Lemon Curd Layer Cake

Directions

• For the Genoise Sponge
• Heat the oven to 180°C/350°F/Gas Mark 4
• Prepare the cake tin/s by lightly greasing with butter and masking with a little flour( place some flour into the tin and rotate the tin until the bottom and sides are floured, tap out any excess flour)
• Prepare all ingredients in advance, sieve the flour at least twice, have the butter melted
• Place the eggs and sugar into the stand mixer bowl and place over a pan of simmer water(Bain Marie), make sure the bottom of the bowl does NOT touch the water, you are looking for just the steam to heat the eggs and sugar.
• using a hand whisk, beat the eggs and sugar until light and fluffy and the mixture is warm to the touch, between 110°-120°F/43°-49°C.
• Place the bowl onto the stand mixer and whisk on high speed until the mixture has at least doubled in volume
• good testing point here is if when the whisk is lifted out it leaves ribbon trails that hold their shape for 8/10 seconds the mixture has reached its velocity, if not keep whisking. This is important to get air into the mixture as you are not using any other raising agent.
• The next part of the procedure is ultra important, you need to FOLD the butter into the batter gently but thoroughly, using a plastic spatula or wooden spoon, once all the butter has been incorporated, use the same action to fold in the sieved flour making sure you reach down to the bottom of the bowl but gently.
• You are looking to get all the flour and butter into the mix without knocking out too much of the velocity.
• Place the batter into the prepared tin/s and place on the middle shelf of the oven.
• Bake for 25/30 minutes until risen and golden brown. Test with a cake tester or wooden skewer, They should come out fairly clean.
• Remove from the oven and place on a wire rack to cool for 10 minutes before removing from the tin/s and leaving to cool naturally.
• For the Lemon Curd Filling
• Place a saucepan ⅓ filled with water and place over a medium heat to come to the boil
• In a glass bowl, whisk together the eggs, sugar, and lemon juice
• Turn the heat down under the pan of water to a gentle simmer
• Place the bowl over the simmering water (Do not let the bottom of the glass bowl come in contact with the water) and whisk the ingredients constantly until the mixture becomes thick and coats the back of a wooden spoon
• The mixture should reach 165°F/74°C. This will take approximately 8/10 minutes.
• Remove the bowl from heat, if you feel that there are lumps in the mixture from the eggs cooking too quickly, you can pour it through a fine sieve.
• Throw the butter and lemon zest into the mixture and whisk until the butter has melted
• Cover immediately with cling film, making sure the clingfilm lays immediately on top of the curd so a skin doesn’t form
• Let it cool. You will find the curd thickens as it cools. Once at room temperature, if you are not going to use it straight away, you can place the lemon curd into sterilized jars ** (see notes) and store in the fridge for up to a week before use
• For the Lemon Frosting
• Place the butter, lemon juice, vanilla extract and icing sugar in a stand mixer bowl and beat until light and fluffy.
• To control the consistency, either add more icing sugar if the frosting is to thin or more lemon juice if it is too thick
• Putting the cake together
• Once the sponges have cooled off, trim the tops to give a fairly flat surface
• split the sponged in half giving four layers
• spread a fairly good amount of lemon curd over one layer of the sponges and place a plain layer on top.
• Repeat with the two other layers making sure you have the base of the final sponge face up to give you a flat surface to work on.
• with any cake for covering with frosting, it is always best to lay a crumb coating first before the final coating
• making sure all the layers are even, generously spread the lemon frosting over the top and smooth of with a palette knife allowing the icing to fall over the edges.
• smooth the edges with a palette knife adding more frosting as needed to thinly cover the whole cake
• chill in the fridge for 45 mins or so
• now repeat the covering with another thicker layer of frosting smoothing the top and using a board scraper, holding at 45° angle to smooth the sides
• Smooth the top edges with a palette knife
• grate some lemon zest over the top for decoration and serve