Lemon-Cream Cheese Frosting & 1-2-3-4 Cake

I spotted a recipe for Lemon-Cream Cheese Frosting in an issue of Southern Living last week and decided I wanted to give it a whirl. The only problem was I needed something to put the frosting on besides say, my hand. In the magazine, they made some kind of Angel Food for their frosting, but I did not want to crack 92 eggs in order to have the 2 ½ cups of egg whites needed to make the cake. I was going to go the, well I’m not going to say lazy route, but I thought about using a boxed white cake mix. If I had had one I would have used it. There, I admitted it. I quickly thought about a pound cake, but I did not want to use that many eggs. So, I made half of a Basic 1-2-3-4 cake. Very simple. I baked it in a square pan for 32 minutes.
The frosting is very smooth, light, and not stiff like normal cream cheese frosting. Great to dollop; full of lemony flavor. It did note that if you want to use this frosting recipe for a layer cake to cut back on the lemon juice to 1 tablespoon. There would be enough frosting for a basic 2 layer 9 inch round cake.

Lemon-Cream Cheese Frosting
8 oz pkg cream cheese, softened
¼ cup butter, softened
¼ cup fresh lemon juice
1 16oz pkg powdered sugar
2 tsp lemon zest

Beat cream cheese and butter at medium speed until creamy; add lemon juice, beating just until blended. Gradually add powdered sugar, beating at low speed until blended; stir in lemon zest.

Basic 1-2-3-4 Cake
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, at room temperature
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
3 cups sifted self-rising flour
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Grease and flour 3 (9-inch) cake pans. Using an electric mixer, cream butter until fluffy. Add sugar and continue to cream well for 6 to 8 minutes. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Add flour and milk alternately to creamed mixture, beginning and ending with flour. Add vanilla and continue to beat until just mixed. Divide batter equally among prepared pans. Level batter in each pan by holding pan 3 or 4 inches above counter, then dropping it flat onto counter. Do this several times to release air bubbles and assure you of a more level cake. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until done. Cool in pans 5 to 10 minutes. Invert cakes onto cooling racks. Cool completely and spread cake layers with your favorite frosting to make a 3-layer cake.