• Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Grease and flour three 8 inch pans. We like to line the bottom of our pans with circles of parchment paper.
• In a medium bowl, whisk the cake flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt for 30 seconds and set aside.
• In another bowl, combine the milk, oil, lemon juice, lemon extract, and lemon zest. Set aside.**It will take a on a thick, clumpy look- don't worry- the lemon is basically turning the milk into buttermilk.
• In the bowl of your mixer, add the butter and cream cheese and mix at medium speed until smooth.
• Gradually add the sugar and mix at medium speed for 2-3 minutes.
• Add the room temperature eggs one at a time, mixing until the yellow of the yolk disappears.
• With the mixer on low speed, add about half of the flour mixture. Mix until combined.
• Add the milk and lemon extract. Blend on low speed, then add the remaining flour mixture. Increase the mixing speed slightly and mix just until blended and smooth. Do not over mix.
• Divide the batter between the three prepared pans.
• Bake at 325 degrees F for 28-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean or with just a few crumbs attached. Let cool for 5-10 minutes in the pans on a wire rack before turning out.
• This recipe makes approximately 8 cups of batter. Works for cupcakes also (although there will be little to no dome).

Pineapple Cream Filling

• Combine the pudding mix and heavy cream in a mixing bowl. I prefer to mix with a hand held mixer, but a whisk is fine also.
• If using a mixer, start on low speed until well combined. Then, switch to high speed and whip the pudding until thick and fluffy. If mousse is too thick, mix in small amounts of heavy cream to reach desired consistency.
• If mixing by hand, simply whisk rapidly for a couple of minutes or until mixture is nice and thick.
• Fold in crushed, drained, pineapple until well combined.
• I used this for two layers of filling as well as a topping for our cake.

For the Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting

• Cut butter into ½ inch slices and add to the bowl of your mixer, beat until smooth.
• Cut the cream cheese into pieces and add to the butter, beating until blended.
• Add the lemon zest and lemon extract.
• Gradually add powdered sugar as well as yellow coloring gel (optional) and beat until well blended.
• This frosting will pipe best if used while still chilled. You can make it in advance, refrigerate and when ready to use let it soften slightly and remix. Do not microwave to soften.
• Assembling the CakePlace the first lemon cake layer on cake base or pedestal. Spread with a very thin layer of lemon cream cheese frosting (optional). Pipe a dam of the lemon frosting around the edge of the cake layer (about ¼-1/2 inch from the edge).
• Fill within the dam with the pineapple cream filling. Repeat steps for the next cake layer and top with the third cake layer.
• Crumb coat the cake (thin layer) with frosting and chill for 15 minutes in the freezer to firm everything up before applying the final coat of frosting. Decorate the cake however you like! For my cake, I smoothed around the sides of the cake with a bench scraper before texturing the sides with a silicone pastry brush. I added a top border of shells and rosettes with a 2D piping tip. I added additional pineapple cream to the top of the cake, and a simple bead border (tip 4) around the base.