I’m planning to make some sort of a lemon cake for a gathering next week. I tend to favor sponge-type cakes (genoise, biscuit) and am looking for cake/syrup/frosting/filling combinations. What are your favorites?
white chocolate whisper cake, cognac flavoured syrup with lemon zest and/or essence, neoclassic lemon buttercream, lemon curd mousseline for the filling (heavy on the curd)
Also have become a big fan of biscuit de savoie! May suit you better, since you love sponge cakes. It would work equally well with the above syrup, filling, frostings though if I didn’t have neoclassic on hand, I’d probably just go with lemon curd mousseline for both filling and frosting. (Classic or neoclassic by itself, a bit too “eggy” for my taste because of all the yolks.)
Glad you mentioned the Blueberry Swan Cake, Matthew! That’s my main inspiration and starting point when people are looking for a lemon cake. I even made it with the swans once, but the day was humid. They were sooo droopy! My friends didn’t mind, though.
Golden genoise, sprinkled with straight limoncello liquor will be heaven. Golden Genoise is moist, so syrup is not really needed, but a sprinkle of liquor adds the taste. If alcohol is a concern, wrap in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 1 or 2 days. Alcohol will dissipate thru the wrapping.
Biscuit de Savoie, with limoncello syrup, will be also another choice. Try the ginger variation, ginger and lemon goes well.
Frosting? Hmm, how about a lemon cloud creame? Or a lemon curd mousseline, too.
Be sure to lay some think slices of fresh lemon on your cake, it will take the cake!
You could use Rose’s recipes instead of Martha’s if you’d rather. Basic idea is an orange/lemon chiffon cake (you could use just lemon if you prefer), a half-recipe baked in a 7-inch tube pan. The cake is then sliced into 3 layers and filled with lemon curd. It’s frosted with swiss meringue which is browned in the oven (or you could use a blowtorch). I don’t think there’s a recipe for swiss meringue in the Cake Bible (but I could be wrong) so you’d have to change the frosting if you want to use a Rose recipe.
I have never made a chiffon cake. My next cake is most likely going to be a lemon or orange chiffon cake, which is why I was browsing around for recipes. I even went so far as to make a table that compared the weights of ingredients in different recipes.
Rose’s recipes in TCB have by far the most eggs of any of the ones I’ve seen so far, and the most egg whites. They must be very light and fluffy.
nice MS cake and as usual stunning, but concerned if you need to eat this cake right away. Meringue turns into liquid if not eaten within hours or minutes.
chiffons are great, but I think the vegetable oil doesn’t contribute to any flavor, if not it interferes. I prefer a Biscuit which is clean egg/flour taste (no vegetable oil), or a Genoise which has clarified butter.
The stabilized meringue will keep for a while actually and not bead. There are several recipes for this in the pie bible, although I don’t remember if Rose calls it Swiss, etc. Not sure if they are in the cake bible either, but of course it is embedded in the butter cream recipes.
A few weeks ago, I made a lemon cake for a baby shower, and it was a big hit.
My starting point was Rose’s “All Occasion Downy Yellow Butter Cake” from The Cake Bible. I put about a teaspoon of freshly grated lemon zest into the batter, plus about a quarter teaspoon of lemon extract. For the filling between the layers, I made the white chocolate cream cheese buttercream enhanced with some lemon zest and just a drop or two of lemon extract. The frosting on the outside was the white chocolate ganache—no lemon added, because I wanted to have a flavor contrast.
It was a wonderful, refreshing cake. Next time, I would serve it with blueberries (if they are in season).
For my favourite butter cake (RLB’s White Chocolate Whisper) with lemon buttercream, lemon curd filling and lemon polka dots and lines cake (see attached picture), click here.
This can also be done with a lemon sponge with lemon syrup. Followed with lemon curd filling, lemon buttercream and more lemon curd piped designs, that cake would be the lemon dake to beat ‘em all. Yum!
For lemon cakes I like white cake with lemon buttercream filling and vanilla buttercream frosting. A touch of raspberry puree and a few fresh raspberries are a nice touch (or raspberry buttercream filling and lemon buttercream frosting).
Oh my gosh, you guys are great! So many lovely ideas, many that I probably wouldn’t have come up with myself. I’m trying to categorize different options by flavor and richness to help me decide.
I’ll try to post again with the finished cake next week.
Thanks so much,
Julie
chiffons are great, but I think the vegetable oil doesn’t contribute to any flavor, if not it interferes. I prefer a Biscuit which is clean egg/flour taste (no vegetable oil), or a Genoise which has clarified butter.
Good point, Hector. I wonder if anyone has tried making a chiffon cake with part oil and part clarified butter? More taste, but it would “harden up” a bit more when refrigerated...hmmm...but what if I was going to serve it at room temperature anyway?
Has anyone tried this? Maybe I’ll give it a whirl sometime.
chiffons are great, but I think the vegetable oil doesn’t contribute to any flavor, if not it interferes. I prefer a Biscuit which is clean egg/flour taste (no vegetable oil), or a Genoise which has clarified butter.
Good point, Hector. I wonder if anyone has tried making a chiffon cake with part oil and part clarified butter? More taste, but it would “harden up” a bit more when refrigerated...hmmm...but what if I was going to serve it at room temperature anyway?
Has anyone tried this? Maybe I’ll give it a whirl sometime.
I think I tried this some time ago… I don’t recall anything going wrong. I wish I could remember where the recipe was from.....
