Birthday Cake for Summer
Almost every family occasion i get assigned the cake making task, and unusual really though, as making a cake to suit our families allergy needs when we’re all together (gluten, peanut/almond free) is really not difficult; but i can imagine if you’ve never done it before that you wouldn’t know where to start apart from Google it.
This cake was inspired by those fluffy white cakes that you see on American blogs and websites like Martha Stewarts which looks so incredible, layers upon layers – that look so airy and light much like Angel Food Cake which i adore. As this was my brothers birthday his one major request was for it to be Lemon and with not too much icing. I’ve also gone through a phase of not really liking too much icing on cake, mainly very sugary tasting thick icing. So instead i opted for coating just the top with Lemon Cream cheese frosting topped with coconut shavings and Lemon Zest. If you love your icing and the white cloud cake look i would highly recommend doing double the quantity and coating the whole thing!
The cake is light, airy and extremely lemony pushed together with the lemon curd. Another glorious idea would be to sandwich the cake with just lemon curd and fresh whipped cream topped with icing sugar, but as this cake needed to be transported to a hot sunny BBQ location this option wasn’t ideal unless i layered it there and then.
This cake is a very versatile celebration cake recipe and can either be done as one /two/three layers just halve or halve and add the quantities however you please.
The whole family devoured it at the Birthday BBQ, and just as my little niece Lara was getting tired and a bit troublesome, as soon as she ate a bit of this cake all was better again…and that’s exactly what all cake is meant to do in the first place. Remedy all.
- 6 Large Eggs Separated
- 220g Caster Sugar, plus an extra 1 tbsp.
- A pinch of salt
- 100ml Flavourless Oil
- Juice and Zest of 2 Lemons
- 220g Rice or Corn Flour
- 1/2 a tsp of Baking Powder
- 1/2 tsp. Bicarbonate of Soda
- ½ tsp. White Wine Vinegar
- 1 Jar of Lemon Curd
- 20 Grams of Desiccated Coconut
- (For just the top layer, double if icing all around)
- 300g Full Fat Cream Cheese
- Squeeze of Lemon Juice and zest of 1 lemon
- Icing Sugar (at least 100g but add more if necessary)
- Coconut shavings to decorate
- The Cake method
- Grease and line two 9 inch deep baking tins and set aside. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees fan.
- Put the Egg yolks, Sugar, Oil, Salt, Lemon Juice and Zest into a bowl and whisk together thoroughly until combined.
- Use a sieve and sift in the flour, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda and use a spatular to fold this into the egg mixture slowly. Set aside.
- In an Electric mixer whizz together your egg whites until they form soft peaks, add in a tablespoon of caster sugar and continue whizzing till firm peaks form- you must be able to put the bowl over your head without it falling! Add in the white wine vinegar and whizz once more for 2 seconds.
- Fold your egg white mixture into your lemon batter mixture with a spatula, slowly folding until completely combined- it should be one solid colour.
- Separate your mixture between the two cake tins and pop straight into the preheated oven for 20-25 mins.
- Do not open the oven until 20 mins has passed or it will cause the cake layers to sink.
- Remove your layers from the oven when golden brown and you can remove a toothpick cleanly.
- Leave the cakes to cool in their tins while you make the icing.
- The Icing Method
- Mix the cream cheese, icing sugar, 10 grams of the desiccated coconut, lemon zest and juice in a bowl with a cold spoon. Do not over beat or it will become a bit runny. Pop in the fridge until ready to ice.
- When the cakes are cool, add lemon curd to the top of one layer and sprinkle over the 10grams left of desiccated coconut. Get a cold spatula and ice the top with the cream cheese frosting and decorate with coconut shavings and more lemon zest!
- Now go and eat a huge slice and celebrate 🙂
- Instead of the cream cheese frosting you could layer this cake with lemon curd and fresh whipped cream.
- For Dairy free you could layer with lemon curd and top with Icing sugar
