Lemon Cake with Lemon Curd
Lemon Cake with Lemon Buttercream is a layered cake made with two round lemon-flavored cakes, lemon curd, and lemon buttercream. It's a cake for all the lemon-flavored dessert lovers out there!
Servings: 10
Calories: 507kcal
Ingredients
Lemon Curd
- 3 medium lemons
- ¼ cup (½ stick / 57 g) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1 cup (200 g) granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs, room temperature
Cake
- 2 cups (250 g) all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ cup (1 stick / 113 g) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1 ¼ cups (250 g) granulated sugar
- 3 large eggs, room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon lemon extract
- ½ cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 1 cup (245 g) whole milk, room temperature
Lemon Buttercream
- 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1-3 teaspoons lemon extract
- 2 teaspoons whole milk, or more as needed
- 5 drops yellow food coloring, or more or less as desired
- 2 cups (250 g) confectioners' sugar, or more as needed
Instructions
Lemon Curd
- Grate zest from lemons to equal 1 tablespoon.
- After zesting, cut the lemons in half. Squeeze the lemon juice into a measuring cup to equal ½ cup.
- In the bowl of stand mixer (or in a bowl using a hand-held mixer) beat butter and sugar at medium speed until blended (about 2 minutes).
- Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating each egg until it's blended before adding the next.
- Gradually add lemon juice to butter mixture, beating at low speed just until blended after each addition.
- Remove bowl from mixer and stir in zest by hand. The mixture will look curdled, but that is okay.
- Transfer the mixture to a small heavy-bottomed saucepan.
- Cook over medium-low heat, whisking constantly, 14 to 16 minutes. Remove from heat and transfer to a heat-safe bowl.
- Set plastic wrap directly on warm curd to prevent a film from forming. Chill the curd in the refrigerator for 2 hours, or until firm.
- Store in an airtight container in refrigerator up to 2 weeks.
Cake
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Prepare two 8-inch round pans. (Spray with baking spray, grease with butter and flour, or use GOOP*.)
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes.
- In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt.
- With the mixer on low, beat in the eggs one at a time. Then, add in the vanilla, lemon extract, and lemon juice.
- With the mixer still on low, add in the flour mixture alternately with the milk, mixing just until incorporated (about 30 seconds), beginning and ending with the flour mixture.
- Pour batter into the prepared pans.
- Bake for 24-30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Allow the cake to cool in pans on wire racks for 10 minutes before inverting onto wire racks to cool completely.
Lemon Buttercream
- To a large mixing bowl, add butter, lemon extract, and milk. Using a hand mixer on medium speed, beat ingredients together until smooth. If desired, add yellow food coloring.
- Add confectioners' sugar into the butter mixture and beat on low speed until desired consistency is reached. You may want to add more sugar.
- Store the buttercream in plastic disposable pastry bags.
Assembly
- Set one layer of cake on a cake stand. Cut off the tip from a buttercream-filled pastry bag and pipe out a ring of buttercream around the edge of the cake.
- Drop ½-¾ cup lemon curd on the cake, smoothing it out into an even layer.
- Place the other layer of cake on top. Cover with a thin layer of lemon buttercream, using a small offset spatula to smooth it out. (If you want a more crisp finish, use a bench scraper to smooth out the frosting. This works best if you have a rotating cake stand.)
- In a small bowl, mix 2 tablespoons of lemon curd with 2 tablespoons of water. The consistency should be runnier than the curd, but not as runny as water.
- Place the watered-down curd in a plastic pastry bag and cut off a VERY small tip, like ⅛ of an inch. Drip the runny lemon curd around the edge of the cake.
- Fill in the top of the cake with lemon curd, smoothing it out with an offset spatula. Chill the cake in the refrigerator until ready to eat.
Notes
*Here is my recipe for homemade pan release (GOOP).
Equipment:
Rotating cake stand (See how to pick the perfect cake stand here.)
9FT decorating tip (See my tips here.)
Nutrition
Serving: 1slice | Calories: 507kcal