Sweet Vanilla Pea Cake with Lemon Frosting

4.92 from 37 votes

Sweet Vanilla Pea Cake with Lemon Frosting

This Sweet Vanilla Pea Cake tastes like a vanilla cake, but it's green! The flavor of the peas fades away in this vegetable cake. It's topped with a zingy lemon frosting and a halo of pea shoots for decoration.

Prep Time15

Cook Time25

Total Time40

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Servings:

Calories: 451kcal

Author: Kate Hackworthy | Veggie Desserts

Cost: $15

Ingredients

2 cups (275g) fresh or frozen peas
¾ cup (200g) butter room temperature
¾ cup (150g) sugar
3 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
zest and juice of ½ lemon
2 cups (250g) all-purpose (plain) flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt

For the Lemon Buttercream:

⅔ cup (150g) butter room temperature
2 ½ cups (300g) powdered icing sugar
Zest and juice of ½ a lemon

To finish:

Pea shoots optional
lemon zest optional

Instructions

For the Vanilla Pea Cake:

Preheat the oven to 325F / 160C. Grease and line two 9” cake pans (or three 6” pans, as I did in the pictures).
Boil the peas for a few minutes, drain, refresh under cold water and puree until completely smooth. Set aside.
In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, then beat in the cooled pea puree, vanilla, zest and lemon juice.
Sift in the flour, baking powder and salt and stir to gently combine.
Spoon the mixture into the prepared tins, push to the edges and level, then bake for 25 minutes or until an inserted skewer comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes in the tins and then turn onto a wire rack to cool completely before icing.

For the Lemon Frosting:

In a large bowl, cream the butter until fluffy. Add in the icing sugar and beat. Beat in the zest and a little of the lemon juice. Add more lemon juice to make it a frosting consistency and beat again. Store in the fridge until ready to use.

To Assemble:

Spread a little of the buttercream between the layers of the completely cooled cakes and sandwich together. Cover the cake in the remaining buttercream and decorate with pea shoots and lemon zest.

Nutrition