Recipe for lemon layer cake
I spend a lot of time on Instagram to get inspiration for new exciting cakes and techniques. And one of the things I am a bit fascinated by and puzzled about is the Americans’ layer cakes! They are typically very tall and have a lot of cake layers compared to the filling. In Danish cakes, it is usually the exact opposite!
In our house and among our neighbors, our lemon tart is especially a huge hit. The sweet burnt meringue combined with the tangy lemon cream plays together fantastically, so I often try to find new ways to make it, for example, in these lemon muffins.
And this is my take on a really big American cake!
Lemon Layer Cake Recipe
Ingredients
Lemon Curd
- 4 Lemon the juice thereof
- 170 gram Sugar
- 3 Egg whisked together
- 70 gram Butter in smaller pieces
Layer Cake Bases
- 8 Egg
- 350 gram Sugar
- 24 gram Vanilla Sugar
- 28 gram Baking Soda
- 240 gram Wheat Flour
- 2 Lemon
Meringue
- 200 gram egg white
- 200 gram Powdered Sugar
- 1 Lemon
- 100 gram Water
- 100 gram Sugar
Instructions
Lemon Curd
- Start by grating the zest of the lemons.
- Set the zest aside for later use.
- Now squeeze the lemons for juice.
- Pour sugar, eggs, and lemon juice into a saucepan and whisk it together over low heat for 5 minutes. It must not come to a boil.
- Add the lemon zest and butter and continue whisking. It will start to thicken now.
- Then strain the mixture into a jar and refrigerate it for a couple of hours.
- Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius (356 degrees Fahrenheit) (conventional oven).
- Whisk eggs and sugar until airy and white.
- Sift flour, baking powder, and vanilla sugar into the egg mixture and add the juice and zest from the two lemons, then whisk it together.
- Divide the batter into two springforms lined with parchment paper at the bottom and greased with butter on the sides. My pans are 24 centimeters in diameter.
- Bake the cake layers, one at a time, in the middle of the oven for 30 minutes, then let them cool.
- Put egg whites and powdered sugar in a bowl.
- Whisk together until the meringue is stiff and glossy.
- Bring water and sugar to a boil, so the sugar dissolves.
- Cut thin slices of lemon and put them into the sugar syrup and let them cook for about 5 minutes.
- Lay the cooked lemon slices on a piece of parchment paper and let them cool before placing them on the cake.
- Place one cake layer on a cake stand and spread a good layer of lemon curd on the bottom.
- Cut the second cake layer in half horizontally to get two thinner layers.
- Place one of the thin layers on top of the spread bottom layer.
- Spread another layer of lemon curd and place the last cake layer on top.
- Now frost the cake with meringue and decorate the cake with extra meringue roses and "blobs" to taste.
- Torch the meringue with a kitchen torch right before serving and garnish with candied lemon slices.
