A few weeks ago we celebrated my Dad's 70th birthday. My entire life, buying a gift for him has been difficult at best- he isn't very materialistic (really quite the opposite), and he doesn't really need more stuff. I decided the best gift I could give would be to bake a really great cake in what I believe to be his favorite flavor- lemon. So, Lemon Curd Cake it was. And it was fantastic, if I do say so myself.
My cake consisted of two lemony layer cakes made into three layers, a layer of lemon curd, and a layer of Swiss meringue buttercream with lemon curd, with more lemon buttercream frosting covering the cake. The original finicky Martha Stewart recipe called for two layers of curd, four layers of cake, and what would have been an overkill of buttercream on the outer layer. In any case, making the lemon curd was a pretty involved process, but it turned out amazing- smooth and tart, but with enough sugar to make it delicious. I'd consider just making the curd (lemon juice, lemon zest, a bazillion egg yolks, butter, sugar) for use on biscuits, in pie, or just with whip cream. The cakes were pretty standard, but with the inclusion of lemon juice and zest and sour cream, and the Swiss meringue buttercream is always a treat to whip up- so smooth and with the perfect texture- but tricky to keep at the right temperature (beware of a warm kitchen!).
Overall, I'd say the cake was a success- my Dad liked it, and so did the rest of the fam. Sprout even helped to blow out the candles. Happy Birthday to the greatest father there is- here's to so many more lemon cakes!
Also- a fun thing I found while searching for the original recipe- a blog written by a woman who is baking through the entire Martha Stewart Baking Book: http://bakingthroughmsbh.wordpress.com/2012/08/08/lemon-curd-cake/. Impressive undertaking!
1 comment:
The wonderful cake was only surpassed by my sweet fabulous daughter. Seems like I did at least one thing right and will be leaving this a much better world.
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