor without smacking you over the head with tartness.  The only fail of the whole thing were my blueberries sank to the bottom.  I even coated them in flour but that didn't seem to help.  Next time I may take half the blueberries and scatter them on top of the batter to see if that helps.  But I torte my cakes into two 1" layers (4 1" layers total) so I figure I will layer up the cake so that the blueberry heavy layers are in between the no blueberry/blueberry light layers to help even things out when the cake is cut.

Hello @icer101,  today I made the Cakepro lemon cake ( white cake mix, lemon pudding, fresh lemon juice, lemon peel zest, etc)

It was delicious!  you were absolutely right.  The cake cut nicely, was tender and moist and flavorful with a nice tangy lemon zip.  I put a vanilla-lemon extract SMBC on it and it was too heavy & buttery and it didn't compliment the lovely lemon flavor.  I ate most of my cake without any frosting. It was that nice of a cake. 

I'm wondering if a simple meringue like a seven minute icing would not be a nicer combination to the lemon cake???

When I make elderflower-lemon cake, I use a white chocolate SMBC on the outside and fill the layers with lemon curd.  I think it goes perfectly.

Sandra, how do you make your SMBC "white chocolate"??  what do you add??

and yes, some lemon curd, or lemon pie filling would go nicely in a torte...……..

I can find the recipe for you tomorrow, MBalaska, if you want it, but it is just regular SMBC with melted white chocolate added.  Melt the chocolate, but let it cool down before adding to the frosting.  It should be added after the butter and after the frosting comes together and gets fluffy.  Just pour it in a little at a time while he mixer is running.  I don't remember exactly how much chocolate I used, but I think it was about 4 ounces of chocolate added to a batch of SMBC just big enough to frost an 8" x 6" cake.

MBalaska thank you for letting me know this. I usually make mascarpone cheese frosting with pure lemon flavoring, then  I make Carmijok ( cake central member) cream cheese icing using  a  little real lemon juice . Mix them together by folding the mascarpone into the cream cheese icing with rubber spatula ) delicious . Or u can just use the mascarpone cheese frosting ( which would be lighter) google Carmijok cream cheese icing on cake central . If you do let me know how u like it . 

@SandraSmiley, that's how I make my milk chocolate SMBC, no need to hunt further   Thanks for the information & I'll be trying it in the future. so many possibilities.  

@icer101, cream cheese icing never crossed my mind.  The tang from the cream cheese might go well with the lemon cake.

I'm wondering now, how many decades more that I will keep experimenting with new recipes??  I might stop while I'm ahead.

Haha, I've been experimenting with recipes for about 5-1/2 decades now and I don't plan to stop any time soon!  It's fun!

SandraSmiley, you are way ahead of me! ha...……………  I am wondering why none of the photos on this website have been showing up for a few days.

I miss seeing every ones creations.

Happy days with Cakepros Lemon WASC cake.  I bought my first citrus zester tool.  I made another one of the lemon cakes with lots of fresh zest, twice the amount of lemon juice (same amount of liquid in the recipe, just cut the water & more juice), and it was spectacular.  Nice and Zippy lemon flavor. 

I ate half the cake just like it was  lemon bread -- no frosting needed.  delicious.

That sounds good too MBalaska! Didn’t think it could taste any better ! Will try what u did next one I make ! Thanks for your input! 

I do the same thing, MBalaska!  I always add a lot more lemon juice and zest to my recipes because my husband and I love a good lemon punch!  I've done the same with clients and they seem to love it too!

I'm having a piece of lemon cake right now. It's hard to believe that I've waited 40 years to try one.  better late then never. ha

……………. could some of the lemon curd be mixed into SMBC to flavor it?? has anyone tried that?  I'd put some fresh squeezed lemon juice in the SMBC but I'm not sure that it would break it.