Lemon cake

Spot a raptor's head

As almost always, I wanted to make something with lemons this time. For a while, it seemed like I'll be making a lemon mousse (I found a recipe for it not a long time ago) but eventually I stumbled upon an even better recipe for a cake with lemon filling and frosting. Since I already had most of the ingredients needed at disposal, I went to buy the lemons and a pack of eggs. The procedure is not really difficult (it just takes a lot of time), I went through it practically with no mistakes and the result was VERY nice.

I think I might have put a bit too much lemon juice into it... Well, I like strong tastes, I don't mind it but someone might think it's too tangy. Also, don't be afraid of the insane amount of sugar in the frosting. I actually toned it down from almost half a kilo to "mere" 300 g and I think it still did the job well. And one last comment - about the frosting - the original recipe says to put some milk into it... I did it and OF COURSE it reacted with the lemon juice in it. So, I don't know, perhaps you don't need to put milk in to avoid an unsightly appearance.

Lemon cake
for the body you will need:

adding the filling between the layers

• 250 g all-purpose flour
• a teaspoon of baking powder
• a teaspoon of salt
• 115 g butter
• 250 g white sugar
• 3 eggs
• a teaspoon of vanilla extract
• 235 ml milk

for the filling you will need:

• a tablespoon of grated lemon zest
• 120 ml fresh lemon juice (from about 3 or 4 lemons)
• a tablespoon of cornstarch
• 85 g butter
• 150 g white sugar
• 4 egg yolks, beaten

and for the frosting you should have:

• 300 g confectioners' sugar
• 115 g butter, softened
• 30 ml fresh lemon juice (from one lemon)
• a teaspoon of grated lemon zest
• 30 ml milk (for this read the note above)

1. Preheat oven to 175 degrees C. Grease and flour two round cake pans (20 cm). Put together the flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl.
2. In another large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy - that's about 5 minutes. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in the vanilla. Beat in the flour mixture alternately with the milk, mixing just until incorporated.
3. Pour batter into prepared pans. Bake in the preheated oven for 30 minutes, check with the toothpick trick. Allow to cool in pans.
4. To make the filling: Mix together 1 tablespoon lemon zest, lemon juice and 1 tablespoon cornstarch until smooth in a medium saucepan (off heat, you don't want to mix cornstarch in hot water). Mix in butter in small pieces and sugar. Then bring the mixture to boil over medium heat. Boil for one minute, stirring constantly. In a small bowl whisk the egg yolks until smooth. Whisk in a small amount of the hot lemon mixture. Pour the egg mixture back into the sauce pan, beating the hot lemon mixture rapidly. Reduce heat to low; cook, stirring constantly, 5 minutes, or until thick (not to boil).
5. Pour mixture into medium bowl. Use this neat trick: press a plastic wrap onto the surface to keep a nasty skin from forming as it cools. Cool to room temperature then put into fridge to cool, 3 hours should be enough.
6. To make the frosting: In a large bowl, beat confectioners' sugar, butter, lemon juice and lemon zest until smooth. Optionally, add the milk, then beat until light and fluffy. 

the frosted cake