Today for a change, I am featuring a cake that I have selected and made just for me. It's Woody's Lemon Luxury Layer Cake (don't you love that alliteration?) from Rose Levy-Beranbaum's Rose's Heavenly Cakes, and I think it is one of the prettiest cakes that I have ever made.
The cake is a white chocolate cake with only the faintest hint of lemon, sandwiched together with lemon curd and white chocolate and lemon curd buttercream, then coated in more white chocolate and lemon curd buttercream. The buttercream was quite unusual as it involved making a chocolate custard and cooling it before proceeding on.
I diverged from the recipe only in that I used Stephanie Alexander's lemon curd recipe instead of Rose's, because I had spent part of the weekend before making it and thought it would be silly to make even more just for this cake. I also did not put more lemon curd on top of the cake, as people who came before me in making this cake indicated that it was not that aesthetically successful. The cute yellow sugar chrysanthemums are from The Crabapple Bakery, and what looks like grey dots in the photo is in fact edible silver disco glitter. Unfortunately my lovely flowers got smooshed into the top of the buttercream when I put the cake into the cake carrier because the cake was so tall - hence why the flowers are so deep into the top of the cake in the photographs.
Here is a cross-section of the cake in all of its glory:
If you don't have access to Rose's book, the recipe is published online here. However, if you enjoy baking occasion cakes, the book is well worth buying.
Plenty of people have made this cake before me, so if you are interested in step by step pictures on how to make it, just do a Web search.
I loved the white chocolate cake and the lemon curd, but the buttercream was not for me - primarily because I generally don't like buttercream. This cake is also quite rich, so a little piece goes a long way.
Go on, have a slice - I know you want to ;).
17 comments:
I do want to have a slice! I love lemony baked goods. I wonder if you could use a whipped cream frosting instead of the buttercream.
Hi Lauren, I think you could - that would be rather nice against the lemon.
This cake is gorgeous!
How a pretty cake! It sounds delicious, especially since it seems like a lighter lemon flavor. Great post!
Oh how wonderful...now we are talking: LEMON!! Enough with all this chocolate stuff already...lol! This is gorgeous, so elegant looking, you did a fantastic job on this. I would love love love a slice of this.
What a beautiful cake! You did a wonderful job frosting it! I am not the best a cakes,,they taste good but there not so pretty! I love the sound of this recipe and I adore any baked good with lemon!
Oh, wow, that looks divine. I'm very attracted to the nice thick layer of frosting, too - I'm very fond of buttercream.
Well I love lemons and I think I'd absolutely love this cake. It's so prettily decorated too!
That cake is absolutely stunning! I love how well the daisies on the top pair with the color of the cake and the lemon curd. It looks absolutely delicious. I am not a huge fan of traditional buttercream made with eggs. I much prefer a butter, confectioner's sugar, etc., buttercream.
Forget the FFwD chicken, this is what I want to bake! We continue to be hot and summery and lemon treats go well with sunshine. I have the book...thanks for baking this cake and showing it off...I'm on my way to find this recipe.
Nothing like choosing and baking a cake just for yourself. I spend so much time baking to others' preferences that it's rather delicious to be selfish once in a while.
Your cake looks beautiful - I love the simple and elegant decoration
I immediately was drawn to those flowers and wondering where they came from (or if you made them) - great glamourous cake - you need to just bake for yourself occasionally
this cake is soooo pretty!!
love how love it looks!
Looks like my kind of cake. Loveee lemon curd.
I would love a slice of this cake! It is beautiful and has so many yummy flavors. Good job. Cakes like this are quite a project.
so pretty! love the flowers
Oh yes, I do want a slice! It sounds delicious and is really lovely.
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