Lemon-Raspberry Cake

I made this cake a few weeks ago for my birthday. I made Randal a chocolate truffle cake for his birthday, so I thought why not make Sarabeth's lemon raspberry cake.

I loved making this cake, but then I always enjoy cakes that involve many steps and I finally got the chance to make lemon curd for this cake.  This is such a lovely cake, not too sweet which is great for me, as I really am not a fan of heavy sweet cakes with lots of frosting.

Vanilla Genoise:
5 tbsp unsalted butter
5 large eggs
5 large egg yolks
1 cup superfine sugar
seeds from 1 plumped vanilla bean
1 cup cake flour

Lemon Curd:
4 lemons
10 large egg yolks
1 cup plus 2 tbsp sugar
1 stick unsalted butter, softened

Lemon Buttercream:
5 sticks unsalted butter
5 large egg whites
1 1/4 cups superfine sugar
seeds from 1 plumped vanilla bean
1 1/2 tbsp lemon curd

Simple Syrup:
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup water

Two 6 oz containers of fresh raspberries

To make the vanilla genoise, preheat oven to 350. Grease a half sheet pan.

Melt the butter in a small saucepan, transfer to a small bowl and let stand for 5 minutes, until tepid.

Whisk the eggs, egg yolks and sugar together in the bowl of a stand mixer. Bring a large pan of water to simmer over high heat, reduce heat to low and place the mixer bowl over the water.  Whisk constantly until the sugar has dissolved and the mixture is about 118 degrees.

Attach the bowl to the mixer fitted with the whisk attachment.  Add the vanilla and beat on high speed until quadrupled in volume and very pale yellow, will take around 5 minutes. Remove the bowl from the mixer. In four equal additions, sift the flour over the egg mixture and use a balloon whisk to fold it in.  transfer a quarter of the batter into a medium bowl and add the butter and fold together with the balloon whisk.  Pour this mixture back into the remaining batter and fold together.

Pour the batter into the half sheet pan and smooth it evenly with an offset spatula. Bake for 15-20 minutes, until golden brown. Transfer to a wire rack and let cool completely.

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To make the lemon curd, zest the lemons, set aside the zest then cut the lemons in half and juice them.  There should be around 2/3 cup of lemon juice.

In a large heatproof bowl, whisk the egg yolks, sugar, lemon juice and zest.  Place over a saucepan of simmering water, cook the curd and stir often until it thickens and reaches 185 degrees, will take about 10 minutes.

Strain the mixture through a sieve into a medium bowl.  Gradually whisk in the butter a tablespoon at a time.  Press a piece of cling film directly over the curd, pierce a few holes in it to allow steam to escape and leave to cool.  Once the curd has cooled transfer it to a covered container and refrigerate.

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To make the simple syrup, place the water and sugar in a small saucepan, bring to a boil, let boil for a couple of minutes then turn off the heat and leave to cool.

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To make the buttercream, add one inch of water to a saucepan and bring to a simmer.  Add the egg whites and sugar to the bowl of an electric mixer and place over the simmering water.  Whisk constantly until the mixture reaches around 160 degrees, should take about 5 minutes. Attach the bowl to the mixer fitted with the whisk attachment and whip on high speed until the meringue is cool, could take up to 10 minutes.

With the mixer on medium speed, beat in the butter 1 tablespoon at a time. Once all the butter has been mixed in, add the vanilla and the lemon curd and beat for another minute.

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To assemble the cake, split each raspberry in half and place on a paper towel lined sheet pan.

Using an 8 by 3 inch entremet ring, cut two rounds from opposite corners of the genoise. Cut out two half rounds from the remaining cake. 

Insert an 8 inch cardboard round into an 8 by 3 inch entremet ring.  Place a whole cake round into the ring and brush with 1/4 cup of the simple syrup. Pipe a ring of buttercream around the circumference of the cake.  Spread 1/2 cup of the lemon curd up to the ring of buttercream and layer half of the raspberries cut side down on the lemon curd.  Top with the two half rounds of cake, using the scraps of cake left for filling any gaps and repeat with the simple syrup, piped buttercream, lemon curd and raspberries.  Place the final cake layer and brush with the remaining syrup.  Place one cup of buttercream onto the cake and using a large offset spatula spread so that it is even with the top of the ring.  Carefully lift off the metal ring, refrigerate for 1 hour.

Spread a thin layer of buttercream over the cake, refrigerate for 15 minutes.  Apply the final layer of frosting to the cake, top with raspberries and refrigerate until ready to serve.

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