This cake is bursting with layers of bright summer citrus flavor. This cake mix cake tastes like a fancy bakery cake from the addition of sour cream, pudding, and Jello. Topped with luscious buttercream and lemon, lime, and orange slices, this Citrus Cake is perfect for spring!
Preheat the oven to 350 F. Line the bottom of three 9” cake pans with parchment paper and spray with baking spray.
Add all of the cake ingredients except all of the jello and food coloring to a large mixing bowl.
Whisk together just until combined. Divide the batter into three separate bowls.
Add the lime jello to one bowl, lemon jello to another bowl, and orange jello to the remaining bowl. Mix only until the jello is fully incorporated. Both the lime and orange bowls will be colored. The lemon jello will not really color the cake batter.
At this point, you can add a dot of yellow food coloring to the lemon bowl and orange food coloring to the orange bowl if you wish to intensify the colors. Mix only until the coloring has been incorporated and the batter is evenly colored.
Pour the batter into each of the cake pans, keeping them separate. Place the pans into the oven to bake for 40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean or with moist crumbs. Remove the cakes from the oven and place them onto a cooling rack to cool completely.
When the cakes are almost cool, make the frosting. Add all of the ingredients to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Beat together on high speed for 2 minutes or until smooth, fluffy, and lighter in color.
Once the cakes have cooled completely, remove the lime layer from the pan and place it onto a cake stand.
Use an offset or rubber spatula to spread about ¾ cup frosting over the surface of the cake.
Remove the orange layer from the pan and place it directly onto the top of the lime layer ensuring that all of the edges meet.
Spread about ¾ c frosting over the surface of the cake.
Remove the lemon cake layer from the pan and place it directly on top of the orange layer.
Frost the top and sides of the cake using the remaining frosting. For added visual interest and easy decorating, after the sides have been frosted, gently drag the offset spatula upwards on the side of the cake to make lines. Optionally, layer slices of fresh orange, lemon, and lime onto the top of the cake. Slice and serve.