Place the rack in the center of the oven. Preheat the oven to 335 °F (168 °C) and line two round 8” pans with parchment paper.

In a medium mixing bowl, stir together the flour, salt, and baking powder. Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl with an electric hand mixer or a stand mixer with a whisk attachment, beat the eggs, sugar, vanilla extract, and lemon extract at medium-high speed for about 2 minutes until it's thickened and a light gold color. Should your stand mixer not have a whisk attachment, then beat the mixture for 5 minutes using the paddle attachment.

Beat in the dry ingredients on low speed just until combined. Use a silicon spatula to scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl and mix briefly to incorporate.

In a small saucepan, heat the milk and lemon zest over medium heat. You shouldn't let it boil. When you see small bubbles start to appear around the edge of the saucepan, it's ready. The temperature will be 180-185 °F (82-85 °C). Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the butter and oil until the butter has melted.

Slowly stir the milk mixture into the batter at low speed and mix until totally combined.

Divide the batter evenly between the two prepared pans. That’s 580 grams (about 2 3/4 cups) per pan or 598 grams if using Bob's GF flour.

Bake the for 33-45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean and the top is set.

Remove to a wire rack to cool for 15 minutes and then turn the cakes onto the wire rack to cool completely, about 2 hours. The cake might seem a little dry at this point, but it gets moister as it sits.

In a large mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese and butter together with an electric hand mixer or stand mixer at medium speed until well combined. It's okay if it looks a little crumbly.

Gradually beat in the powdered sugar until totally combined, and then beat in the vanilla and salt.

Remove 1/2 cup (117 grams) of frosting. That’ll stay white to add some more decorations to the cake.

If using McCormick Nature's Inspiration Food Colors, add 1/2 teaspoon of the berry powder to make the frosting light pink. Beat until combined. If you have specks of the powder in the frosting, just let it sit for a few minutes and then beat again.

Get out a cake plate that’s big enough for the heart.

Transfer a cake layer to the cake plate - you want the first layer of cake to be towards the bottom of the serving dish (and not right in the middle) because the cut-off bits will be added towards the top of the cake to form the rounded top of the heart. If you put the cake plate on top of a cake layer (which is on the cooling rack) and flip everything over, the rounded part will be on top. If you have a different preferred way of transferring cake layers, do whatever you like. It doesn’t really matter if the rounded part of the cake layer ends up on top in the end, as it’s not very domed.

Spread 3/4 cup (173 grams) of pink frosting on top.

Add the other layer on top, flat side up.

Use a ruler and measure out two 5” lines, forming a right angle. This will be the bottom of the heart.

Cut away those curved bits, but be careful with them as they’re going to help form the top of the heart.

Use about 2 tbsp frosting to help attach the rounded cut-offs to the main cake piece to form a heart shape. You’ll have to bend them a little.

My heart shape looked pretty bad at this point, so I cut away a little bit at the very top, in the middle, and then the heart looked perfect.

Use about 1/3 to 1/2 cup (76-115 grams) as a crumb coat. Spread the frosting over the sides and top of the cake.

Place in the freezer for about 30-60 minutes or until the frosting is very firm. Or place in the fridge for about 2 hours.

Frost the rest of the cake. I used about another 3/4 cup (98 grams) on top and then about 1 cup (130 grams) on the sides.

Place back in the freezer for about 30-60 minutes or the fridge for 1-2 hours to allow the frosting to firm up before piping on the decoration.

To the remaining pink frosting, add a little more food coloring to make the frosting a darker shade of pink. I added another 3/8 tsp of McCormick berry powder to the remaining pink frosting (about 1 1/3 cup) for the darker pink shell boarder.

Use tip Wilton 32 to pipe a small shell border around the top and bottom of the cake (see post for a video).

Use the reserved white frosting to pipe on small dots or whatever you’d like. I used Wilton tip 18 for the white shell border and Wilton tip 3 for the curved white lines.

If you still have pink frosting leftover, you can add whatever decoration you’d like with that or add a little more pink food coloring for a third shade of pink, and pipe on more stuff.

Just before serving, place maraschino cherries around the top border.

Cover and refrigerate the finished cake for up to 4 days. It also freezes great (without the cherries) for up to 3 months.