The Lemon Tier (Wedding Cake Week #3)
The full recipe for the 6-inch, 3-layer lemon cake tier of my brother's wedding cake!
Servings 15 Wedding servings
Equipment
- 3 6-inch, circular cake tins (see Note 1).
- 6-inch, circular cake drum
- 8-inch, square cake board (See Note 2).
- Temporary adhesives (I used paper adhesive stickers)(see Note 2).
- Cake lifter
- 1 piping bag
- #1A piping tip (or similar, large, round nozzle)
- Offset palette knife
- 4 cake dowels
- Icing smoother (see Note 3).
Ingredients
For the lemon curd:
- 1 whole egg + 1 egg yolk
- 150 g white caster sugar (see Note 4).
- 2 lemons, zest and juice.
- 110 g unsalted butter, diced.
For the lemon cake layers:
- 2 batches DIY Cake Release (see Note 5).
- 260 g plain flour
- 20 g cornflour (see Note 6).
- 280 g caster sugar (see Note 7).
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda
- 170 g unsalted butter, diced and softened.
- 180 ml whole milk
- 70 g sunflower oil
- 2 eggs
- 2 lemons (zest of both, juice of 1).
Lemon buttercream:
- 300 g unsalted butter, softened.
- 600 g icing sugar, sifted.
- 2 lemons, juice only.
- Splash of milk, if necessary.
To decorate
- Edible, pressed violas (see Note 8).
Instructions
Make the lemon curd:
- In a small saucepan, whisk together the whole egg, egg yolk, sugar, lemon zest and juice until thoroughly combined.
- Add the butter and place over a medium-low heat. Stir constantly with a heatproof spatula while the butter melts.
- Once the butter has melted, keep the pan over the heat and continue stirring until the curd becomes thick and smooth.
- Remove the curd from the heat, pass through a heatproof, fine mesh sieve then cover the surface of the curd directly with cling film and allow to cool to room temperature before placing into the fridge to chill and thicken up even more (at least 1-2 hours, but can be made a few days in advance).
- This recipe makes more lemon curd than you will need. Any leftovers can be stored in the fridge for 4-5 days.
Make the lemon cake layers:
- Preheat the oven to 160°C (conventional oven, not fan-assisted). Brush each cake tin with a layer of DIY Cake Release and line the base of each with a circle of greaseproof paper. Set aside.
- Place flour, cornflour, caster sugar, baking powder, baking soda and lemon zest into bowl of electric mixer, fitted with paddle attachment. Mix on low speed to combine.
- Add butter and continue to mix on low speed until mixture resembles breadcrumbs and no large pieces of butter remain.
- In the meantime, whisk together the milk, sunflower oil, eggs and lemon juice in a jug.
- With the mixer on low, pour the milk mixture into the batter in a slow, steady stream until it has all been added.
- Turn the mixer speed up to medium and beat the batter until it is light, fluffy and smooth: this will take about 30-60 seconds.
- Divide the batter evenly between the three prepared tins and smooth out the tops, then bake in the preheated oven for 45-50 minutes, or until the tops are golden brown and a skewer inserted into the centre of each cake comes out clean.
- Allow the cakes to cool in the tins completely, then carefully run a palette knife around the edges to loosen them. Level the cakes, then turn them out onto wire racks.
Make the lemon buttercream:
- Fit mixer with paddle attachment. Beat butter until smooth, pale and creamy (about 3-5 mins), scraping down the sides when necessary.
- With mixer on low, add half of the icing sugar to the butter, a spoonful at a time, pausing to scrape down the sides of the bowl as you go.
- With mixer still on low, pour lemon juice into buttercream in a slow, steady stream.
- Add the rest of the icing sugar with the mixer still running, a spoonful at a time.
- Once everything has been added, turn the mixer up to high and beat until fluffy and fully mixed (about 1 minute). Don't worry if the icing is quite stiff at this stage— it needs to be.
- Remove a spoonful of icing and microwave on high for 10-15 seconds to melt. Stir to ensure evenly melted, then mix into the rest of the icing by hand to smooth it out and return the icing to an even consistency if it has split a little from the lemon juice.
Assemble the cake:
- Secure the 6-inch cake drum to the 8-inch cake board (if using), using paper adhesive stickers (or other similar, temporary adhesive). Set on a turntable, with a layer of non-slip fabric in-between the turntable and the boards.
- Spread a dollop of icing onto the cake drum, then set the first, cooled cake layer on top, making sure it is level and centred on the drum. It should line up with the sides of the drum.
- Pipe an even layer of lemon buttercream all over the surface of the cake layer, making sure to go right to the edges. Use an offset palette knife to spread the icing out evenly, ensuring there is some overhanging icing at the edges.
- Pipe another circle of buttercream on top of that layer, just around the circumference of the circle. This will act as a buttercream 'dam' to keep the lemon curd filling contained.
- Spread a thin layer of lemon curd on top of the buttercream, making sure not to go over the edges of the buttercream 'dam'.
- Place the next layer of cake on top, making sure it is centred and level, then smooth off the excess icing around the sides and place the cake into the fridge to chill for 15 minutes before repeating the process all over again with the buttercream, curd and final cake layer. Place the whole cake back into the fridge for a further 15 minutes.
- Add 4 cake dowels, if using. Add a splash of milk to the buttercream to thin it out slightly, then use to apply a thin crumb coat all over the top and sides of the cake. Place back into the fridge to chill for a final 15 minutes.
- Apply a generous layer of icing all over the top and sides of the cake. At this stage, cover the sides of the cake drum with icing too. Smooth out the top, making sure to leave some overhanging icing all around the top edge, then use the icing smoother to smooth out the sides, moving the turntable, rather than the smoother for best results. The overhanging icing should be pushed upwards and inwards during this process, forming a nice 'lip' around the top of the cake.
- If needed, apply more icing to any uneven sections and smooth again.
- Once happy with the finished cake, set aside at cool room temperature to firm up, until ready to eat/transport.
Decorating the cake with pressed flowers:
- As close to serving as possible, lay the pressed flowers onto the surface of the cake (on which the buttercream is now hardened), making sure you are happy with the arrangement before sticking them down. Use a small amount of icing on the end of skewer to stick down each flower individually.
Notes
Notes:
- I use the 6-inch sandwich tins from Silverwood.
- You can skip the extra board/adhesive if you don't need to transport the cake— these just make it easier to manoeuvre the cake without worrying about it slipping/sliding.
- If you want smooth sides on a cake, you really do need to invest in an icing smoother. I use this one by Wilton.
- I like to use white caster sugar (not golden caster sugar) for this lemon curd, to ensure that it has a really bright, yellow colour, but either will work.
- This cake does tend to stick to the sides of the tin a little, so I recommend using my DIY Cake Release recipe to help it release cleanly.
- Cornflour gives this cake a slightly more tender, soft crumb. If you don't have cornflour, feel free to use an additional 20g of flour instead.
- For the cake, I do use golden caster sugar, but white caster sugar would work too.
- I purchased the violas from Nurtured in Norfolk. On this cake, I used the colourways 'Cream' and 'Midnight Blue & Cream'.