Roopa
It’s my good friend Chris’ birthday!! Last year I was over 8 months late with his birthday cake – I know, I know – so I promised him a more timely birthday cake this year. Last year he gave me a Tasty video of what he wanted, and I harassed him incessantly about how poorly vetted those recipes are. This year he gave me a flavour profile instead (lemon cake with blueberry filling and coconut icing), which was much more to my liking.
LEMON CAKE (from Layered Cookbook)
INGREDIENTS
- 325 g cake flour
- 1.5 tsp. baking powder
- 0.75 tsp. baking soda
- 0.5 tsp. salt
- 170 g (1.5 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
- 300 g granulated sugar
- 2 tbsp. lemon zest (I used zest from 2 lemons)
- 0.75 tsp vanilla
- 1 egg
- 3 egg yolks
- 250 g buttermilk
- 15 g lemon juice
DIRECTIONS
- Grease and line 3 x 6″ cake pans. Set oven to 350 F.
- Zest and juice 2 lemons. Set aside.
- Sift together the cake flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
- In a stand mixer, cream the butter. Add in the lemon zest and granulated sugar and mix well.
- Add vanilla and eggs to butter mixture and mix well.
- Mix lemon juice and buttermilk together.
- Alternate adding the flour mixture and buttermilk mixture to the butter mixture in 3 batches, starting and ending with the dry mixture. Do not over mix.
- Divide evenly between the three cake pans (I use a scale) and bake for ~20 minutes. A toothpick should come out cleanly
BLUEBERRY COMPOTE
INGREDIENTS
- 2 cups blueberries
- 70 g granulated sugar
- 2 tbsp. lemon juice
- 2 tbsp. water
DIRECTIONS
- Mix ingredients together on medium heat for ~10 minutes
- Let cool before adding into the cake
COCONUT SWISS MERINGUE ICING
INGREDIENTS
- 120 g egg whites
- 200 g granulated sugar
- 340 g unsalted butter, softened and cubed
- 110 g coconut milk
- 1/2 tsp. coconut extract
DIRECTIONS
- Mix together the whipping cream, water, and lavender. Set aside.
- Whisk together the egg whites and sugar in a stand mixer bowl.
- Heat up the egg whites with a double boiler while whisking periodically.
- When the egg whites reach 70 C, remove from heat and put into the stand mixer. Use the whisk attachment and whip at high speed for ~10 minutes (until cool to touch).
- Switch to the paddle attachment and add in cubes of butter one by one. Whip until glossy.
- Strain the lavender out of the cream and add the cream to the icing. Mix well.
Chateau Gateau 