3. Delicious Disaster…

Sooooo number 3 in the quest to bake 30 things chosen by other people was meant to be this a delicious looking lemon layer cake…

I mean what could be better than three layers of cake separated by lemon curd covered in beautiful icing – right? RIGHT?! NOTHING….! & my gosh was this yummy…. HOWEVER, the disaster part comes into play somewhere along the lines of icing….

You may have noticed by now i am not an icing person, most of my cakes are without, i like a good moist cakey cake minus the icing, so as such i am not very good at making icing, and i think today really proved that i must, i must i must be more patient before icing and eating the cake!

Stuff you’ll need for the cake (recipe taken straight from here)

1 cup butter, at room temperature
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
3 cups sifted self-rising flour
1 cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

How i did it

Preheat oven to 180°C. Using an electric mixer, cream butter until fluffy. Add sugar and continue to cream well for 6 to 8 minutes.

Add eggs 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Add flour and milk alternately to creamed mixture, beginning and ending with flour.

Add vanilla and continue to beat until just mixed.

Divide batter equally among prepared pans. Level batter in each pan by holding pan 3 or 4-inches above counter, then dropping flat onto counter. Do this several times to release air bubbles and assure you of a more level cake. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until a tester or toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Stuff you’ll need for the lemon curd (recipe taken straight from here)

8 egg yolks
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter
3 lemons, zest grated and juiced

How i did it

Place the ingredients in the double boiler over boiling water. Don’t let top pan touch the water. Cook and stir until mixture begins to gel or thicken ever-so-slightly. Remove from heat and allow to cool. Cover and refrigerate it to thicken. (see that refrigerate thing – really do that, me thinks that is where i got unstuck, i was impatient and didnt let it go to a thick jelly consistency)

Stuff you’ll need for the Royal icing (taken straight from here)

4 egg whites
1/2tsp.lemon juice
2lbs.confectioners sugar

How i did it

Combine egg white and lemon juice in a bowl and add small amount of sugar until the icing is completely smooth and forms a peak.

Putting it ALL together to create one massively DELICIOUS disaster…

Place the first cake on a cake plate, spread lemon curd all over, place the second cake on top, spread more lemon curd all over, place the third cake on top and pour a whole lot of lemon curd on top… Place in the fridge…. Keep checking on it to make sure it is still there, scooping the dripping lemon curd from all surfaces of everything and licking everything…. (no no dont be silly your curd will work just fine, so it wont make a mess and you wont have to lick it up!)

Once the curd is set around the cake, pipe on the royal icing… And hope that it doesnt look like this!

Looks good…