Getting the Oklahoma Red Dirt out of white clothes is pretty near impossible. I highly recommend NEVER swimming in many of the lakes because of that reason. I also recommend if you're going to let your children play outside, you make sure they have play clothes that you are okay with getting stained up, because it WILL happen. ;)
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| My youngest, Eddie, after playing in the Oklahoma Red Dirt with his brother. |
And you also need to always make sure you are prepared to clean out the bathtub/shower after your kids get cleaned up.
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| The bathtub AFTER! |
Now that Spring and Summer are here, it is nice to have a refreshing citrus dessert. I have been craving something with lemons for a little while, so I decided to make a lemon cake. The big problem I had, I only had three SMALL lemons! Nonetheless, I made this cake and it turned out rather well! The cake had a very light lemon flavor, as did the buttercream. What "MADE" the cake was the Lemon Curd filling that I put into it. Absolute perfection, at least in my husband's opinion. After all, that IS all that matters, isn't it? :)
Of course silly me didn't get pictures for the whole process, or even another shot of the cake. Desserts just don't last long with a family of 6. :)
Lemon Cake with Lemon Curd Filling and Lemon Buttercream
For the Cake:
2 cups all purpose flour
4 Tbsp. cornstarch
1 Tbsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/4 cups milk
4 large egg whites (save the yolks!)
1 1/2 cups sugar
Zest of 1 1/2 small lemons
1 stick unsalted butter, at room temperature
Juice from 1 lemon
Preheat oven to 350*. Prepare two 9-inch cake pans with non-stick cooking spray and set aside.
Sift together flour, cornstarch, baking powder and salt. In a separate bowl, whisk together egg whites and milk. In mixer bowl, combine sugar and lemon zest BY HAND until sugar is moist and fragrant. Add butter to sugar mixture. Beat on medium until light & fluffy. Stir in vanilla.
Add dry ingredients to sugar, alternating with milk, beginning and ending with dry ingredients. Scrape down sides of bowl and beat until all ingredients are thoroughly combined. Pour batter into prepared cake pans. Bake 30 - 35 minutes, or until cake tests done when toothpick is inserted. Cool completely to room temperature.
For the Curd:
1 large egg
4 large egg yolks
1 cup + 2 Tbsp. sugar
2 whole large lemons, seeded, and ran through a food processor
Pinch of salt
6 Tbsp. unsalted butter, cut into tablespoon portions
In a medium heavy non-stick saucepan, whisk together the whole egg, yolks, and sugar until blended. Stir in lemons from food processor, salt and butter. Cook over medium heat, whisking constantly until mixture thickens, about 7 - 10 minutes. Do NOT let mixture boil (it will curdle). Immediately strain through a fine mesh strainer into a bowl, pressing it through with a rubber spatula. Cover bowl and refrigerate until well chilled (at least two hours).
For the Buttercream:
3 cups powdered sugar
1 cup butter, at room temperature
1/2 - 1 tsp. lemon extract
5 -6 Tbsp. milk
Cream butter until light & fluffy. Begin adding powdered sugar one cup at a time, blending until well mixed. Scrape down sides of bowl before adding another cup. Add lemon extract, mix well. Begin adding milk by tablespoon until desired consistency is reached.
To assemble Cake remove cakes from cake pans. Allow to sit on wire rack to finish cooling completely. Once cooled, cut each cake in half with long serrated knife, taking care to keep knife straight during cutting. Carefully remove top layer of cake and set aside. Fill layer with chilled Lemon Curd and replace top layer. Place cake onto serving dish and frost first layer with Lemon Buttercream. Repeat with second layer of cake.
Next time I bake this cake I will get more photographs to put with this. And hopefully I will have more than 3 measly lemons when baking the next one! :)
As a side note, I recommend that you do NOT put Red Dirt in your Lemon Cake. The end result may be rather...gritty :)
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