Limoncello Creme Cake Recipes

QUICK AND EASY SUMMER LIMONCELLO CAKE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Spray an 8-inch square cake pan with cooking spray.
• Whisk sour cream, white sugar, canola oil, eggs, 3 tablespoons limoncello, and lemon zest together in a large bowl.
• Sift flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together in another bowl. Add flour mixture to sour cream mixture; stir with a wooden spoon until batter is just combined. Pour batter into prepared cake pan.
• Bake in the preheated oven until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, 33 to 35 minutes. Cool cake in the pan for 5 minutes.
• Whisk confectioners' sugar and 2 tablespoons limoncello liqueur together in a bowl until glaze is thin and smooth. Spread glaze over the top of the cake. Cool cake completely before slicing.

REFRESHING LIMONCELLO CAKE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Prepare an 8-inch cake pan with cooking spray.
• Whisk together the yogurt, eggs, canola oil, lemon juice, lemon zest, sugar, and 4 tablespoons limoncello in a large bowl. In a separate large bowl, mix the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Gently stir the dry ingredients into the wet. Do not over mix or the cake will be tough. Pour batter into prepared pan.
• Bake in the preheated oven until top is golden and a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean, about 35 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool slightly.
• Stir the powdered sugar and 3 tablespoons of limoncello together in a small bowl until smooth. Poke small holes all over the top of the still-warm cake with a fork or toothpick. Spoon the glaze over the cake and spread with the back of a spoon. The glaze will seep into the cake and add moisture.

LIMONCELLO CAKE

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Line the bottom of 2 round (9 inccake pans with parchment paper.
• Separate the eggs, putting the whites in one bowl and the yolks in another.
• Beat the whites using a whisk attachment on a standing mixer or a hand held mixer until foamy. Gradually pour in half of the sugar. Mix the whites on high speed until stiff peaks form. Set aside.
• In the other bowl with the yolks, add the remaining sugar and use the same whisk attachment to beat the yolks until they are pale and fluffy.
• Combine the milk, melted butter, vanilla extract and lemon zest in a bowl or cup. Set aside.
• Using a rubber spatula, fold the egg whites into the egg yolks, being careful not to deflate the batter as much as possible.
• Sift the flour, baking powder, and salt over the folded eggs and gently fold in the batter.
• When there are still some remaining streaks of flour, pour in the milk and butter mixture into the batter by the side of the bowl. Continue gently folding until evenly distributed.
• Divide the batter in half, pouring into the prepared cake pans.
• Bake in the preheated oven until they are golden and a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean, 20-25 minutes.
• Cool on a wire rack.
• Meanwhile, prepare the limoncello syrup and the frosting.
• Make a simple sugar by heating the sugar and water in a small pot until sugar dissolves and add the limoncello. Set aside to cool.
• In a standing mixer with a paddle attachment or using a hand mixer, mix the cream cheese and powdered sugar until evenly mixed, smooth and fluffy. Add the lemon zest, vanilla extract and limoncello.
• Add the mascarpone cheese. You can just fold in the mascarpone cheese with a rubber spatula, since it's soft enough or mix with the mixer just until combined, about 30 seconds.
• In a separate bowl, whip the heavy cream until fluffy and stiff peaks form. You can do this by hand using a whisk or use a hand held mixer or a standing mixer.
• Using a rubber spatula, fold in the whipped cream into the frosting until evenly mixed.
• Cut each cake in half horizontally.
• Using a serrated knife, make a small cut all around the outside of the cake. This will keep your knife on the same level as you are cutting across. Continue cutting deeper into the cake until you have cut all the way through.
• Another trick I use when decorating cakes is to line the serving plate all around the edge with aluminum foil so that the edge of the cake is overlapping the aluminum foil by about 1/2 inch. This will catch all the drips and crumbs, leaving your serving plate neat and clean. When you're done decorating just carefully pull the aluminum foil out.
• Using a pastry brush, brush the top and bottom of each layer with the limoncello syrup.
• Put a dollop of frosting in the center of the cake plate, which will help to hold the cake in place. Place the first cake layer in the center of the cake plate and generously spread the cake layer with frosting, all the way to the edges.
• Place the second cake layer on top of the frosted cake layer. Spread the lemon curd evenly over the surface of the cake, all the way to the edges. You can use more or less lemon curd, depending on how sweet and "lemony" you want the cake to be.
• Place the third cake layer on top of the lemon curd layer and generously spread the cake layer with frosting, all the way to the edges.
• Top with the last layer and this time frost the sides and the top of the cake. Carefully pull out the aluminum foil from underneath the edges of the cake and discard.
• You will have enough frosting left over to pipe a border all the way around the cake too. I piped a border all the way around the edges of the cake and added a few swirls in the center too. I used my favorite Wilton 1M piping tip.
• I also grated white chocolate on top of the cake as well as lemon zest and a thin lemon slice in the center of the cake.
• The cake should be chilled in the refrigerator for at least 2-4 hours before serving, or overnight. The cake can be made 2 days in advance, completely assembled and stored in the refrigerator, covered.
• Before serving, let the cake stand at room temperature for about 30 minutes, for the best taste and texture.

LIMONCELLO CREME CAKE

Steps:

• 1. LEMON CURD: (Make Ahead) Roll room temperature lemons to loosen the juice inside. Then zest 7-8 lemons using a fine grater. Cut lemons and use a strainer to strain seeds from juice as you squeeze into a bowl.
• 2. Separate the 8 egg yolks and reserve 3 whites for the cake.
• 3. In the top of a double boiler, mix egg yolks, sugar, the 2/3 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice, and the lemon zest from all of the lemons.
• 4. Bring the double boiler to simmer and keep it there. Simmer and whisk constantly. Both the temperature and the whisking are necessary to prevent curdling. Simmer and whisk 10 minutes in this fashion until it becomes a thick pudding-like consistency.
• 5. Remove from heat and whisk in lemon extract. Add butter.
• 6. Whisk until it dissolves completely.
• 7. For a smooth lemon curd, strain the curd to remove the zest. You can leave it, though. I leave it in because I like the slight chewiness one gets from the zest.
• 8. Once the curd is strained, it's nice and smooth like pudding.
• 9. Pour into a bowl and cover with plastic wrap touching the curd to prevent a skin from forming. Place bowl in the refrigerator to cool completely. This will be used to make the mascarpone mousse. (My curd makes around 2 cups, and whatever the recipe makes, I use it ALL in the mousse.)
• 10. CAKE: (Can bake the cake a day ahead.) Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cut parchment paper to fit the bottom of a 10-inch springform pan. Spray cooking spray onto the pan. Place parchment paper in the bottom, and then spray paper too. Dust slightly with some dry cake mix.
• 11. Mix pudding mix and cake mix. Then add 3 egg whites, 2 tablespoons of oil, and 1 1/3 cup of water until the cake mix is moist. Mix 2 minutes (according to package directions).
• 12. Pour into springform pan. Place this into a larger roasting pan in case of leaking.
• 13. Place into the oven for 30-40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
• 14. Remove from oven and allow to cool slightly before removing springform sides.
• 15. After removing springform sides, place the cake in the freezer for cooling. If baking the night before, I place it into the refrigerator and then place it into the freezer for about 2 hours the morning before I assemble the cake.
• 16. LEMON MASCARPONE MOUSSE: (Should also be made several hours before assembling to help the mousse set up before assembling.) Whip mascarpone until smooth. Continue to beat while adding sugar and lemon extract.
• 17. Check to see that sugar is dissolved. Then continue to beat while adding lemon curd. (If you stop beating while adding these ingredients, the acid of the lemon could curdle the mascarpone.)
• 18. Add limoncello while beating. When it's smooth, chill in the refrigerator. (I do not remove all of the zest caught in the beaters or wire whip. There will still be some in the mousse.)
• 19. LIMONCELLO SOAKING LIQUID: Combine water, sugar, and lemon zest in a saucepan. Cook over medium-low heat, stirring consistently until sugar is completely dissolved. Bring the heat up to medium-high and bring the syrup to a boil.
• 20. Remove the pan from heat and let sit for 2 minutes. Strain the liquid to remove lemon zest.
• 21. Stir in the limoncello and the lemon extract. Keep the syrup covered until ready to assemble the cake.
• 22. TO ASSEMBLE THE CAKE: Remove cooled cake from the freezer. Using a bread knife, carefully split layer into two layers, cutting all of the way through. Remove top layer, carefully, to wax paper with the cut side up. Carefully, loosen the bottom of the springform pan from the bottom layer by sliding knife or spatula between parchment paper and pan bottom. Then slide cake onto a cake plate with the cut side up.
• 23. Using a pastry brush or a spoon, put limoncello soaking liquid on each layer. (This is why I use the springform pan and cut the layers instead of using two or three round cake pans. The cut layers really allow the liquid to absorb into the cake.)
• 24. Using half of the mascarpone mousse on the layer of cake on the cake plate, smooth it out, and then place it into the freezer until well set. If you rush this, the mousse will squeeze out when the other layer is placed upon it. Return other layers to the freezer also.
• 25. Carefully, place the top layer onto the frosted bottom layer.
• 26. Spread mousse along the top of the cake. You can frost the sides of the cake if you want, but I do not always do that.
• 27. Grate white chocolate on top of the mascarpone mousse. Chill cake for several hours. It takes a while for the mousse to firm up and it's even better the day after it's assembled.
• 28. GARNISHES: When slicing, you may garnish with fresh mint and a lemon slice. Or, it looks really great garnished with a raspberry and some raspberry sauce.
• 29. NOTE: This can be made alcohol free by omitting the limoncello in the mousse, by increasing the sugar in the soaking liquid, and using lemon juice instead of limoncello.