In a large bowl, whisk cooled flour and powdered sugar together. Using a pastry cutter, forks, or your hands, cut in cold butter into the dry ingredients. You want the butter to coat all the dry ingredients and the size to be small. We don’t want big chunks on our cake.
Stir in lemon zest and vanilla extract. Store in the refrigerator until the mixture gets cold, about 1 hour.
Lemon Mascarpone Cream Filling
Whip heavy whipping cream in a large bowl to stiff peaks, and set aside.
In another large bowl, mix mascarpone cheese, powdered sugar, lemon zest and juice. Gently fold in whipped cream. Chill in the refrigerator until ready to use.
To Assemble
Cut cooled cake in half horizontally. Place one cake layer on a cake plate. Reserve ¾ cup of filling, and spread or pipe the rest of the filling on top of the cake.
Place the second cake layer on top. Spread the reserved cake filling all over the top and sides of the cake.
Press crumb topping all over the tops and sides of the cake. Dust powdered sugar all over the cake. If not serving immediately, wait to dust the cake with powdered sugar. Powdered sugar will seep into the cake after awhile.
Refrigerate leftovers for up to 3 days.
NOTES
Break up the steps by making the crumb topping, cake filling, and/or the cake ahead of time.
Dust the cake with powdered sugar right before you serve it. Powdered sugar will seep into the cake after a time.
While the mascarpone cheese gives this cake an authentic Italian flavour, you can substitute with cream cheese if you would like.
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