Moist Lemon Cake

Moist Lemon Cake

4 eggs
8 oz butter
8 oz sugar
8 oz self-rising flour
juice of 2 lemons
3 tablespoons icing sugar
Cream butter and sugar.Add beaten eggs and sifted flour alternately. Turn into an 8 x 8 or 9 x 9 square or round pan.Bake at 400F for 50 minutes. Boil lemon juice and sugar.Remove cooked cake from oven & immediately pour boiling lemon mixture over. Cool in pan.
Variations — try different juices — orange juice, cranberry, pineapple.This cake keeps very well.
Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 50 to 55 minutes,or until a tester inserted into the center comes out clean. Let cool in the pan on a rack for 10 minutes. Remove the cake from the pan and
let cool, right-side up, on the rack.
Using a long serrated knife, trim off the crusty top of the cake.Slice the cake horizontally into 3 even layers; set aside the middle layer to use as the top. Place the bottom layer on the inverted cake pan. Spread 3/4 cup of the Cream Cheese Icing over the bottom cake layer. Repeat with the second layer. Top the cake with the middle layer. Frost the sides of the cake with a thin layer of icing.
Refrigerate for 10 minutes, then refrost the sides with enough Cream Cheese Icing to cover completely. If desired, use a pastry bag fitted with a #2 star tip to pipe a decorative border of icing around the top edge of the cake.
Cream Cheese Icing
11 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
2 sticks (8 ounces) butter, softened
1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise
3/4 cup confectioners’ sugar, sifted
In a medium mixer bowl, beat the cream cheese until light and fluffy.With the mixer on low speed, gradually beat in the butter until well blended, about 4 minutes.
Scrape the seeds from the inside of the vanilla bean into the mixture;discard the pod. Sift in the confectioners’ sugar and continue to beat
on low speed, scraping the bowl frequetnly, until well blended, about 2 minutes. Refrigerate until ready to use, but do not let harden.