A Really Awesome Birthday Cake

This is the lemon raspberry cake I made for my sister's birthday in early December. Four lemon cake layers filled with lemon curd and raspberry jam, frosted with lemon cream. Not too sweet, very moist, and very lemony and balanced.

It was a conglomeration of a few different recipes plus my own tweaking. So I guess I can call it my own, but the original sources are also cited. The decorations were wholly ridiculous and fantastic - sprinkles, squirt cupcake icing and squiggly trick candles. But the cake was actually completely delicious and well worth making again, even for a fancier occasion.

Lemon Cake Layers
(inspired / tweaked from Moosewood Restaurant Book of Desserts - Coconut Lemon Layer Cake)

1 cup butter, at room temperature
2 cups sugar
1 cup milk + 2 teaspoons vanilla extract (in the same measuring cup)
2 1/2 cups unbleached white flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
6 egg whites at room temperature (save the yolks for lemon curd)

Preheat the oven to 350. Butter and flour 2 8-inch round cake pans.

Beat the butter and sugar in a stand mixer until light and fluffy. Add half the milk mixture to the butter and sugar mixture and beat until well blended. Into another bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder and salt. Add the sifted mixture to the butter mixture and mix on low speed. Thoroughly mix in the remaining milk mixture. The batter will be quite thick.

Using a hand mixer, beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form. Fold the beaten whites into the batter until no trace of white remains - be diligent. The whites will deflate but the batter will be lighter in color and texture. Pour the batter into the cake pans and bake until the tip of a knife or a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean, about 35 minutes. Cool on a rack and remove from the cake pans when completely cool.

Lemon Curd
(From Luscious Lemon Desserts - Lemon Curd)

1 stick unsalted butter
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice (2-3 lemons)
3 tablespoons or more finely grated lemon zest (zest all the lemons that were juiced)
pinch of salt
6 egg yolks (reserved from the cake)

Melt the butter in a heavy medium saucepan over medium-low heat.

Remove the pan from the heat and whisk in the sugar, lemon juice, zest and salt. Whisk in the yolks until smooth.

Cook the mixture, whisking constantly, until it thickens and leaves a path on the back of a wooden spoon when a finger is drawn across it; do not allow the curd to boil. Note that it will be thinner when hot than when it cools, but be sure that it is thick enough when removed from the heat. You do not want the curd to be runny when cooled.

Immediately pour the lemon curd through a strainer into a bowl. Use a spatula to push it all through and get any chunks out (sometimes eggs can curdle and leave chunks behind). Refrigerate, with plastic pressed onto the surface of the curd.

Frosting
1 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup lemon curd

Whip the cream using a hand mixer or a stand mixer with a whisk attachment. Add the lemon curd bit by bit as you are mixing the cream. The cream will take a little longer to obtain the texture of whipped cream, but it should get relatively stiff and spreadable. Refrigerate before frosting the cake for a firmer texture. Taste as you beat and add a few more tablespoons of lemon curd if you like it even more lemony (but this is a very lemony frosting).

Assembly

Buy a jar of really good raspberry preserves (I am partial to Bon Maman). Or make your own if you are lucky enough to have fresh raspberries. It is December in Illinois, so store-bought jam it is.

Slice each cake layer into two layers. Place two pieces of wax paper next to each other on a cake stand or plate. Place the bottom layer on top of the wax paper so each piece can be pulled out sideways when the cake assembly is finished.

For filling, you have two options: fill the bottom and top layer with lemon curd and the middle with jam, or vice versa. I filled two layers with jam and the middle with lemon curd, and it was a nice contrast. Depends how much you like raspberry and/or lemon.

Spread your filling of choice (lemon or raspberry) generously but not overflowing-ly onto the cake layer. Top with the second layer. Spread the opposite filling, again generously but not overflowing, onto the second layer. Top with the third layer. Spread the first filling on the third layer, and add a little more since it is on the top and the filling is always the best part! Top with the final cake layer. If any filling squeezes out, scrape it off with a knife or a small spatula.

Spread a thin layer of the frosting around the entire cake. This is somewhat like a crumb coat, and will help to keep any escaped filling or crumbs out of the final frosting layer. An offset spatula is best, or a butter knife, but a rubber spatula is a little too much for this cake (it pulls crumbs off and makes things clumsy). After the entire cake is coated, spread on more frosting all over the cake and smooth it out. Refrigerate the cake for an hour or more.

For decorating, use your creativity! I used the store-bought cupcake frosting because I was short on time, but you could also make some extra whipped cream frosting and pipe rosettes around the edges. The sprinkles made it really fun and colorful and looked great when the cake was sliced with yellow and pink/red on the inside. It also looks great just white and simple.