This was one of the cakes I made for a birthday celebration from a few weeks ago. The other was a chocolate mousse layer cake. Everyone first went for the chocolate cake, and I ended up sending pieces of the lemon cake home with others. I loved the lemon cake, but I made the curd very zesty and used a lemony simple syrup on the cake when layering to add more lemon flavour. It may have been too lemony for some with that. But I LOVE that zippy flavour. Apparently so did my best friend, because she raved about that cake when we had dinner together a couple of days ago. She kept saying how she was thinking about it and drooling at work, waiting to go home and have some more.
I'll post the whole recipe, but just the white cake itself is quite yummy, and light with a fine crumb - I made just the cake itself with 2 tbsp poppyseeds another time, and brought it to work as a snack cake - it was lovely.
Triple Lemon Layer Cake - serves 8-10
For the cake:9 1/4 oz (2 1/3 Cups) cake flour, more for the pans
2 3/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp table salt
1 3/4 cups granulated sugar
2 tbsp lightly packed, finely grated lemon zest
6 oz (3/4 cup) unsalted butter, softened to room temp
1 cup whole milk, at room temp (I had 2%, so used that)
5 large egg whites, at room temp
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
Put rack in centre of ove and preheat to 350F. Butter and flour two 8x2 inch round cake pans. Sift flour, baking powder, and salt together into a bowl. Pulse 1/4 cup of the sugar with zest in a food processor until well combined.
Beat butter and lemon sugar with mixer on medium until light and fluffy, add the remaining sugar and bead until smooth. Beat in 1/4 of milk until blended. On low speed add the flour mixture alternately with milk in three batches, scraping down the sides with a spatula. Beat just until well blended.
In another bow; beat whites with mixer until foamy. Add cream of tartar and beat on medium high until stiff peaks form. Add one quarter of the whites to the batter, and fently fold into batter. Add the rest of whites, 1/4 at a time, gently folding to blend.
Divide batter evenly between the pans ang bake until pick inserted in centres come out clean - about 35-40 minutes. Cool in pan, on racks for 10 minutes, and carefully remove from pans and cool completely on racks.
Filling: lemon curd:1/4 lb (1/2 cup) unsalted butter
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
3 tbsp lightly packed finely grated lemon zest
pinch of salt
6 large egg yolks
Melt the butter in a heavy medium sauce pan over medium heat. Remove from heat and whisk in sugar, juice, zest, and salt. Whisk in yolks until smooth. Return pan to medium low heat, and cook. Whisk constantly until mixture is thick and steaming, about 5-6 minutes. Do not let boil. If desired, force curd immediately through fine sieve into bowl for a smoother texture, using rubber spatula. Let cool to room temp, whisking occasionally. Refrigerate, covered, until ready to use.
Frosting:1/2 lb (1 cup) unsalted butter, softened to room temp
2 tbsp finely grated lemon zest
3 1/4 cups sifted confectioners sugar
3 tbsp fresh lemon juice
decorations (dragees, and curls of lemon zest)
Beat butter and zest with mixer until light and fluffy. Add the sugar in batches and beat until light and fluffy. Add the juice and beat 1 minute. Frosting will keep at room temp for 2 hours.
To put the cake together:Cut each cake in half horizontally, using long serrated knife. Place one layer onto a serving plate, cut side up. With offset spatula, spread 1/3 of curd on the layer. Lay another layer on top, spread with another 1/3 of lemon curd, repeat with another layer of cake and curd. Lay fourth layer of cake on top of last layer of curd.
A few hours before serving, spread a thin layer of frosting on the cake, filling in any gaps (the crumb coat). Chill a bit to firm frosting, about 1/2hour. Spread remaining frosting decoratively over top and sides of cake and decorate with dragees and lemon curls.
My notes: I trimmed the cakes on the top - removing that slightly domed bit in the centre so I would have nicely flat layers - and so I could have a snack of cake. It is lovely and light, with nice lemon flavour. I made a simple syrup with a ratio of 1:1:1 water, lemon juice, sugar, and some lemon zest to add moistness to the cake. When the solution was cooked to dissolve sugar, and cooled, I used a brust to brush it onto the layers of cake before layering the lemon curd on. I brushed both sides of the cake layers, and on the top and sides. Then I let it sit a bit before adding the crumb coat. Made it more dense and moist and added a lot more lemon flavour. This can be skipped if you want a lighter cake, but I loved it. If I had some limoncello liquer, I would have used that instead.
