I'm always nervous about posting a recipe that I didn't make up myself or at least heavily alter. But this one is one I've made over and over again and people always ask me for the recipe (including you, dear regulars). But all I have is a butter stained shred of paper ripped from a magazine at least a decade ago. I don't know where it comes from, but I do know that it's great and should be shared. If you created this recipe, feel free to contact me so that I can credit you or redirect readers to a web source for it, or at least a cookbook. But I looked and could not find it anywhere, and I don't feel the world should be deprived of it any longer. So there you have it. This is at the front of the 'cake' section in my recipe binder. It rose to prominence in my baking repretoire while we lived in Montreal. It is light but decadent at the same time and flavourful without being too sweet. It was a big hit both with the foodies and the conscious eaters at art school. Kids love it, adults will rave about it, and it just seems to ring everybody's bells. Unless you don't like lemon, in which case, forget about it.
This is definitely a special occasion cake, as there are a lot of ins and a lot of outs. But its totally totally worth it. DO NOT be scared of making your own lemon curd. Its so ridiculously simple that you'll wonder why you never did it before (if your the type to wonder about such things). It is so much better than any of the ones you can buy at the store. And please, for the love of Mike, don't use lemon pie filling or lemon spread. That would be a disaster. And you don't need a fancy stand mixer, I've always made it with my $19.99 hand mixer with lovely results. What you do need is a ton of berries for the garnish. Take the money you saved not buying a KitchenMade mixer and get yourself, like three or four pints of berries. You will not regret it. Wash berries and lay them out on a clean tea towel to dry. If you are a pattern nerd like me, you can lay them out in rows. Very pleasing. Ok, on to the recipe.
Lemon Poppy Seed Charlotte
Cake
½ cup melted butter
7 eggs, separated
½ tsp cream of tartar
1 cup of granulated sugar, divided
¾ tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/3 cups cake and pastry flour (that’s one and one-third, don’t screw it up!)
1/3 cup of poppy seeds
Frosting
¼ cup granulated sugar
1 envelope unflavoured gelatin powder (about 1 tbsp)
¼ cup lemon juice
¼ cup freshly squeezed lemon juice (do not use that stuff you have in the fridge in the little lemon shaped squeeze thingy)
1 cup of home made lemon curd (its really easy, you can totally do it, see recipe below)
500 ml container of whipping cream (about two cups)
Lemon Curd
4 egg yolks
2 whole eggs
1 cup granulated sugar
½ cup butter
2/3 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
1. Preheat the over to 350 degrees F. Grease two round 8-inch cake pans and line bottoms with waxed paper or dust lightly with flour. Melt butter. Set aside to cool. Separate eggs placing whites in a large bowl and yolks in a separate medium sized bowl. (It’s smart to do the separation egg by egg over a little bowl, and then pour each successfully separated white into the big bowl, because it you screw up and break a yolk and any yolk goes into the white, it won’t beat up as airy as you need it to)
2. Beat whites with cream of tartar just until soft peaks form when unmoving beaters are lifted out of the bowl. Do not over beat. Gradually beat in ½ cup of sugar. Beat until very shiny, stiff peaks form. Set aside. Beat egg yolks until very thick and lemon-coloured, (about four minutes). Gradually beat in remaining ½ cup of sugar and room-temperature melted butter, salt and vanilla. In 4 additions (of 1/3 cup each), sift flour over egg yolk mixture, gently folding after each addition. Fold in the poppy seeds with the last 1/3 cup of flour.
3. Fold egg yolk mixture on top of beaten egg whites and fold just until no big streaks of white remain. Turn into prepared pans. Gently smooth tops. Bake in centre of 350 degree over just until tops string back, about 20 minutes. (while you are waiting for them to bake, make the lemon curd, see below) Cool in pans for 10 minutes. Turn out onto a cooling rack. Cool completely. Using a serrated knife , cut cakes in half horizontally to make 4 layers.
4. To make the lemon curd, whisk together the eggs, sugar and lemon juice in a small heavy bottomed saucepan. Cut the butter into chunks and add to the pan. Place saucepan over low heat and cook, stirring constantly, until sugar and butter are melted. Continue to cook, stirring frequently, for 5 minutes. Then, stirring constantly, cook until mixture is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon, about 7 minutes. Fill a one-cup measuring up and set aside until room temperature. Pour the remaining into a jar and refrigerate once cooled. It will keep well for several days (if it lasts). Enjoy it with yoghurt, scones, fruit, whatever. It is so, so good.
5. Meanwhile, to make frosting, in a small saucepan, stir sugar with gelatin. Then stir in water and lemon juice. Stir constantly over medium heat until gelatin is dissolved, about 4 minutes. Pour into a large bowl. Immediately add room-temperature lemon curd. Whish until the mixture is smooth. Put in the fridge to cool just to room temperature, about 15 or 20 minutes.
6. Beat cream in a large bowl until soft peaks will form. Using a wooden spoon or spatula, stir in about one-third of the whipped cream into the lemon mixture. Fold in the remaining cream just until no white streaks remain.
7. Get a pretty plate or cake stand. Set one of the cake layers on it. Spoon about one-fifth of the lemon/whipping cream frosting onto it and gently spread almost, but not all the way to the edges. The put the next layer on top of that and repeat until you’ve used all four layers. Frost top and sides with the remaining mixture. Then garnish as you please. This is really the most enjoyable part. I like to use a couple of pints of raspberries or blue berries and just completely cover it with them. But I’ll bet strawberries would be lovely too.
Here is the blueberry garnished version. See, you just completely stud it with blueberries. You could also do a sort of fibonnaci swirl pattern, that would be very cool. I had to dig through my old photos to find this. I made it and a matching no-sugar mini cake for the Little Dude's first birthday, back in 2009. Looking at the pictures just blew my mind, because he was the exact same age as the Baby is now, and it seems a lifetime ago!
Seriously! Can you believe that! So cute. And so liddle! And yet, so big. He was much bigger at that age than our current Baby.
Lookit 'im stuffing his face on my lap. It boggles the mind, I tell you.
Its such a great example of how everything changes and yet so much stays the same. I look at the pictures we took just yesterday and they are so similar. Cards and presents and cake and excitement. We just all get a little older (or a lot older as the Little Dude's case may be).
And I'm throwing this one in just because its another good shot of the cake, but also an awesome picture of my Dad. What a good lookin' fella. Doesn't that face just say, "I have a pick-up truck, do you need help hauling anything?" He's got a heart as deep as a four layer cake that man. Just sayin'.
Thanks! That's definitely on my Easter week menu - look at all those eggs! (Thankfully the chickens have started laying again...)
Posted by: Caroline | 03/06/2012 at 08:41 AM
You have to let me know if you make it, and if you like it. And yes, this takes tons of eggs. I always think of the Anne of Green Gables books when I make it, and how scandalized they were about a pound cake recipe that called for 10 eggs. Oh, the extravagance!
Posted by: finger thumb | 03/06/2012 at 09:58 AM
ok. Ima gonna have to buy eggs (noémie will LOVE all the egg cracking) and a sifter. Always avoided sifting, but for you, and the cake: a sifter. xx
Posted by: Hannah | 03/06/2012 at 11:22 PM
Sifter is totally necessary for this one. Usually I don't bother, but it really does make a difference here. Also, a sifter is hands down the best 'little helper' tool ever. If she thinks cracking eggs is fun, just wait till she gets her hands on a sifter. A handle to turn and lots of repetition usually makes for happy toddlers/kidlets. Just make sure you help them aim it. And let me know how it turns out!
Posted by: finger thumb | 03/07/2012 at 07:55 PM
delicious cake! i want to eat that cake and may i know how to bake that? so that i can bake that in my house.
Posted by: fingertrip pulse oximeter | 03/16/2012 at 11:47 AM
Its such a great example of how everything changes and yet so much stays the same.
Posted by: marlon | 04/16/2012 at 07:52 AM