Shelly's Recipe

Lemon Curd Layer Cake

Category: Cakes

Cake:
1 1/2 cups cake flour
1 1/2 cups sugar (divided)
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
4 large egg yolks
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup orange juice
1 1/2 teaspoons grated lemon peel
3/4 cup lemon curd
8 large egg whites
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar

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.

Frosting
3/4 cup powdered sugar
1 1/4 cups lemon curd
2 cups chilled whipping cream

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 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 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 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 save 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 is not your thing, you can make this cake in another fruit flavor.