Lost Lemon Cake Recipes

LEMON LAYER CAKE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350°. Line bottoms of 2 greased 9-in. round baking pans with parchment; grease parchment., Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy, 5-7 minutes. Add eggs and egg yolks, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in lemon zest and juice. In a small bowl, mix sour cream and milk. In another bowl, whisk together flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda; add to creamed mixture alternately with sour cream mixture., Transfer to prepared pans. Bake until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, 24-28 minutes. Cool in pans 10 minutes before removing to wire racks; remove parchment. Cool slightly., For syrup, in a small saucepan, combine sugar and lemon juice. Bring to a boil; cook until liquid is reduced by half. Cool completely., For frosting, beat cream cheese and butter until smooth; beat in confectioners' sugar, lemon juice and salt until blended., Using a long serrated knife, cut each cake horizontally in half. Brush layers with warm syrup; cool completely., Place 1 cake layer on a serving plate; spread with 1 cup frosting. Repeat layers twice. Top with remaining cake layer. Frost top and sides with remaining frosting. If desired, top with lemon slices or edible flowers. Refrigerate leftovers.

LEMON CAKE FROM SCRATCH

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Butter and flour two 8-inch cake pans, tapping out excess flour.
• Whisk flour, lemon zest, salt, baking powder, and baking soda together in a bowl.
• Beat butter and sugar in a large bowl using an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Beat eggs and egg yolks, 1 at a time, into creamed butter mixture on low speed, beating well after each addition before adding the next. Beat lemon juice into butter mixture. Beat flour mixture, alternating with buttermilk, into butter mixture until batter is just combined. Divide batter between the prepared cake pans.
• Bake in the preheated oven until cake pulls away from sides of pan, 32 to 35 minutes. Cool cakes in pans for 10 minutes. Run a knife around the edges of pan and invert cake onto a wire rack to cool.

DORA CHARLES'S LOST-AND-FOUND LEMON POUNDCAKE

Steps:

• Heat the oven to 325 degrees. Generously spray a heavy 10-inch Bundt or straight-sided angel food cake pan with baking spray.
• In the large bowl of an electric mixer, cream butter on medium speed until light and fluffy. Slowly add confectioners' sugar and beat for several minutes, until the mixture is satiny. Add sour cream, vanilla and lemon flavoring and mix well.
• Sift the flour and baking soda. Add 1 cup of the flour mixture to the butter mixture and mix well. Mix in half the egg yolks, followed by another cup of flour, then the remaining yolks and finally the rest of the flour. Do not overmix or the cake will be tough. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and the beaters and do the final mixing by hand.
• In a large bowl, beat the egg whites to stiff peaks. Gently add the whites to the batter, folding them in with a wooden spoon or a rubber spatula and barely mixing everything together.
• Scrape the batter evenly into the pan, rotating it as you go and twisting it to level the batter. Rap the pan sharply on the countertop about 30 times, rotating the pan slightly each time, to eliminate any air pockets.
• Bake for 30 minutes. If the cake is getting too brown on top, turn the oven down to 300 degrees, then test again in 15 minutes. The cake is done when the top springs back when lightly touched and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 45 minutes to 1 hour in all. Be careful to not underbake.
• Cool on a rack until the pan is easily handled. Run a knife around the rim and center tube and invert the cake onto the rack to cool completely. Transfer the cake to a serving plate or a cake stand. Dust with confectioners' sugar.