Rivka's Lemon Cake

Originally posted on my personal blog, March 2009.

















Per several requests, here is the recipe for the lemon cake I made for the Relief Society Birthday Party we had in my ward. I gleaned inspiration for this cake from a number of recipes from allrecipes.com. Most of you know that I have a tendency to diverge slightly (collective scoffs) from recipes I find, so I've written this recipe down exactly how I made it the other night. When you're reading through this and it looks a little unusual...well, that's generally a good indicator that it's one of my recipes!

Also, a warning for those who haven't used my recipes before, the slightly annoying side notes and editorial inserts (designated today by this font and color) are standard. Trust me, it's worse actually being in the kitchen with me. (cough-bossy know it all-cough.) Have fun!

Oh, and one more thing: This recipe fit perfectly in my 9-inch layering cake pans (2 inches deep). So, if you're working with the standard 8-inch-ers, this will be too much batter. If you want all 4 layers, though, you may want to make the whole recipe and then just fill your pans about 2/3 full. Otherwise, the cake won't be thick enough to slice in half and you'll just have 2 layers.

4-layer Lemon Cake with Lemon Curd filling

1 cup butter, softened
2 1/2 cups white sugar
6 eggs
1 1/2 tsp lemon extract (don't substitute or leave this out)
1/2 tsp vanilla
2 Tbs lemon zest
1 1/2 Tbs baking powder
2 tsp salt
2/3 cup lemon juice (I did use bottled lemon juice for half of this, but fresh everywhere else)
1 1/3 cups milk
4 1/4 cups cake flour (don't try to get away with using all-purpose)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Beat butter and sugar together until fluffy and light in color. This will take about 5 minutes. Add eggs one at a time. (Both steps seem time consuming and laborious but unless you want a cake with all the lightness of a hockey puck, don't shortcut here!) Once the eggs are added, mix in lemon extract, vanilla, zest, baking powder and salt. (Most cake recipes have all the dry ingredients mixed together, but cake flour is already nicely sifted and if you mix in the BP and salt, you mess with that-so don't.) Now, add the flour and liquids (lemon juice and milk) in alternating doses and just until the flour is mixed in! (Don't over mix this or we're back to the hockey puck.) And a word to the wise: don't mix the milk and lemon juice together - it will curdle the milk. Yikes.

Divide batter evenly into two well-greased and floured cake pans. Bake in pre-heated oven for 40-50 minutes. Do the toothpick test. (If you're using 8-inch pans the cook time will be slightly less.) Remove cakes from oven and let them cool in the pans for 10 minutes. Then invert onto wire cooling racks and allow to cool completely. (I put them in the garage on top of my car to speed things along. The secret's out!)

When the cakes have cooled, use a bread knife to cut the cakes in half horizontally. Now you have your four layers. Place the first layer of cake on your serving dish. (I put four pieces of wax or parchment paper down, leaving a square open in the middle, before I put the cake on it. That way when I frost, I can make a big mess and just pull the paper out at the end. Much less clean up on your serving dish.) Add 3-4 tablespoons of the lemon curd (recipe following), smoothing it out over the layer but leaving an inch border around the outside so it doesn't all squish out with the weight of additional layers. Add the second layer and cover this layer completely with frosting (recipe following). Add the third layer and another round of lemon curd. Add the top layer and frost the whole cake!

**Anyone who's frosted layered cakes will know that crumbs can be a problem. There are two solutions. First, do a thin "crumb layer" of frosting over the whole cake, refrigerate until hard and then frost with the rest of the frosting. Very professional. Or, you can do what I did. Dump ALL of the frosting on top the cake, spread it around the top and then smooth out all the stuff that's glopped down the side. Much less professional but less time consuming. Also funner! Just remember, it's WAY easier to take extra frosting off then it is to put more frosting on!



I decorated simply with a few blueberries and mint but you can do what your heart desires. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

**If you want it to look more formal/sculpted and are going to decorate with piped frosting etc, you'll probably want to find a recipe for a lemon buttercream frosting. This cream cheese one will be too soft.



Lemon Curd
(sans double-boiler)

3 eggs
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice

Mix the ingredients in a microwave safe bowl. Microwave on high in 1-minute increments, whisking well in between, until you can draw a line down the curd covering the back of a spoon and it doesn't fill in. It took my microwave a total of three minutes for this. Refrigerate until cool and thick like pudding.

Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting

1 (8 oz) package cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup butter
2 Tbs fresh lemon juice
2 (tsp) lemon zest
1 tsp lemon extract
1/2 tsp vanilla
5 cups powdered sugar

Beat first 6 ingredients together. Add powdered sugar one cup at a time until it's all mixed in. Yes, it will all go in! And, I've countered the ridiculous sweetness of 5 cups of sugar with added lemon extract, so don't cut back on the sugar or you'll have less frosting which would be a bummer!

**For fluffier frosting, add cold water a tablespoon at a time until you reach the desired consistency. I did not do this the other night, it's just a suggestion!

**I made the lemon curd and frosting a day or two in advance and just kept them in the refrigerator. Much less hassle on the day of the cake-making!