Lemon Layer Cake, Ben's

By MarieR

For this wonderfully tart cake by Ben Mims, former associate food editor at Saveur magazine, you need only two 9-inch cake pans. But you create 4 layers by cutting 2 cakes in half with a long, serrated bread knife. The first time I did that, I was terrified that the layers would tear. But they sliced like a dream. Love this cake. Featured in AJC 20 March 2014.

Ingredients

• For the cake and syrup:
• Ben’s Lemon Layer Cake
• Hands on: 1 hour
• Total time: 1 hour, 30 minutes
• Serves: 10-12
• 16 tablespoons (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened, plus more for pans
• 2 1/2 cups cake flour, plus more for pans, sifted
• 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 3/4 cups sugar, divided
• 1 tablespoon lemon zest
• 4 eggs
• 1/3 cup fresh lemon juice
• For the frosting:
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1/4 cup cornstarch
• 1/4 cup lemon zest
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 10 egg yolks
• 1 cup fresh lemon juice
• 1 1/2 cups unsalted butter, softened
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preparation

Step 1

To make the cake: Heat oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour two 9-inch cake pans, and set aside.

Whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt in a bowl; set aside. Whisk together milk and vanilla in a bowl; set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle, cream butter, 1 1/2 cups sugar and zest on medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. On low speed, alternately add dry ingredients in 3 batches and wet ingredients in 2 batches. Increase speed to high and beat until batter is smooth, about 5 seconds. Divide batter between prepared pans, and smooth top with a rubber spatula; drop pans lightly on a counter to expel any large air bubbles. Bake cakes until a toothpick inserted in middle comes out clean, about 30 minutes. Let cakes cool for 20 minutes in pans; invert onto wire racks, and let cool. Using a serrated knife, halve each cake horizontally to produce four layers; set aside. Bring remaining sugar and juice to a boil in a small saucepan over high heat. Remove from heat, and set syrup aside.

To make frosting: Whisk together sugar, cornstarch, zest and salt in a 4-quart saucepan. Add yolks, and whisk until smooth; stir in juice. Stirring often, bring to a boil over medium heat; cook, stirring constantly, until very thick, about 3 minutes. Remove lemon curd from heat, let cool and transfer to a bowl. Chill. (To do this quickly, immerse the bowl in a larger bowl filled with ice water.) In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle, beat butter and 1/4 of the curd on medium-high speed until fluffy and smooth, about 1 minute. Add half the remaining curd, beating until smooth, and then add remaining curd and vanilla. Increase speed to high; beat frosting until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes.

To assemble cake: Place 1 cake layer on a cake stand, drizzle with 2 tablespoons syrup, and spread with 3/4 cup frosting; top with another cake, drizzle with 2 tablespoons syrup, and spread with 3/4 cup frosting. Place another cake over the frosting, drizzle with 2 tablespoons syrup, and spread with 3/4 cup frosting; top with remaining cake, and drizzle with remaining syrup. Cover top and sides with remaining frosting; chill cake to firm frosting. Serve at room temperature.

Adapted from a recipe in Saveur magazine’s March 2012 issue