Lemon Cake

I read online that lemons are currently in season, so I thought I would make a lemon cake. I haven't really ever made (or eaten) very many lemon desserts but I know that my husband loves them so I was really excited to make him a special dessert. I did a search and landed on this recipe from a blog that I have never heard of or visited before. It looks like she is really big on making types of cakes, though. The blog is called Life is Great. I also tried her meringue frosting. My husband "toasted" the frosting with a butane lighter. We had to get a little creative with the frosting. It was fun, and looked pretty cool, but it was also very sweet. That is why I am not going to include the "seven minute frosting" recipe. If you want it, you are welcome to visit her blog. We actually ended up scraping it off and making a new lemon pudding frosting that wasn't "gourmet," but tasted infinitely better. 

Cake:

1 cup butter or margarine, softened

2 cups sugar

3 cups flour

4 eggs

2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp baking powder

1 1/2 tsp salt

1 cup milk

1 tsp vanilla

zest of 1 lemon (approx. 2 tsp)

juice of 2 lemons

Lemon Curd Filling:

8 egg yolks

1 1/2 cup sugar

1/4 cup butter

zest and juice of 3 lemons

Cream sugar and butter. Add eggs one at a time, beating between each. Stir in baking soda, baking powder, vanilla and salt. Then stir in flour and milk, alternating between each. Finally, stir in lemon zest and lemon juice. Pour in round cake pans (2 nine inch pans or 3 eight inch pans) that have been greased with cooking spray or shortening and floured, or that have been lined with parchment paper. Bake at 350° for 25-30 minutes. Cool cake until it is room temperature.

While cake is cooling, prepare lemon curd by combining all ingredients in a double broiler over boiling water. Stir consistently until mixture begins to thicken, then remove from heat. Cover with plastic and allow to cool nearly to room temperature before spreading in between layers of cake. Frost cake with lemon frosting. Store in the refrigerator for up to about 4 days.

Lemon Frosting:

1 8 oz. pkg. whipped cream

1 3.4 oz pkg. instant lemon pudding mix

1/2 cup milk

Whisk ingredients together. Refrigerate until the cake is cool and ready to frost.