For his birthday this year, my friend Dorothy's son Alexander asked for a lemon cake. I've made a lot of lemon cakes over the years and it took me a while to find a new recipe to try. I finally settled on the "Sunny Lemon Cake" from The Model Bakery Cookbook by Karen Mitchell and Sarah Mitchell Hansen. It has three layers of white cake soaked with lemon simple syrup, filled with lemon mousse, frosted with lemon Swiss buttercream, and garnished with lemon curd.
The first thing I did was make the lemon curd. I decided to make a double batch because the curd recipe calls for 6 egg yolks, but the cake and frosting together require 13 egg whites, so I was going to have the extra egg yolks on hand anyway. To make the curd, you cook egg yolks, sugar, lemon juice, and butter until the mixture is thick, strain the curd, and refrigerate it until chilled.
The white cake is made through the standard creaming method. You beat room temperature butter until smooth; gradually add sugar and beat until very light; alternately add the sifted dry ingredients (cake flour, baking powder, and salt) and milk; and fold in egg whites beaten to soft peaks. I divided the batter between three buttered and parchment-lined 8-inch pans to bake.
The tops of the cakes remained very pale in the oven and I might have overbaked them slightly. After the cakes were completely cooled, I leveled them and got everything ready to assemble the cake. To make the lemon buttercream, I whisked egg whites and sugar in a mixing bowl set over simmering water until the sugar was dissolved and the mixture was hot; transferred the bowl to my stand mixer and whipped the eggs until they were completely cooled and formed stiff peaks; gradually added softened butter and beat the frosting until fluffy; and then incorporated some of the lemon curd. The lemon mousse is lightly sweetened whipped cream with lemon curd folded in. I also made a lemon simple syrup by bringing sugar and water to a boil, and adding lemon juice.
The cake was a big hit, but I didn't love it. I thought the cake was a little dense and dry, but this might have been my fault for over-baking it. The lemon mousse, buttercream, and curd were all fantastic -- but I think that adding an additional layer of curd between the cake layers would be a good idea to help boost the lemon flavor a bit. I'm glad I made a double batch of lemon curd, because I would have been a little short with only a single batch -- and having excess lemon curd is never a problem, since you can always just spread it on toast (or eat it with a spoon!).
Another benefit of this carrot cake is that is you can make it quickly. Because the cake layers are relatively thin, they bake quickly and cool quickly. And, they don't require leveling. I'm going to keep making this cake, and I think I'll be adding macadamia nuts to all of my carrot cakes from now on!
Recipes: "Carrot Graham Layer Cake" from Smitten Kitchen and "Sunny Lemon Cake" from The Model Bakery Cookbook.
Previous Alexander Birthday Baked Goods: Alexander Turns Twelve (Blueberry Angel Food Dream Cake and Ottolenghi Stripe Cake); Eleven (White Butter Cake with Lemon Curd and Lemon Mousseline); Ten (Strawberry Supreme Cake and Burnt-Butter Brown-Sugar Cupcakes); Nine (Antique Caramel Cake and Classic Carrot Cake Cupcakes); Eight (Carrot Cupcakes and Strawberry Cupcakes); Seven (Fraisier); Six (Rose Levy Beranbuam's Carrot Cake): Five (Riva's Carrot Cake): Four (Red Velvet Cupcakes and Brownies): Three (Red Velvet Cake and Salted Fudge Brownies); and Two (Restaurant Eve Cake).
The first thing I did was make the lemon curd. I decided to make a double batch because the curd recipe calls for 6 egg yolks, but the cake and frosting together require 13 egg whites, so I was going to have the extra egg yolks on hand anyway. To make the curd, you cook egg yolks, sugar, lemon juice, and butter until the mixture is thick, strain the curd, and refrigerate it until chilled.
The white cake is made through the standard creaming method. You beat room temperature butter until smooth; gradually add sugar and beat until very light; alternately add the sifted dry ingredients (cake flour, baking powder, and salt) and milk; and fold in egg whites beaten to soft peaks. I divided the batter between three buttered and parchment-lined 8-inch pans to bake.
I put one layer of cake on a cake circle, brushed it with the simple syrup, and piped a thick rope of buttercream on top around the perimeter. I spread a layer of lemon mousse inside the buttercream, chilled the cake to set the filling, and then added the next layer of cake and repeated the process. I covered the entire cake with buttercream, spread lemon curd on top of the cake, and piped a buttercream border around the curd. I had a lot of buttercream left over, so I just kept piping borders on the top (I hate wasting buttercream). I stored the finished cake in the fridge but let it come to room temperature before serving.
The cake was a big hit, but I didn't love it. I thought the cake was a little dense and dry, but this might have been my fault for over-baking it. The lemon mousse, buttercream, and curd were all fantastic -- but I think that adding an additional layer of curd between the cake layers would be a good idea to help boost the lemon flavor a bit. I'm glad I made a double batch of lemon curd, because I would have been a little short with only a single batch -- and having excess lemon curd is never a problem, since you can always just spread it on toast (or eat it with a spoon!).
However, I preferred the second cake I made for the occasion, the Carrot Graham Layer Cake from Smitten Kitchen. I actually made this cake for our holiday party last year and our guests raved about it -- but it was so popular that our guests ate every last crumb before I could take a picture or even get a taste. It's a naked three-layer cake with cream cheese frosting, where the cake includes ground graham cracker crumbs. The cake doesn't call for any nuts, but I took a wonderful suggestion from Raylene, a blog reader from Hawaii, and I added chopped macadamia nuts (I took a guess on the amount and used 120 grams). I don't know why carrot cake with macadamia nuts isn't more common, because it's such a good addition. I think macadamia nuts work better than pecans or walnuts -- the flavor is more subtle but the texture is crunchier.
This carrot cake is so freakin' good. The cake itself is very moist and generously spiced, and I thought that the amount of nuts I added was just right. But best of all, it had a very high ratio of luscious, tangy, cream cheese frosting to cake. I could eat this cake all day. I'm not sure what exactly the graham cracker crumbs add to this cake, but it's so delicious that I wouldn't change a thing.
Previous Alexander Birthday Baked Goods: Alexander Turns Twelve (Blueberry Angel Food Dream Cake and Ottolenghi Stripe Cake); Eleven (White Butter Cake with Lemon Curd and Lemon Mousseline); Ten (Strawberry Supreme Cake and Burnt-Butter Brown-Sugar Cupcakes); Nine (Antique Caramel Cake and Classic Carrot Cake Cupcakes); Eight (Carrot Cupcakes and Strawberry Cupcakes); Seven (Fraisier); Six (Rose Levy Beranbuam's Carrot Cake): Five (Riva's Carrot Cake): Four (Red Velvet Cupcakes and Brownies): Three (Red Velvet Cake and Salted Fudge Brownies); and Two (Restaurant Eve Cake).
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