LEMON CURD CAKE

I feel like I have abandoned my precios blog... I haven't. I just have piled up pictures of cakes and food's I've made and take a picture to post them, yet the hours of the day fly away like butterflies if you come near.
And so comes the end of a day, the end of the week, the end of the month. The good news is, it's not yet the end of the month, and second good new is I have like 50 minutes before I leave for work which means I have some catching up to do.
So, last week I had a half day off, and though I had some homework piling up with my cake pictures I decided to grab my apron and do a cake. Me and my mom had already bought all the ingrdients for a lemon curd cake from...yes... the Martha book. I think I have decided I am going to try and do all the cakes in the cake chapter. Just the cakes!!
Well ,the cake was a bit labor intensive, though nothing compared to the Austrain Sacher Torte I made for school, which I will write on later!
Here are the instructions for the lovely Lemon Curd Cake

Ingredients:
1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1.5 cups all-pourpose flour
1.5 cups cake flour
1tbs baking powder
.5tsp salt
1 cups sour cream
Grated zest of two lemons
2tbs lemon juice
2 cups sugar
4 large eggs
2 batches lemon curd
1 batch Lemons Swiss Meringue Buttercream

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350, Butter 2 9x2 round cake pans, line with parchment paper, butter parchment paper.
In a bowl sift together, flours, baking powder, sant, set aside.
In a separate bowl combine sour cream and lemon juice/zest
In an electeic mixer combine butter adn sugar for about 5 minutes, scrape, add eggs one at time and beat for 1 minute after each.
Then on low speed ad four mixture alternating with cream. Start and end with flour.
Divide batter into pans, bake for about 30 -35 minutes until tester comes out clean. Let cool on pans, then transfer to cooling racks top sides up.
Using serrated knife, trip tops to even cakes, slice each layer in half, making two layers. Place one on bottom of cake plate, and spread 1/2 cup Lemon Curd over top. Repeat process with remaining layers, do not put curd on top layer.
Crumb coat with meringue and let chill for about 30 minutes.
Using offset spatula spreat entire cake with buttercream. Refrigerate 30 minutes before decorating with lemon curd. Using paper cornet filled with curd, pipe dots to decorate cake. Then pipe vertical lines of differet sizes on sides of cake. It can last refrigerated for up to 3 days.

LEMON CURD
Ingredients:
8 yolks
zest of 2 lemons
1/2 cup fresh lemons juice
1 cups sugar
6 oz unsalted butter,, cut into pieces.

Directions:
Combine yolks, lemon zest, juice, and sugar in heavy bottomed pan, whisk. Cook over medium heat, stirring constabtly with spoon until thick enought to coate a spoon.
Remove from heat. Add salt and butter, one piece at a time, stirring until smoooth. Strain, cover with plastic wrap, refrigerate at least one hour.

LEMON SWISS BUTTER CREAM
Ingredients:
4 egg whites
1.25 cups sugar
1.5 cups butter room temperature
3/4 cup lemon curd

Directions:
In the heatproof bowl of an electric an electric mixer set over saucepan of simmering water, combine egg whites and sugar. Cook whisking constantly, until sugar dissolves.
Attach bowl to mixer, fitter with whisk. Beat eggs on high unti stiff peaks form, Continue beating until fluffly and cool.

Change to paddle, add butter pieces at time, beat well after each addition. With spatula mix in 3/4 cups lemon curd.

italian cream

My mom bought me The Best of Cooking Light Cookbook, and then browsed through it.
The fist section I wanted to see was the dessert section. I flipped the pages eagerly, lice a teenage girl flips the pages of a high school yearbook. And then I paused mesmerized by all the fruit pies, the chocolate decadent brownies, the compotes and the ice creams. I had died and gone to heaven...
My mother who is much less in love with the sweet side of food, stopped on page 348. She said (very excitedly) “This seems delicious!”
Let me explain something. My mother does not easily fall completely in love with desserts, she much rather have appetizer than dessert (OMG). So if she said she likes a cake, I usually make it for her. This needless to say, did not become the exception. Sadly, on that day buttermilk did not form part of the many boxes and packages in our fridge.
“Let’s do it later,” I said. And then forgot about it.
She did not. On a solo grocery trip she got the buttermilk.
“I got the buttermilk,” were the welcoming words I hear that afternoon as I got home from work.
That same day after dinner the picture became reality.
And so you can make it too, here is the recipe.

Italian Cream Cake

Ingredients:

16 oz sugar
4 oz light butter
2 large egg yolks
16 oz all-purpose flour
1tsp baking soda
8 oz buttermilk
1tsp butter extract
1tsp coconut extract
1tsp vanilla extract
6 large egg whites

Cream cheese frosting
4 oz far-free cream cheese
4 oz butter
1tsp grated lemon
1 tsp vanilla
28 oz powdered sugar

Procedure:
1. Pre-heat oven to 350F
2. Coat 3 (9inch) round pans and line bottom with wax paper. Set aside
3. Combine sugar and butter, beat until blended. Add egg yolks (one at a time, beat after each addition.
Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups and level. Combine flour and baking soda Add the flour mixture to cream mixture alternately with buttermilk, beginning and ending with the flour mixture. Stir in chopped pecans and extracts.
4. Beat egg whites at high speed mixer using clean, dry beaters until stiff peaks form. Fold eggs into batter and pour batter into prepared pans. Bake at 350F for 23 minutes. Cool in pans 5 minutes on rack. Peel off wax paper, cool.
(CREAM CHEESE FROSTING)
5. Beat first four ingredients in frosting at medium speed of a mixer until smooth. Spoon sugar into measuring cup, and level with knife. Gradually add sugar to butter mixture and beat at low speed until blended.
6. Place 1 cake layer on a plate. Spread 2/3 cup Cream Cheese Frosting and top with another cake layer. Repeat using 2/3 frosting and end with last cake layer. Spread remaining frosting over sides and top.

And to be fair to cooking light here is the serving info:
1 slice; Calories 290, protein 4.1g, carb 52.3 fiber .5g. Cholesterol 37mg, iron .8mg, sodium 172mg. calcium 38mg.