Birthday Treats, Part Deux

After finishing the birthday brownies last night and sending them off with Mike, it was time to start his birthday cake. I offered to make whatever kind of treat he wanted, but he said to fix whatever I wanted. I know he likes raspberry and lemon, so I tired to find something with one or both of these flavors. I looked through quite a few books before deciding to try Lemon-Filled Pound Cake from the Junior League of Nashville’s Notably Nashville. I’ve owned this book for a while, and the recipes never disappoint, so figured it was a “safe” recipe to try for such a momentous occasion (did I mention this is his 30^th birthday?).

I LOVE my pink standing mixer. It's the best
for creaming butter and sugar in baked goods.

I will tell you in advance that sadly, JL Nashville just sold their last copy of this book. However, it is still available on Amazon.com (just a few copies, so act fast.) I’m sure you’ll see more recipes from it on here, so you might as well go ahead and pick it up J

 

The actual baking of the cake and cooking of the lemon curd are not difficult. I will warn you, however, that the recipe states to bake two 8-inch cakes, which proved quite messy for me. I’m not sure if my pans are shorter than most, but the batter started bubbling over the edge and onto the bottom of my oven (cleaning the oven is my next fun chore, I guess). I think if you had 8-inch round cake pans that are 3 inches deep (found at some specialty baking stores and online) you would be fine, but next time I’ll use 9-inch pans and see how that works.

  

You can't see through the dirty oven door,
but trust me-it was a mess.

I was nervous about making lemon curd from scratch, and seriously considered just buying a jar of it instead. That somehow seemed like I was cheating, and not very adventurous, so I made the curd Thursday night so I still had time to buy some if it flopped. I was pleasantly surprised that it wasn’t hard at all, and was very tasty.

Fresh lemon juice is a must (and this gadget makes
it oh-so-easy to avoid getting seeds in your food).

Making the Lemon Curd in my makeshift double boiler.

The finished product-worth making from scratch.

My next snafu came when I tried to cut the cake layers with unflavored dental floss. I had read that this helps get really even layers, but I was not so great at it…my first attempt was so crooked that I actually cut through the bottom. I pieced that layer back together and decided to have a 3-layer instead of a 4-layer cake.

  

 Now you see it (the uneven layers)...



Now you don't!

As a little something extra, I made raspberry sauce to serve with the cake. I didn’t use an actual recipe, just read a bunch of different ones and did what I thought seemed like a good idea. I’m including my “recipe” below, but feel free to experiment on your own.

When all was said and done, the cake looked great, in my humble opinion, and everyone thought it was very tasty. That’s one of the joys of a layer cake…with a tasty filling and enough frosting to cover up the outside, no-one will ever know about the hang-ups along the way (unless, of course, they happen to take pictures and blog about it later).



Lemon-Filled Pound Cake

1½ cups (3 sticks) butter, softened

3 cups sugar

6 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

3 cups all-purpose flour

¼ teaspoon baking soda

¼ teaspoon salt

1 cup sour cream

Lemon Curd (below)

Cream Cheese Frosting (below)

Beat the butter in a bowl until light. Add the sugar gradually, beating constantly until fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time. Mix in the vanilla. Sift the flour, baking soda, and salt together. Add to the creamed mixture ⅓ at a time, alternating with the sour cream and mixing well after each addition. Spoon into 2 greased and floured 8-inch cake pans.

Bake at 300 degrees for 40 minutes or until the cake is golden brown and tests done. Cool in the pans on wire racks for 10 minutes. Remove to the wire racks to cool completely. Split each cake layer into 2 layers with a sharp knife. Stack the cake layers on a cake plate, spreading Lemon Curd between the layers to within 1 inch of the edge. Spread the Cream Cheese Frosting over the top and side of the cake.  Garnish with lemon slices or fresh raspberries.

Lemon Curd
2 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon cornstarch

¼ cup water

1 tablespoon butter, melted

¼ cup fresh lemon juice

Grated zest of 1 lemon

⅔ cup sugar

3 tablespoons water

3 egg yolks, beaten

Blend the cornstarch and ¼ cup water in a double boiler. Add the butter, lemon juice, lemon zest, sugar and 3 tablespoons water and whisk until smooth. Place 2 to 3 inches over simmering water. Cook for 5 minutes or until thickened, stirring constantly. Reduce the heat and cover. Cook for 8 minutes without stirring.
Whisk a small amount of the hot mixture into the eggs (this is so you don’t have scrambled eggs in your lemon curd.) Whisk the egg yolks into the hot mixture. Increase the heat and cook over high heat for 2 minutes over boiling water, whisking constantly. Remove from the heat and whisk for 3 minutes longer. Cool to room temperature. Chill for up to 2 days.

Cream Cheese Frosting

6 tablespoons butter, softened

8 ounces cream cheese, softened

1 pound confectioners’ sugar, sifted.

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

milk

Beat the butter and cream cheese in a bowl until light and fluffy. Add the confectioners’ sugar gradually, mixing well after each addition. Beat in the vanilla and add milk 1 teaspoon at a time to reach the desired consistency.

Raspberry Sauce

1 (12-ounce) package frozen raspberries

1-2 tablespoons sugar

Grated lemon zest (optional)

1-2 tablespoons raspberry liqueur (I used Chambord)

Heat the raspberries with the sugar and a small amount of water in a small saucepan over medium heat until the berries begin to break down, stirring frequently and mashing with the back of the spoon/spatula. Remove from the heat and purée with an immersion blender. Press through a fine mesh strainer into a bowl until only the seeds remain in the strainer. Stir the liqueur into the purée. Return to heat and warm for several minutes. Remove from the heat and serve at room temperature or chilled. Chill any leftover sin the refrigerator for 1 to 2 days.