One of my favorites parts of being a pastry chef is the fact that using my knowledge, I get to create new recipes, perfect old ones or totally transform them. And this is exactly what happened with this recipe. Using my Red Velvet Cake recipe as a base, I created this Lemon Velvet Cake – a dense and yet fluffy sponge, filled with the most delicate lemon curd and vanilla whipped cream. It sounds simple and it actually is! It’s not as complicated as my usual entremets and it tastes amazing! It’s a refreshing cake, fitted for this springy weather we are having at the moment.
The sponge will impress you with its moisture and delicate texture, I fell in love with it and I’m planning to keep perfecting it and using it in many other combinations, including as base for my entremets. I love that I don’t have to soak it up in syrup and it doesn’t go all hard in the fridge either due to having two types of fat (actually three if you count the sour cream too). The lemon curd used for filling is one of the best I ever made – and believe me, I’ve tried a few so far.
Ingredients
Cake:
- 380 g all-purpose flour
- 40 g shredded coconut unsweetened
- 2 teapsoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 125 g butter softened
- 125 g vegetable oil
- 300 g sugar
- 2 eggs
- 125 g sour cream
- 10 g lemon zest
- 5 g vanilla extract
- 259 g buttermilk
- 25 g lemon juice
- 4 g baking soda
Vanilla frosting:
- 400 g heavy cream
- 40 g powdered sugar
- 8 g vanilla extract
Lemon curd:
- 100 g egg yolk
- Zest from 2 lemons
- 90 g fresh lemon juice
- 210 g white sugar
- 100 g butter
- 0.5 g salt
Instructions
Cake:
- Preheat your oven to 330F (160C).
- Line 2 baking pans with baking paper or grease them with butter. I used 2 18cm diameter pans and had 4 layers of sponge in the end, but you can use bigger pans too, the only difference being that you won’t get as many layers as I did.
- Mix the buttermilk with lemon juice and baking soda.
- Mix the flour with coconut, salt and baking powder.
- Mix the butter, oil, sugar and vanilla in a bowl until creamy and double in volume. Stir in the lemon zest then add the eggs, one by one.
- Stir in the sour cream.
- Begin folding in the flour and buttermilk, alternating them. Always start and end with flour.
- Divide the batter between the two prepared pans and bake in for 50 up to 60 minutes. Check the cakes with a toothpick.
Vanilla frosting:
- Whip the heavy cream with powdered sugar until stiff. Add more sugar if you like it sweeter.
- Stir in the vanilla extract.
Lemon curd:
- Pour one cup of water in a small saucepan and bring it to a boil over medium flame.
- To make the curd, prepare a heatproof bowl that fits the saucepan but its bottom doesn’t touch the boiling water.
- Combine all the ingredients into the bowl and mix roughly.
- Place the bowl over the boiling water and cook for 20-25 minutes, mixing often.
- It is a slow process, but the final curd is well worth the result.
- Cook until the mixture begins to thicken then remove from heat and strain through a fine sieve.
- Let it cool in the fridge before using.
Equipment
- Mixer
- Kitchen scale
- Oven
- Spatulas
- Bowls
- 2 18cm diameter cake pans
- Tablespoons
Notes
Oana, this cake is beautiful, and the way you describe the texture of the cake makes it sound so delicious! I can’t wait to give it a try.
Thank you, Elizabeth! My words didn’t describe it as good as it actually tastes, especially if you like tangy, refreshing cakes!
Oana, I can never ever frost like this, I am so bad with frosting, you will only see naked cakes on my blogs….i admire people who can do this. Love your description of the came, makes me want to eat it.
Thank you, SImi!
Well, I can teach you a thing or two about frosting cakes and you can teach me food photography 😛 Fair trade!
This cake is absolutely stunning Oana! The frosting, the layers, the filling – just perfect 🙂 I love all lemon desserts and am totally drooling over a big slice of this – amazing job!
Thank you! Lemons are my new love as well!
This cake is beautiful Oana! I love the way you made that pattern with the filling, it looks so neat on the cut pieces of cake. Definitely need to try that technique!
Thank you! The pattern was a moment thing as I wanted to balance out the tartness of the lemon curd and it turned out great.
The list of ingredients mentions shredded coconut, but I don’t see that referenced in the directions. Can you clarify where the coconut is used, please?
Thanks for letting me know, Jeni. It’s fixed now.
Ce fain e! Salvez reteta, vreau sa il incerc cat de curand 🙂
Multumesc, Narcisa. Spor la treaba, te astept cu impresii 🙂
Oana, cum ai facut decorul tortului?
E un tort foarte bun. Desi nu era specificata insiroparea blatului…eu l-am insiropat si a devenit putin cam sfaramicios.Data viitoare voi respecta reteta intocmai :). Multumiri pentru reteta.
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10153052475462739&set=a.10151232448152739.473607.718432738&type=3&theater
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10153081058757739&set=a.10151232448152739.473607.718432738&type=3&theater
Where can I go to break down the grams & millititers into measurement amounts.
Here’s just one of the many measurement coverters out there 🙂 http://www.jsward.com/cooking/conversion.shtml
2nd time making, awesome taste.
My layers in 9″ spring pans, never rise mpre than 1″ pn edges, 1.5″ dome in middle. What may be
causing the low rise? I think ea layer has yo be about 1″ thick, right? I ended up baking another pair of layers to yield workable layers.
Curd is excellent, very much like the lemom merengue pie filling my mom made, my father’s gavorite -mine too.
I bake these in 18cm diameter pans, so smaller than yours, this could be one of the causes. Another cause for the dome could be the material your pans are made of, it may conduct heat differently.
But you need to trim off the dome.
Buna Olguta,
As vrea sa fac acest tort insa experientele anterioare cu frisca naturala lichida (35% grasime) au fost cel putin dezastruoase. Frisca, indiferent ca o bat la mixerul manual sau cel profesional, nu are stabilitate, este foarte moale. O pot folosi doar la mousse-uri si ganache. Daca o bat prea mult, ajunge unt. Ai idee ce pot face pentru a avea frisca tare? As vrea sa o pot folosi si la o Pavlova, de exemplu. Multumesc anticipat, spor la ce faci 🙂
Marius
Marius, cred ca trebuie sa stai cu ochii pe smantana si sa o opresti din mixat cand e ferma, dar nu taiata. Nu e niciun secret la mixat. Ce brand folosesti?
Pilos sau LaDorna, uneori Elle&Vire. Rece, bolul rece, uscat si foarte curat.stau mereu cu ochii pe ea si totusi, e prea moale.
Eu zic sa o mai lasi putin la batuta. Mie imi reuseste, nu am avut niciodata problema asta. Dar nu e niciun secret implicat. Doar timpul de mixare.
Okay, multumesc mult! Off topic: nu reusesc sa folosesc gelul colorant de la drOetker. Nu iese nimic cand apas pe tub, in conditiile in care il incalzesc in palma, asa cum este indicat la instructiuni. Am introdus tubul si intr-un pahar de apa calduta, dar nimic. Nu inteleg ce mai pot face..
Cred ca solutia e sa cumperi un colorant de calitate. Gasesti pe desertonline.ro de exemplu. Sau pe cakedecor.ro
Sigur, atunci cand vor avea :(. Am incercat sa cumpar Americolor de pe Desertonline, dar nu este pe stoc. In plus, site-ul nu a mai fost actualizat de mult timp,o mare parte din produsele listate nu sunt pe stoc,.. o sa imi incerc norocul cu Cakedecor. Multumesc inca o data.