Friday, March 20, 2009

The Cake Slice-Triple Lemon Chiffon Cake

This month's selection for The Cake Slice was Triple Lemon Chiffon Cake. We are baking cakes from the wonderful book-Sky High: Irresistible Triple Layer Cakes. I made this early this month and took it to a party. It was the first cake to disappear. If you like lemon and chiffon cakes, you should really try this cake. I thought it was really easy to make and fun to decorate. The lemon curd was very lemony and creamy. The whipped cream frosting was light and the chiffon was perfect.
This is a really great cake for spring because it is light, fluffy and just the perfect thing to serve at this time of year. I got alot of compliments on the cake and requests for the recipe. That must mean it is a keeper!
To see other beautifully decorated cakes, go check out The Cake Slice Bakers.





TRIPLE LEMON CHIFFON CAKE
ADAPTED FROM: SKY HIGH IRRESISTIBLE TRIPLE LAYER CAKES BY ALISA HUNTMANS AND PETER WYNNE
FOR THE CAKE:
MAKES A 9-INCH TRIPLE LAYER CAKE
8 eggs, separated
1/4 cup walnut oil**
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 tablespoon of lemon zest
1/3 cup water
1/2 teaspoon of cream of tartar
1 and 1/2 cups of sugar
1 ans 3/4 cups of cake flour*
1/2 teaspoon of baking soda
1/2 teaspoon of salt
[*1 cup of cake flour is equal to 3/4 cup of AP flour plus 2 tablespoons of corn starch]
[**equal amount of either almond oil, hazelnut oil, or canola oil]
Preheat the oven to 350*degrees F. Line the bottoms of three 9-inch pans with parchment paper but do not butter or grease the pans.
In a med-large bowl whisk together the egg yolks, oil, lemon juice, lemon zest, and water.
In the bowl of an electric mixer, whip the egg whites with the cream of tartar on medium speed until light and frothy. Slowly add 1/2 cup of sugar and continue to beat until soft peaks form.
Sift the flour, remaining sugar, baking soda , and salt into a large bowl. Whisk gently to combine. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients. Pour in the egg yolk mixture and mix to create a smooth paste. Add one-fourth of the egg whites and fold in to lighten the batter. Fold in the remaining egg whites and divide the batter among the three pans.
bake for about 16 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean. Transfer to wire racks to cool in the pans. Once cool run a knife around the cake to in order to un-mold the cakes. Carefully pull off the parchment paper from the bottoms of the cakes.
To assemble the cake, place one layer on a cake stand. Top with a heaping 1/4 cup of lemon curd and spread it evenly. Repeat with the remaining layers. Frost the top of the cake and the sides with the lemon cream frosting.
RICH LEMON CURD
MAKES 1 CUP
3 whole eggs
2 egg yolks
1/2 cup of sugar
1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon of freshly squeezed lemon juice (about 4 lemons)
grated zest of three lemons
4 tablespoons of unsalted butter, at room temp.
Whisk together the whole eggs, yolks, sugar, lemon juice , and lemon zest together in a medium bowl. Transfer to a small non-reactive saucepan. Gently heat the mixture, whisking until it thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon. make sure not to boil the mixture. Pour the mixture through a sieve into a heatproof bowl. Stir in the butter and cover the curd with plastic making sure the plastic touches the curd. This should prevent a skin from forming on the curd. Refrigerate until cold. Then remove 3 tablespoons of curd and set it aside for the icing.
LEMON CREAM FROSTING
MAKES 3 AND 1/4 CUPS
1 and 1/2 cups of heavy cream
2 tablespoons of sugar
3 tablespoon of lemon curd
Whip the cream and sugar in a large chilled bowl until stiff peaks form. Fold in the lemon curd, forming a stiff frosting.

Coming Next- Pumpkin-Parmesan Scones

26 comments:

Marie Rayner said...

Oh Mary Ann! That cake looks stupendous! You do such a lovely job with everything you cook and your pictures are amazing!

Steph said...

The chiffon looks amazing! I'm not surprised it was the first to go.

Jo said...

Beautifully done and great job on your chiffon cake. It's lovely.

Anonymous said...

That shot of the unfrosted layers with the curd peeking through just made my mouth water! Gorgeous cake!

The Food Librarian said...

Could this be any more beautiful!?! I love how you decorated what could have been a pure white cake! Lovely.

Katie said...

I agree,I thought this was the pefect springtime cake. Beautifully decorated

Linda said...

What a beautiful looking cake! Definitely agree with you --- this is the perfect cake for spring.

Maria said...

I don't do cakes, mainly because I don't like to eat them, but I should just for fun! Your cake is so pretty! I bet I would like the lemon one!

farah said...

What a beautiful cake!!!

Jacque said...

Yummy! It looks so lovely and lemony :)

Kerstin said...

It's gorgeous and you're right, perfect for spring! I'm not surprised at all that it disappeared first!

Unknown said...

Your pictures are so beautiful! This cake seriously looks delicious! Hope all is well!

Anonymous said...

Great blog and a great cake.

Anonymous said...

Your cake looks wonderful and very high! The lemon curd looks mouthwatering. I love lemon curd. :P

Engineer Baker said...

I love how light the chiffon looks! And it's just so beautiful and spring-y too.

Gigi said...

Gorgeous cake! You did a fantastic job decorating your cake. Well done.

TeaLady said...

May Ann you did a beautiful job on this cake. It looks lovely. I know it took tons of time.

J.L. Danger said...

I love that you give us pictures before you finish icing, so that we can see the layers!

How great does this cake look?!

Not Another Omnivore said...

The unfrosted picture is so beautiful and is really what gets my mouth watering!

NAOmni

Caroline said...

The lovely pictures of your pretty cake is making my mouth water. I like how you decorated your cake, it's like something you see in the bakery windows.

Lucy..♥ said...

Simply mouthwatering, delish!

Chef Jeena said...

Very beautiful cake, I love lemon curd and this looks so so gorgeous!

TeaLady said...

Simple, but beautifully elegant.

Meghan said...

Beautiful cake! It looks like a lemon-lovers dream! My husband has been requesting a lemon dessert . . . :)

Karen said...

What a beautiful cake... it looks so elegant :)

Sophie said...

This cake is gorgeous, I like how fluffy the icing is, the cake itself looks light and airy.