Spring Sometime Soon

Spring seems to finally be getting here and with that my desire to bake lighter, fruit based things is rising. My winters are usually spent making rich, full-bodied cakes and pumpkin spice quick breads. Cold weather and dark nights spent in front of the fire require a bit more substance to make it through. I tire quickly of recipes though, and always want to try something new. Asking me to make the fudgy brownies as last time is not going to make me a happy camper. Every time I offer to make something for dessert towards the end of the colder months I hope against hope that someone will request something – anything – new. Chocolate cake may quite possibly crush my hopes and dreams. Thank goodness spring comes every year.

Without a real kitchen or ingredients, my desire for spring baking is yet to be sated. I made a valiant attempt to scrape together to at least enough to make delicate candied orange and lemon slices that remind me of mild English summers. My coursework and the lack of citrus fruits had me wishing for the end of the semester more than ever. Only six more weeks until I will finally be home and can cook up a storm. Until then, I will dream of the sweet spring cake I really want to bake: A fluffy triple layer lemon cake, filled with fresh lemon curd, and swathed in pillows of light lemon buttercream

  

Lemon White Cake

Ingredients:

¾ cups butter

1 cup sugar

2 tsp lemon extract

1 tbsp finely chopped lemon zest

2 ¾ cups flour

½ teaspoon salt

4 teaspoons baking powder

1 cup milk

4 egg whites

½ cup sugar

Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350°. Grease and line three 9-inch pans. Make sure to line the bottom of the pans with baking parchment, for this cake sticks like crazy.
2. Cream butter and sugar in a bowl. Add lemon extract.
3. In a small bowl, sift flour, salt, and baking powder together.
4. Add flour mixture to creamed butter in four parts alternating with the milk.
5. In another bowl, whip the egg whites until foamy. Add the sugar in small increments. Beat until stiff shiny peaks form
6. Fold the eggs carefully into other mixture.
7. Distribute batter evenly in the prepared pans. Bake for 20-30 minutes or until golden brown. A toothpick inserted in the center should come out clean. Also, the top, when pressed, will sound a bit like a sponge full of bubbles.
8. Remove from oven and cool in pans for 5 minutes. Take a blunt knife and go around the sides of the pans to loosen the cakes. Invert onto a rack and let cool before filling and icing.
9. Secure first cake layer with a dab of icing to desired serving vessel. Spread thickly with lemon curd, top with another cake layer, spread with lemon curd again, and top with last cake layer. Chill cake while making buttercream.
10. Frost entire cake with a thin layer of buttercream to trap all crumbs. At this point, freezing the cake for roughly half an hour makes the final frosting easier. Begin by spreading buttercream over top of cake and work down sides. Enjoy!

Notes:

My lemon curd recipe varies to what I have in the kitchen and if anyone else will be eating it. Epicurious has a very good recipe for your basic lemon curd that will make enough for this cake and then some.

I use an adaptation of Colette Peters' basic buttercream. For this recipe I use ¼ cup fresh lemon juice and ¼ cup heavy cream. Depending on my mood, I will add lemon extract, but find that the juice is enough.