I recently had a few extra pounds of lemons on hand and looked for a recipe to put them to use. I was flipping through Emily Luchetti's Four-Star Desserts cookbook (I already had the book out to make her espresso-chocolate chip angel food cake) and decided that her "Lemon Curd Cake" looked like a good project. The recipe yields one 9-inch cake and requires 11 tablespoons of lemon juice. I doubled the recipe to make two cakes and was able to use up all of my lemons!
Lemon curd is a component of the cake batter and you have to make the curd a bit in advance so that it has time to chill. You make this curd in a double boiler in a single step by cooking egg yolks, whole eggs, sugar, and lemon juice until thickened. When I strained the lemon curd there was a lot of cooked albumin left behind in the sieve, which didn't surprise me since the recipe uses whole eggs; I also think the curd probably needs to be stirred constantly, instead of just "occasionally" as directed. I covered the curd and chilled it before making the cake batter.
When the curd was cold, I mixed it with softened butter, lemon zest, and more lemon juice. Then I incorporated the sifted dry ingredients (cake flour, sugar, salt, and baking powder) and carefully folded in egg whites that had been whipped with sugar to soft peaks. I divided the batter between two buttered and floured 9-inch diameter pans to bake. The recipe specifies pans that are 3-inches high and the tall pans are absolutely necessary; the batter rose to almost reach the top of the pan.
Because the cakes were so large, I made sure that they were completely cooked through before I took them out of the oven; I've had a few bad experiences with tall cakes that aren't cooked in the middle. Despite the fact that my cakes were definitely cooked through, the centers sank as they cooled. I'm not sure if the middle is supposed to sink or not. The recipe doesn't mention this as a feature. While there is a photo of the cake in the cookbook, it's taken at a strange angle and it's difficult to discern the actual shape of the cake (if anything, the photo appears to show a cake that resembles a curling stone, with a convex and relatively flat top). I waited until the cakes were completely cool before turning them out and dusting them with powdered sugar.
On day one, I thought the cake was pretty meh. It wasn't very flavorful and I wished that it was soaked with some sort of lemon syrup or maybe included some almonds to make it more interesting. A lot of lemon cakes I've made are topped with a glaze or syrup made from lemon juice (like this Meyer lemon cake, this lemon-almond buttemilk loaf, this double-lemon cake, and this lemon Bundt cake), and for good reason -- I love the bright boost of lemon flavor you get from a lemon syrup soaking. I thought the cake was noticeably better on day two, and even better by day three. The lemon flavor developed more intensity over time. It's a good cake, but not a standout for me in the lemon cake category. If I'm going to make a cake with lemon curd, my vote is still for this Lemon-Butter Almond Cake by Jody Adams that was featured in The New York Times.
Recipe: "Lemon Curd Cake" from Four-Star Desserts by Emily Luchetti.
Previous Posts:
Lemon curd is a component of the cake batter and you have to make the curd a bit in advance so that it has time to chill. You make this curd in a double boiler in a single step by cooking egg yolks, whole eggs, sugar, and lemon juice until thickened. When I strained the lemon curd there was a lot of cooked albumin left behind in the sieve, which didn't surprise me since the recipe uses whole eggs; I also think the curd probably needs to be stirred constantly, instead of just "occasionally" as directed. I covered the curd and chilled it before making the cake batter.
When the curd was cold, I mixed it with softened butter, lemon zest, and more lemon juice. Then I incorporated the sifted dry ingredients (cake flour, sugar, salt, and baking powder) and carefully folded in egg whites that had been whipped with sugar to soft peaks. I divided the batter between two buttered and floured 9-inch diameter pans to bake. The recipe specifies pans that are 3-inches high and the tall pans are absolutely necessary; the batter rose to almost reach the top of the pan.
On day one, I thought the cake was pretty meh. It wasn't very flavorful and I wished that it was soaked with some sort of lemon syrup or maybe included some almonds to make it more interesting. A lot of lemon cakes I've made are topped with a glaze or syrup made from lemon juice (like this Meyer lemon cake, this lemon-almond buttemilk loaf, this double-lemon cake, and this lemon Bundt cake), and for good reason -- I love the bright boost of lemon flavor you get from a lemon syrup soaking. I thought the cake was noticeably better on day two, and even better by day three. The lemon flavor developed more intensity over time. It's a good cake, but not a standout for me in the lemon cake category. If I'm going to make a cake with lemon curd, my vote is still for this Lemon-Butter Almond Cake by Jody Adams that was featured in The New York Times.
Recipe: "Lemon Curd Cake" from Four-Star Desserts by Emily Luchetti.
Previous Posts:
- "Facebook Made Me Bake It: Lemon-Butter Almond Cake," November 17, 2015.
- "A Single-Layer Cake Reaches Great Heights: Cream Cheese Butter Cake with Light Lemon Curd Buttercream," February 21, 2015.
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