Lemon Curd Layer Cake

This is an old-fashioned cake and a half, let me tell you upfront. This cake is no walk in the park. But it’s worth it. This is cake the way your great-grandmas made it, meaning–it’s not easy, but it’s delicious! It’s a special cake, worthy of special occasions. Make it for an ordinary day and you can make any day special because it’s pretty amazing.

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Difficulty: Intermediate

Servings: 10-12

Prep Time: several hours, spread out   Cook Time: 25 minutes  

Ingredients

Directions

I got this recipe from BuckeyeGirl, who credits it to her friend, Ellen Belef of Aurora, Colorado.

You can make this cake in one day if you’ve got your calendar cleared, or break it up into three different days and it won’t seem nearly as challenging. I made the lemon curd a couple of weeks ago, before I went out of town unexpectedly. The lemon curd was just as good as the day I made it, so now you know–lemon curd stays good in the fridge at least two weeks. For the lemon curd, see the recipe here. You will need a total of 3 1/3 cups of lemon curd for this cake. So don’t eat it all before you make the cake. (That recipe makes more than enough for this cake and the frosting.)

I baked the cake layers one day and stored them between layers of parchment paper in a sealed container then made the frosting and put the cake together the next day. If you’ve got a special occasion coming up, I’d definitely recommend making the lemon curd in advance then baking and frosting the cake at the last minute. (The cake must be stored chilled.)

To bake the cake:

Preheat oven to 350-degrees. Butter and flour three 9-inch cake pans with 1 1/2-inch sides; line bottoms with parchment paper. Whisk cake flour, 1/2 cup of the sugar, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl. Add the 4 yolks, vegetable oil, orange juice, lemon peel, and 3/4 cup lemon curd to bowl. (Do not stir.)

Combine the 8 egg whites and cream of tartar in another large bowl. Using an electric mixer, beat egg whites until soft peaks form. Gradually add remaining cup of sugar until stiff but not dry.

Using the same beaters, beat flour-yolk mixture until smooth. Fold whites into flour-yolk mixture in three additions.

Divide batter equally between the three prepared pans. Bake cakes about 25 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean. (Watch carefully. Twenty minutes was enough for me.) Cool on wire racks 15 minutes before turning out of pans onto wire racks. Peel off parchment paper and finish cooling completely.

For frosting:

Beat powdered sugar and lemon curd in a large bowl until blended. Beat cream in a medium bowl until firm peaks form. Fold cream into curd mixture in three additions. Chill until firm, at least four hours. (Or do what I did, which was stick the frosting in the freezer for 30 minutes.) This will make 4 cups frosting. Place one cup of frosting in a pastry bag with a decorative tip, leaving remaining three cups for the initial frosting.

To assemble the cake: You will need the three baked cake layers, the frosting mixture, plus an additional 1 1/3 cups lemon curd.

Place one cake layer on a cake platter. Spread top of cake with 1/3 cup plain lemon curd then spread 1 cup frosting on top of the lemon curd. Repeat with remaining layers. (Reserve the one cup of frosting in the pastry bag and 1/3 cup plain lemon curd for the final topping.) Be sure to reserve enough frosting to also frost the sides. I use strips of parchment paper slipped under the cake all the way around to keep the cake plate clean while I’m frosting. When finished, just whip the parchment pieces out and you have a perfect presentation.

Spread the final 1/3 cup plain lemon curd over the top. Pipe the reserved one cup of frosting in the pastry bag around the edges. Decorate with lemon slices, halved and patted dry.

Store chilled until serving. Remember that you can also make fruit curds from just about any fruit, so if lemon isn’t your thing, you can make this cake in another fruit flavor.

Categories: Cakes, Desserts, Entertaining, Frostings & Icings, Old-Fashioned, Presentation, Special Occasions

Submitted by: suzanne-mcminn on July 30, 2010