Lemon curd cake is a pretty popular layered cake. The recipe is fast and simple to make these days; just bake a couple or more flat pound cakes, then layer them with some nice curd and cream and voila. It's made even faster and easier as long as one knows how to make the glazes for those layers. For example, one baking hack involving a microwave can save time when making the curd. And instead of making buttercream, one could whip up some cream chantilly instead.

Cake and icing recipe

Cake ingredients

  • 2 sticks (226 g) unsalted butter, softened
  • 1 1/2 cups (300 g) granulated sugar
  • 4 large eggs
  • 2 tsp vanilla extract
  • juice, zest of 1 lemon
  • 2 cups (250 g) self-raising flour
  • 1 tsp baking powder

Curd Ingredients:

  • 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
  • 4 large eggs
  • zest of 2 lemons
  • 120 ml (1/2 cup) fresh lemon juice
  • 56 g (1/2 stick) unsalted butter

Whipped cream Ingredients:

  • 1 cup (240 ml) heavy cream, cold
  • 2 tbsp powdered sugar
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract

The directions

Cake Directions:

  1. Preheat the oven to 180°C. Grease a couple of 8-inch springform pans with butter, then dust buttered insides with a tablespoon of flour, tapping out any excess from the pans. Set aside.
  2. Place butter and sugar into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Cream together on medium speed until fluffy and smooth. Stop the mixer in between creaming to scrape down the bowl to ensure full creaming.
  3. Add the eggs to the mix one at a time while creaming to fully incorporate them. Add the vanilla extract, lemon zest, and lemon juice and continue mixing until fully incorporated. Turn of the stand mixer.
  4. Sift the flour and baking powder into a bowl together. Add half of the dry mixture to the wet mixture in the bowl of the stand mixer and mix together on low speed until fully incorporated. Do the same with the remaining dry mixture
  5. Divide the batter evenly among the springform pans. Bake in the oven for 25-30 minutes or until the cakes turn golden. Turn off the oven and remove the cakes to cool for 10 minutes before removing them from the springform pans to cool completely.
  6. Use a cake knife or bread knife to shave off the domes from the tops of the cakes, leaving a flat surface.

Curd Directions:

  1. Whisk together the sugar and eggs in a microwaveable bowl. Add the lemon zest, lemon juice, and butter and stir together with a spoon until fully incorporated.
  2. Place the bowl into a microwave and cook for 3-4 minutes, stopping and stirring the mixture every 45 seconds or until the curd is thick enough to coat the back of the spoon.
  3. Remove from the microwave and cover the bowl with plastic wrap, pressing it onto the surface of the curd to prevent a skin from forming. leave to cool down.

Whipped cream Directions:

  1. Pour the heavy cream into a bowl over an ice bath. Whisk until the cream starts to form soft peaks.
  2. Whisk in the powdered sugar and vanilla extract and keep whisking until the mixture forms thick peaks. Do not over whisk. Set aside.

Assembly directions:

  1. Pour a third of the lemon curd onto the center portion of the surface of one of the cakes. Use a spatula to spread the whipped cream evenly across the surface. If a little bit of the cream goes over the side, that's ok.
  2. Pour half of the lemon curd onto the cream covered surface and use another spatula to spread it over evenly. Place the next cake evenly on top of the first cake and repeat the cream and curd layering.
  3. Serve the cake or seal and refrigerate.

Serves: 8
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