Lemon Layer Cake with Lemon Curd and Mascarpone

 By Heather

Another lemon dessert!  At the beginning of this year I started a little dessert club with some of my friends.  It's really a fun excuse to try new recipes that I would never make for my family, since half of them might dislike it and then I'd be forced to eat the rest of the dessert by myself.  This selfless service has been rendered in the past, but I'm hoping not to repeat it often.  I can no longer call my squishies "baby fat", when my smallest child is almost 3 years old.

So last month for dessert club the theme was "lemon."  And boy did we have a lot of absolutely delicious desserts.  There were so many good and beautiful treats that I'm still dreaming about them.  I was the lucky one that night, and won the prize for best dessert.  Hooray!  It was fun to win, but I only edged out two other desserts by one and two points respectively.  As I said, there were masterpieces present.

This cake was very delicious, with light spongy layers that became wonderful with the lemon simple syrup soaked in.  I made a couple of changes to the recipe (not reflected in the recipe below, though).  One, I had made a different lemon curd recipe and used that in the cake, merely because I was comfortable with that recipe and wanted to use it in another recipe I was making.  Second, I was too cheap to spend $15 on three tubs of mascarpone, so I bought one and used two 8-oz. blocks of neufchatel (light cream cheese) in place of the other two tubs.  I thought the frosting was really good, so I think you can get away with it if budget is an issue. I made the cake, curd and frosting over a couple of days and then assembled it all the day before serving.  I think that helped the flavors to meld well.  This would work really well as a special occasion cake for a citrus fan.  Or a chocolate fan - you may be surprised!


Lemon Layer Cake with Lemon Curd and Mascarpone

You'll need a pastry bag fitted with a 1/4-inch star tip to create the decorative rosettes. Begin making this cake two days before you plan to serve it.    Yield: Makes 10 to 12 servings

Ingredients:

Lemon curd:
1 cup sugar
3/4 cup fresh lemon juice
3 large eggs
3 large egg yolks
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) chilled unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes

Cake:
6 large eggs, separated
14 tablespoons sugar
1 3/4 cups sifted cake flour (sifted, then measured)
1/4 teaspoon salt

Syrup:
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup boiling water
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice

Filling and frosting:
2 cups chilled heavy whipping cream
3/4 cup sugar
3 8-ounce containers chilled mascarpone cheese* or a combination of mascarpone and cream cheese

For lemon curd:
Whisk first 4 ingredients in medium metal bowl. Set bowl over saucepan of simmering water (do not allow bottom of bowl to touch water). Whisk constantly until thickened and instant-read thermometer inserted into mixture registers 160°F, about 10 minutes. Remove bowl from over water. Add butter; whisk until melted. Transfer 1 cup curd to small bowl for spreading on cake layers. Reserve remaining curd for filling. Press plastic wrap directly onto surface of both curds. Chill overnight. (Can be made 3 days ahead. Keep chilled.)

For cake:
Position rack in center of oven and preheat to 375°F. Line bottom of two 9-inch-diameter cake pans with 1 1/2-inch-high sides with parchment paper (do not grease pans or parchment). Using electric mixer, beat egg yolks and 7 tablespoons sugar in large bowl until mixture is very thick and slowly dissolving ribbons form when beaters are lifted, about 4 minutes. Using clean dry beaters, beat whites in another large bowl until soft peaks form. Add remaining 7 tablespoons sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time, beating until stiff and glossy. Fold half of whites into yolk mixture, then sift half of flour and 1/4 teaspoon salt over and gently fold in until incorporated. Fold in remaining whites, then sift remaining flour over and fold in just until combined, being careful not to deflate batter.

Divide batter between pans; smooth tops. Bake until tester inserted into center of cakes comes out clean, about 15 minutes. Cool in pans on racks.

Run knife around edge of pans to loosen cakes. Invert cakes onto 9-inch-diameter cardboard rounds, tapping on work surface if necessary to release cakes. Carefully and slowly cut each cake horizontally in half (layers will be thin). Peel off parchment.

For syrup:
Place sugar in small metal bowl. Add 1/2 cup boiling water; stir to dissolve sugar. Stir in lemon juice.

For filling and frosting:
Beat whipping cream and sugar in large bowl until peaks form. Add mascarpone to lemon curd in medium bowl; whisk until blended. Fold whipped cream into lemon-mascarpone mixture.

Place 1 cake layer, flat side up, on platter. Brush with 1/4 of syrup. Spread 1/4 cup lemon curd over, then 1 cup lemon-mascarpone filling. Top with second cake layer; brush with 1/4 of syrup and spread with 1/4 cup lemon curd and 1 cup lemon-mascarpone filling. Repeat with third cake layer, syrup, lemon curd, and filling. Top with fourth cake layer. Brush with remaining syrup, then spread remaining lemon curd over. Spoon 2 cups lemon-mascarpone filling into pastry bag fitted with 1/4-inch star tip (to be used for rosettes). Spread remaining lemon-mascarpone filling as a frosting over sides of cake. Pipe small rosettes of frosting over top of cake, covering completely. Cover cake with cake dome; refrigerate at least 6 hours and up to 1 day.

*Italian cream cheese available at Italian markets and many supermarkets.

Source: Slightly adapted from Epicurious

Lemon Dream Pie

By Heather

I recently helped a friend throw a baby shower for my dear friend Kelly.  It was a really fun time to socialize and celebrate her little one.  And the food was yummy too!  This was the first time I'd made this dessert and it won't be the last.  It was so good (if I do say so myself).  If you're a fan of lemon curd you're going to love this.  It was creamy, it was tart, it was supremely lemony!  I had recently made a lemon cake (recipe to come) and a friend who tasted both the cake and this dessert said that this was hands down the better of the two.  I'd have to agree that it was really delicious (though I still love the cake) and reminded me somewhat of a key lime pie (but better!).  It's perfect for a spring gathering or potluck - enjoy!
 

Lemon Dream Pie

Crust:
10 lemon sandwich cookies
8 whole graham crackers, broken into rough pieces
7 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled
3 tablespoons sugar

1 teaspoon lemon zest
¼ teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 350 F. Add the cookies and crackers to the bowl of your food processor. Pulse until they are finely ground. Add the butter, sugar and lemon zest to the bowl, and continue pulsing until well combined - the mixture should start to clump just a little. Turn the mixture out into a 10-inch springform pan. Press into an even layer and half-way up the sides to form the crust. Bake for about 10-12 minutes, or until golden brown and set. Transfer the pan to a wire rack and allow the crust to cool completely, at least 30 minutes.

For The "Canary Yellow" Layer:

(I didn't use the recipe for the Canary Yellow Layer that is printed here.  I would have, but I already had homemade lemon curd on hand and wanted to use that.  The recipes seemed very similar, so I wouldn't hesitate to use the recipe here.)
1 ¼ cups sugar
1 cup of lemon juice (from about 6 lemons)
½ cup water
¼ cup cornstarch
¼ tsp. salt
8 large egg yolks
2 tbsp. grated lemon zest
3 tbsp. unsalted butter, softened and cut into pieces

Whisk sugar, lemon juice, water, cornstarch and salt together in a large non-reactive saucepan until cornstarch is dissolved. Bring to a simmer over medium heat, whisking occasionally until mixture is translucent and begins to thicken, about 5 minutes.

Whisk in yolks until combined. Stir in zest and butter. Bring to a simmer and stir constantly until mixture is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon, about 2 minutes.

Strain through fine mesh strainer into the baked and cooled pie shell and scrape off filling from the bottom of strainer. Reserve about 3 tbsp in a small dish for the decoration. Refrigerate while making creamy layer.

Creamy Filling Layer:
1 cup fresh lemon juice (about 6 lemons) and 1 tablespoon grated fresh lemon zest
1 ¼ teaspoons unflavored gelatin
¼ cup sugar
1 (8‑ounce) package cream cheese, softened
1 (14‑ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
⅓ cup instant vanilla pudding mix
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Stir ¼ cup of the lemon juice and gelatin together in a small bowl and let sit to soften.

Process the sugar and lemon zest together in a food processor until the sugar turns bright yellow, about 30 seconds. Add the cream cheese and continue to process until combined, about 30 seconds. Add the condensed milk and pudding mix and continue to process until smooth, about 30 seconds. Scrape down the sides of the work bowl.

Microwave the lemon juice mixed with gelatin until warm (just before bubbling), about 15-30 seconds. Stir to dissolve the gelatin.

With the food processor running, pour the warm gelatin mixture, remaining lemon juice, and vanilla through the feed tube and continue to process until thoroughly combined, about 30 seconds. Pour the creamy filling into the pie shell on top of yellow layer and smooth the top with a spatula.

Transfer the reserved Canary Yellow filling to a small resealable plastic bag and snip one of the corners. Pipe thin, parallel lines of the Yellow filling onto the creamy layer, then drag a knife or toothpick through the lines (perpendicular to them) to create a decorative pattern.

Refrigerate the pie, uncovered, until chilled and set, about 6 hours. Serve chilled with whipped cream (optional - I forgot to get out the whipped cream and we never missed it).

Source: This was adapted slightly from my friend's blog, http://virtualgoodyplate.blogspot.com/, and was called Bill Bryson's Dream-Fulfilling Lemon Pie (after a book - they were having literature night). 

Raspberry Curd filled cupcake with lemon butter cream cheese frosting

Submitted by Lisa

I have been watching Cup Cake wars on Food Network and have been dying to try one myself.  So, I picked one that used "normal" ingredients and gave it a try.  I am very pleased with the results.  Personally, I will probably make it again, but with a white or yellow cake.  I have never really been a fan of red velvet.  

Recipe originally called for blackberries

Recipe courtesy Victoria Donnelly, Cupcake Wars, 2010

Prep Time:

40 min

Inactive Prep Time:

--

Cook Time:

45 min

Level:

Intermediate

Serves:

24 cupcakes

Ingredients

Cupcakes:

• 1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon white vinegar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 tablespoons Dutch-processed cocoa powder
• 2 tablespoons royal blue gel paste food coloring
• 1 tablespoon purple gel paste food coloring

Raspberry Curd Filling: 

(this made way too much curd for the amount of cupcakes, next time I would do about a 1/4 of this)

• 2 quarts fresh raspberries
• 1/2 cup water
• 4 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 cup sugar
• 3 eggs
• 2 egg yolks
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter

Raspberry Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting:

• 1 pound cream cheese
• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 2 tablespoons reserved Raspberry juice, from curd filling
• 1 lemon, zested
• 5 cups confectioners' sugar
• 24 whole fresh raspberries, for garnish (optional)

Directions

For the cupcakes: Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Line a cupcake or muffin pan with 24 regular-size cupcake liners.

Place the oil, buttermilk, eggs, vinegar, vanilla, and sugar in the bowl of an electric stand mixer and beat with the paddle attachment until thoroughly mixed. Sift the flour, baking soda, salt, and cocoa powder together and slowly add to the mixer on low speed. Scrape down the bowl thoroughly, as needed. Add the food colorings in a steady stream until desired shade is achieved; it should appear bluish-purple. Beat for another 3 minutes. Scrape the bowl one last time and mix for 30 seconds by hand.

Fill the cupcake liners two-thirds full with batter and bake until they form a semi-hard crust on top, about 25 minutes. Immediately remove the cupcakes from their pan and place on a cooling rack.



For the raspberry curd filling: Bring the raspberry and water to a boil in a medium-size saucepan. Turn down the heat to low and simmer until the raspberries are soft and separate easily, about 5 minutes. Transfer the mixture to a sieve and pass through using a spoon to help mash the raspberries. Discard the pulp and reserve the juice. Place the flour and sugar in a clean saucepan and slowly pour in the raspberries juice, reserving 2 tablespoons. Whisk constantly. When thoroughly combined, add the whole eggs and egg yolks, whisking and cooking until the mixture thickens. When the curd has formed, after about 7 minutes, remove from the heat and stir in the butter. Cover tightly and place in the refrigerator until fully chilled.

For the cream cheese frosting: Beat the cream cheese and butter together in the bowl of an electric standmixer until pale and creamy. Add the raspberry juice and lemon zest and continue to beat until the color is even. (The lemon zest has a tendency to adhere to the beater blade. When removing from the mixer bowl, be sure to scrape this off and blend back into the frosting by hand.) Reduce the speed to low and slowly begin adding the confectioners' sugar. Keep adding until the frosting has a medium-stiff consistency. You may not require the full 5 cups sugar. Beat on high speed for a further 2 minutes, scraping down the bowl as needed.

To assemble: Remove the center of each cupcake using an apple corer. Fill the cavity with the raspberry curd until it is level with the top of the cake. Pipe the frosting on top using a plain pastry tip. Crumble one of the cakes into small pieces and scatter a few crumbles on top of each cake so that it adheres to the frosting.Garnish with a whole fresh raspberry, if desired.

• This recipe was provided by professional chefs and has been scaled down from a bulk recipe provided by a restaurant. The Food Network Kitchens chefs have not tested this recipe, in the proportions indicated, and therefore, we cannot make any representation as to the results
  .