Dan and I whipped up this cake for a special Canada day treat. It’s tangy and quite sweet, perfect birthday cake. Here is the recipe just in case you feel like making one at home.
Vanilla Cake Batter: 1 1/2 cups cake flour, 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour, 1 1/2 sticks (3/4 cup) butter, 1 1/2 cups of granulated sugar, 6 egg whites (keep your yolks for the curd), 1 cup of milk, 4 tsps baking powder, 2 tsps vanilla,
Preheat your oven to 350f. Cream the (room temp’) butter and sugar on high until light and fluffy, this will take about 3 minutes. Add the vanilla and egg whites, give it a gentle stir after each addition then beat for a few seconds after you have added the final egg white to bring the batter together. Add half of the dry ingredients and gently mix together, then add half the milk and gently mix it together. Repeat with the remaining additions. When the batter is ready spread it into two 8″ pans that have been greased and floured.
Lemon Curd: 6 egg yolks, lemon zest from 1 lemon (at least), 1/2 cup lemon juice, 1/2 cup sugar, 1 stick melted butter
Set the egg yolks and zest aside in a large heat resistant bowl. Melt the butter, sugar, lemon juice at a low temperature in a small saucepan with a heavy bottom. Once the sugar is completely dissolved and the liquid is beginning to get hot pour it slowly over the eggs while wisking constantly. This is a bit tricky and would be easier if you had a friend pour so you could wisk, or vice versa. Once all the liquid is added wisk for another 30 seconds or so before pouring it back into the saucepan, you will continue to wisk constantly so the mixture keeps moving around and cooks evenly at a low temperature. This way you’ll get a nice smooth custard texture. If it is not treated with care and wisked constantly then the egg will cook and form hard bits in the lemon curd, so don’t walk away from it. It won’t take long for it to thicken, it is ready once it nicely coats the back of your spoon and will thicken up a bit more as it cools in the refrigerater.
Ripe strawberries, sliced.
Vanilla Icing: 1/2 cup of butter, 2 to cups of icing sugar, 2 tsps vanilla, 2 tbsps (approx) of milk. Cream all of the ingredients on high until light and fluffy. Adjust your consistency by adding more sugar or milk if necessary. I admit this amount of icing will barely cover the cake, so you an double the recipe if you’d like. I thought this was plenty since the lemon curd is so rich.
Very Simple Assembly: Once everything has cooled cut the domed cake tops off the two cakes. (I like to eat this part right away, often as a “cake sandwich” with icing.) Spread a liberal amount of lemon curd on the top of once of the prepared cakes, staying shy of the edges so the filling doesn’t leak out. Top this with as many sliced strawberries as you think you cake will hold without slipping apart. Spread a little bit of icing or curd on the other cake top and sandwich them together, this will help hold it together a bit more.
Add most of your frosting to the top of the cake and spread it around gently with a spatula, if you have a turntable or lazy susan it will really help. Any extra on top can be easy spread on to the sides of your cake. If the icing won’t stay down and seems to curl back it it too thick. It should be easy to spread, but not so thin that you can see the cake through it. Add more lemon curd to the top, just a thin layer, pile more strawberries on top of that. Yum, you’re done. No fancy decorations this time, just deliciousness. Enjoy!
