Lemon Cake

Happy Birthday Kat! Hope you like the Lemon cake and found it not too lemony, hehe. I had a hard time figuring out of how to decorate the cake and I wanted to make it look different to the normal structure.

As well as I bought myself decorations lollies in which I had no choice but to make full use of them. I made the cake with reference to one of my reference aka bible, joyofbaking but instead of using one 9" round baking tray, it was still good enough for two 8"round baking tray.

My personal decorations:

• I used jelly lollies and cut them up into small pieces and lay them around.
• I also used chocolates and ready-made flower icing.
• I also had a tub of read-made black icing (by Dr.Oetker) and piped the letters on a piece of lasagna sheet and allowed it to dry the night before. I actually wanted to use the lasagna sheet as part of the decoration but it broke into pieces while I was trying to place it on the cake. Fortunately most of the letters was still intact but a few broke. Hence the funny decoration of having one row of letters stand up fully, and one row in between, and the final row flat on the cake.
  

Voila! Have yet to try the piece as we were not allowed to cut and distribute the cake at the bar when I :(

Handy tip: Always leave extra batter and bake it as a cupcake so that you have a chance of 'tasting' the cake and will be able to come up with proper icing to go with the cake :)



Ingredients

• 1 cup (226 grams) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1 cup (200 grams) granulated white sugar
• 4 large eggs
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
• Zest of 1 large lemon
• 2 cups (280 grams) all purpose flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt or salt to taste
• 1/4 cup (60 ml) fresh lemon juice
  

For the icing and filling

• 1 cup (115 grams) confectioners' (powdered or icing) sugar, sifted (I tend to mix to taste)
• 2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
• 150g Ambrosia Custard
• 1 tbsp lemon juice

Directions

Lemon cake:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C) and place rack in the center of the oven.
   
2. Butter, or spray with a nonstick spray, 2 8" round tray and then line the bottom of the pan with parchment paper. Set aside.
3. In the bowl of your electric mixer (or with a hand mixer) cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy and pale in color (about 3 minutes).
   
4. Add the eggs, one teaspoon, mixing well after each addition.
   
5. Beat in the vanilla extract and lemon zest.
6. Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt and then add to the batter along with the lemon juice.
   
7. Mix only until incorporated.
8. Pour the batter into the prepared pan, smoothing the top with an offset spatula.
   
9. Bake about 40 - 45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
   
10. Place on a wire rack to cool, then gently remove the sides of the pan
    

Lemon Icing

1. In a bowl, combine the sifted confectioners' sugar with the 2 tablespoons lemon juice. (You want the icing to be thicker than a glaze but still thin enough that it will just run over the sides of the cake).
   
2. If not the right consistency add more lemon juice or powdered sugar, accordingly. Set aside
   

Lemon filling

1. In a bowl, combine 1 tbsp of lemon juice with ready made vanilla ambrosia custard. Set aside.

Adding the icing and filling

1. As the cake cools, cut both cakes into half.
2. Spread one thin layer of icing with a knife, followed by 3 tablespoon of lemon filling. Use a knife to evenly spread the filling around.
3. Place top half of the cake on top and press firmly. Repeat with the other cake
4. Pour the rest of the icing over the top of the cake, allowing the icing to drip down the sides. Let the icing set before covering / decorating. (I used a teaspoon and drizzle the lemon icing on top starting from the middle of the cake and carefully spread the icing around with a knife. It is okay if it drips to the cake base as it gives a nice artistic effect :))