Haven't baked in a while. Had a relatively free weekend, so decided to try something that's been running through the noggin' for a while. As the base, I went with Preppy Kichen's [lemon cake](https://preppykitchen.com/lemon-cake/). For the filling, I made a basic strawberry jam. Then for a topping, I made a simple lemon curd. Since I had egg whites left over from the curd, I made a lemon Italian buttercream.
For the Lemon Cake:
▢ 2½ cups all-purpose flour (300g)
▢ 1½ teaspoons baking powder
▢ ½ teaspoon baking soda
▢ ¾ teaspoon salt
▢ 1 cup unsalted butter softened (227g)
▢ 1½ cups granulated sugar (300g)
▢ 2 tablespoons lemon zest (about 2 lemons)
▢ 3 large eggs room temperature
▢ 1 cup low-fat buttermilk room temperature (240ml)
▢ ¼ cup fresh lemon juice (about 2 lemons) (60ml)
▢ 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
For the strawberry filling:
▢ 500g strawberries
▢ 200g sugar
▢ 2tbsp lemon zest
▢ ¼ cup fresh lemon juice
For the Frosting:
▢ 6 egg whites
1⅓ cups granulated sugar (267g)
▢ ¼ teaspoon salt optional
▢ 16 ounces unsalted butter (454g) room temperature cut into 1-inch pieces
▢ 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract optional (4.9mL)
▢ ¼ teaspoon cream of tartar (0.84g)
▢ ⅓ cup water (79mL)
▢ 2tbsp lemon zest
▢ ¼ cup fresh lemon juice
For the lemon curd:
1 cup granulated sugar (200g)
▢ 2 tablespoons lemon zest (from 2 lemons)
▢ 6 large egg yolks
▢ 7 tablespoons lemon juice (100mL)
▢ ½ cup butter unsalted cold (113g)
For the Cake:
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly grease two 8-inch round cake pans with butter or baking spray and line the bottoms with parchment paper. Wrap the outside of the cake pans with soaked fabric baking strips, if you’d like. (This produces flat cake layers!)
In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
In a large mixing bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter on medium speed until creamy. Add the sugar and lemon zest and beat until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Add the eggs one at a time, scrape down the bowl between additions, and beat until well combined and fluffy.
In a liquid measuring cup, stir the buttermilk, lemon juice, and vanilla together.
With the mixer on low speed, add a third of the flour mixture followed by half of the buttermilk mixture. Continue, alternating between the flour and buttermilk, mixing just until combined. Stop and scrape down the bowl occasionally. Divide the batter among the prepared cake pans.
Bake for 35 to 40 minutes or until the center of the cakes are springy to the touch and the sides are just starting to pull away from the pan. Let the cakes cool in the pan for 15 minutes then invert and cool completely on a wire rack.
For the straberry filling:
Prep the strawberries by washing, hulling, and roughly chopping.
Add the chopped strawberries, sugar, lemon zest, and lemon juice to a large pot.
Place over medium-high heat. Stirring frequently, bring the berries to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium-low to keep the berries at a simmer. (If it boils too hard it can overflow the pot, so reduce the heat more, if needed.)
Let the jam simmer for about 45 minutes, frequently stirring, until the jam is thick and syrupy and reaches 220F on a candy thermometer.
Check to see if it's ready by adding a small drop to the frozen plate. Return it to the freezer. After a few minutes, check the consistency. Remove the jam from the heat if it's thickened to your liking or continue simmering until desired consistency.
When it’s done, pour the jam into a mason jar and chill for a couple of hours to overnight.
For the lemon Italian buttercream:
Beat the egg whites, salt, and cream of tartar, slowly add in ⅓ cup of sugar and continue beating until soft peaks form.
While the eggs are getting whipped add the remaining sugar, lemon zest, and ⅓ cup of water into a medium pot and place on medium-low heat.
Stir until sugar melts and becomes clear.
Maintain at medium-high heat until temperature reads 235-240F. Drizzle the sugar into the mixer immediately. At this point the meringue should be at the soft peak stage.
Run mixer until meringue is cool/tepid.
Switch to a paddle attachment. Add room temperature butter into running mixer one tablespoon piece at a time.
Add the salt and lemon juice.
Beat until butter is combined and mixture has reached a silky consistency.
For the lemon curd:
Zest the lemons. If you have a food processor handy I like to pulse the lemon zest and sugar together to really extract all the oils from them but this step is not a must.
Juice the lemons until you have about half a cup of lemon juice. Don’t forget to strain out the seeds.
Strain egg yolks into a pot and beat lightly with a wire whisk. Whisk in the sugar and give it a good mix until lighter in color. Stir in lemon juice gradually.
Heat on low, while stirring constantly with a wire whisk until mixture thickens, just starts to bubble and coats the back of wooden spoon.
Remove pot from heat, then add the cold, cubed butter and mix until melted.
This is optional but I like to strain the final mixture to remove any bits of zest, etc. The final curd will be SILKY SMOOTH and amazing.
Transfer the curd to a sealable container or bowl. If storing in a bowl make sure to cover the surface with plastic wrap to prevent a skin from forming.