Meme called this “lemon cheese cake,” which is somewhat confusing since people more often use that name for a New York–style cheesecake. This is one of the recipes that “got away.” Meme often recorded a recipe on a card or on the previously mentioned interior of her cabinets. Trouble is, she only wrote down the ingredients and rarely included instructions. She used to actually cover her version of the cake in lemon curd. Normally, lemon curd is soft and not firm enough to frost a cake. I have tried to make the curd with her ingredients list every way but Sunday with no success. I’m afraid now I will never know. Instead, I fill between the layers with curd and flavor the frosting with it as well. The cake itself is an excellent rich, moist, cake that would also be delicious with chocolate frosting or served with strawberries and cream.
Recipe information
Yield
makes one 8-inch cake
Ingredients
Cake
Lemon Curd
Frosting
Preparation
Step 1
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Butter and flour two 8x3-inch cake pans. In a bowl, sift together the flour and baking powder. Set aside.
Step 2
To make the cake, in the bowl of a heavy-duty mixer fitted with the paddle, cream the 2 cups of butter, sugar, and scraped vanilla-bean seeds on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. With the mixer on low speed, add the flour mixture, alternating with the milk, beginning and ending with flour, scraping the sides of the bowl as needed. Transfer the batter to a large bowl.
Step 3
Switch to the whisk attachment of the mixer and use a clean bowl. Whisk the egg whites with a pinch of salt on low speed until foamy. Increase the speed to high and beat until stiff peaks form, 3 to 5 minutes. By hand, whisk one-third of the beaten whites into the batter to lighten the mixture. Using a large rubber spatula, fold the remaining whites into the lightened batter. Divide the batter between the prepared pans.
Step 4
Bake until golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the cakes comes out clean, 40 to 45 minutes. Remove to a rack to cool for 5 minutes. Invert the cakes onto the wire rack to cool completely.
Step 5
Meanwhile, for the lemon curd, prepare an ice-water bath by filling a large bowl with ice and water.
Step 6
To prepare the lemon curd, in a stainless steel bowl placed over a saucepan of simmering water, whisk together the egg yolks, sugar, lemon juice, and salt until blended. Cook, stirring constantly (to prevent the eggs from curdling), until the mixture is very thick and reaches 170°F on an instant-read thermometer, about 10 minutes. Remove from the heat and immediately pour through a fine mesh strainer into a bowl to filter out any lumps or cooked egg. Whisk in the butter, one piece at a time, whisking until each piece of butter has melted before adding the next. Add the lemon zest and stir to combine. Place the bowl in the ice-water bath (or in the refrigerator), stirring occasionally, to cool.
Step 7
To make the frosting, switch back to the paddle attachment of the mixer and use a clean bowl. Cream the cream cheese and butter on medium speed until smooth. Sift over the confectioners’ sugar. Beat until light and fluffy. Add the 1/2 cup of chilled lemon curd and beat on medium speed until combined. Set aside.
Step 8
To assemble the cake, once the layers have cooled completely, halve each with a serrated knife to create 4 layers. Place one sliced layer on a cardboard cake round. Spread with about 1/2 cup of lemon curd. Repeat with the remaining cake layers, spreading 1/2 cup of lemon curd between each layer. Place the final cake layer bottom-side up. Using an offset spatula, cover the top and sides with frosting.
