When a friend has a birthday, I am usually the person who gets volunteered to bake the cake. I usually agree and ask the birthday boy or girl to tell me what kind of cake they want. I’ll try and come up with the desired flavor and type of cake and have found some very good cake recipes this way. Last year, other than the plain old white cake with vanilla buttercream frosting or chocolate cake with chocolate frosting, I made a Boston cream pie, a flourless chocolate cake and red velvet cake. I’m still working on a good red velvet cake recipe, if you have a good one, let me know.
I also usually bake the cake for my own birthday and I have one recipe that I’ve been making since I first found it in the March 2004 issue of Fine Cooking. It’s a lemon flavored white cake with a lemon curd filling and a lemon buttercream frosting. If you’ve been paying attention at all, you probably could have guessed that my favorite cake would be lemon. You probably also could easily understand that one of the things I love about the recipe is that the white cake uses only egg whites, but the lemon curd filling puts the yolks to use so there is no waste. I do love that kind of efficiency. The cake recipe by itself is a winner, light and moist and lush, so if you’re not a big fan of lemon, you could also do this with lime or some other fruit flavor or just make the cake vanilla flavored and make the frosting vanilla, but double it and use it in between the layers. There are lots of possibilities.
triple-lemon layer cake (adapted from Fine Cooking)
- 2 1/3 cups cake flour plus a little extra for the pans
- 2 3/4 t baking powder
- 1/4 t salt
- 1 3/4 cups sugar
- 2 T lightly packed finely grated lemon zest
- 3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened, plus a little more for the pans
- 1 cup whole milk
- 5 large egg whites, at room temperature
- 1/4 t cream of tartar
- 1 recipe lemon curd for the filling (see below)
- 1 recipe lemon buttercream frosting (see below)
Position a rack in the middle of the oven: heat the oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour two 8×2 inch round cake pans. Sift the cake flour, baking powder and salt together into a medium bowl. Pulse 1/4 cup of the sugar with the zest in a food processor until well combined.
In a large bowl, beat the butter and lemon sugar with an electric mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 1 1/2 minutes. Add the remaining 1 1/2 cups sugar and beat until smooth, about 1 1/2 minutes. Beat in a quarter of the milk just until blended. On low speed, add the flour mixture alternately with the milk in three batches, scraping the bowl with a rubber spatula; beat just until blended.
In another large bowl, beat the egg whites with an electric mixer (with clean beaters or the whip attachment) on medium speed just until foamy. Add the cream of tartar, increase the speed to medium high and beat just until the whites form stiff peaks. Add a quarter of the whites to the batter and gently fold them in with a whisk or a rubber spatula; continue to gently fold in the whites, a quarter at a time, being careful not to deflate the mixture.
Divide the batter evenly between the prepared pans. Smooth the tops with the spatula. Bake until a pick inserted in the centers comes out clean, 30-40 minutes. Let cool in the pans on a rack for 10 minutes. Run a knife around the inside of the pans and carefully invert each cake out onto the rack. Flip them right side up and let cool completely.
With the palm of one hand pressed on top of a cake layer, cut each in half horizontally, using a long serrated knife. Put on of the four cake layers on a serving plate, cut side up. With an offset spatula or a table knife, spread a generous 1/3 cup chilled lemon curd on top of the cake layer. Lay another cake layer on top, spread it with another generous 1/3 cup curd, and repeat with the third cake layer, using another 1/3 cup lemon curd. Top with the fourth cake layer.
At least a few hours before serving, spread a thin layer of frosting on the cake, filling in any gaps as you go. This is called a crumb coat. Chill until the frosting firms up, about an hour, and finish frosting the cake with the rest of the frosting.
lemon curd
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter
- 3/4 granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
- 3 T lightly packed finely grated lemon zest
- pinch salt
- 6 large egg yolks
Melt the butter in a heavy medium saucepan over medium heat. Remove the pan from the heat and whisk in the sugar, lemon juice, zest and salt. Whisk in the yolks until smooth. Return the pan to medium-low heat and cook, whisking constantly until the mixture thickens, 5-8 minutes. To check if the curd is thick enough, dip a wooden spoon into it and draw your finger across the back of the spoon; your finger should leave a path. Don’t let the mixture boil. Immediately force the curd through ha fine sieve into a bowl using a rubber spatula. Cover and refrigerate until ready to use.
buttercream frosting
- 1 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
- 2 T lightly packed finely grated lemon zest
- 3 1/2 cups sifted powdered sugar
- 2 T fresh lemon juice
- 1 T cream
In a medium bowl, beat the butter and lemon zest with an electric mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy. Add the powdered sugar in batches and beat until light and fluffy. Add the lemon juice and cream and beat for 1 minute.
Thursday, 17. April 2008
Oooooh… My birthday is coming up… And my favorite birthday cake is actually a birthday pie, key lime! I should really make this for myself instead this year. It sounds drrrreamy!
Tuesday, 22. April 2008
Can I please have your cake and eat it??
Monday, 28. April 2008
this is almost exactly like my favorite white cake recipe, except i usually go either plain or coconut. of course, my cake never looks as perfectly leveled and frosted as this one. impressive!
Saturday, 3. May 2008
Hi there
Have just found your blog and it is yest another example of all the great food blogs that are out there! I just don’t have time to read all the blogs I have saved at this stage! I started off blogging myself and have just set up http://www.ifoods.tv which is a place for foodies, bloggers and chefs to hand out and share their recipes, photos and food videos. Would love to see you there sharing some of your great photos! Keep up the great work on the blog, have bookmarked it so will be a regular reader!
Friday, 9. May 2008
The more I make my red velvet recipe, the more I love it. You can find it under desserts on Whipped. Still… I think the PERFECT red velvet may always be a bit elusive!
Tuesday, 27. May 2008
I love lemon and this cake looks
lovely. I’ll have to try it. Also, I like
your blog.
Wednesday, 25. June 2008
It look’s to good to be through I am definitely going to try this
Wednesday, 2. July 2008
I’m Sophie, Key Ingredient’s Chief Blogger. We would like to feature this recipe on our blog. Please email sophiekiblogger@gmail.com if interested. Thanks
Sophie
http://blog.keyingredient.com/
Tuesday, 12. August 2008
These pictures are so inviting I want to eat the cakes that you have featured. If I did that then I would have committerd so many sins in one day which I don’t wish to do.
In regards your blog, your presetation is really good. I bet you have a big following and if so it is a well deserved success..
Tuesday, 12. August 2008
We would like to feature this recipe on our blog. Please email sophiekiblogger@gmail.com if interested. Thanks
Monday, 18. August 2008
I love this recipe
Sunday, 24. August 2008
Mary! You stopped writing. Could you please continue? I hope all is well with you. I enjoy your writing so please come back.
Lota
Friday, 5. September 2008
I recently bought the “Great American Bake Sale” Cookbook for $5 bucks at Barne’s and Noble. It has a gorgeous photo of a Red Velvet cake by Stephanie Hall. It has a full 2 cups of oil! Here’s
Here’s a link to a blogger that tried it and had success–it’s on my list, too.
Monday, 8. September 2008
Good site more power.
http://alaminos.net Kabonfootprint
Sunday, 21. September 2008
this is the cake of my dreams…I’ve never made lemon curd, I’ve always been intimidated…
Tuesday, 18. November 2008
Triple layer lemon cake is looking delicious. The pictures also very perfect. From long time, i want to prepare this cake, but did’nt got proper recipe.
After seeing your recipe, I am very much excited to prepare this one.
Thanks for posting.
Sandy
Friday, 21. November 2008
Thanks for the recipe. Sounds terrific!
A little recommendation, I found these to be so delicious and useful in my kitchen: http://bajoseasonedsalts.com/
Cheers.
John
Tuesday, 6. January 2009
Wow! I bet your cakes taste really great that’s why they love you to bake the cake for their birthday. Maybe if you have some time why not visit us in Foodista.com a new and free food encyclopedia and share with us your cake recipes. For more infos on what in store for you if you add recipes with us check this out http://www.foodista.com/drawing/.. Don’t forget to register first so we know who to thank the recipe for. Thanks! See you there!
Saturday, 18. April 2009
I am visiting your blog first time…sounds delicious….can’t wait to make this….uphere in US i always have a hard time trying to find ingredients….one of my friend introduced me to a great resource http://www.myethnicworld.com and i thought that i pass great along as well….I love your gigantic photos.
Sunday, 31. May 2009
It’s awesome and looks so delicious.
Thanks for sharing.
I will definitely try this one.
http://www.ahacook.com
Wednesday, 26. August 2009
Wonderful,yummy site-thanks for the pictures and info! Betty
Saturday, 26. September 2009
I love all things lemon and this cake looks like it is going to be added to my list!
Thank you for the recipe!
Monday, 28. September 2009
This cake looks amazing - perfection! What an amazing job! Shall definitely try to give the recipe a go and make it look as great!
Monday, 28. September 2009
Yum! looks so great!