Lemon Poppy Seed Cake with Lemon Curd & Blueberry Compote
This week has been a whirlwind! My sister flew home from South Carolina to help shower our cousin, the bride-to-be!
The theme of the shower was Mad Men, ever seen it? Me neither, but that's okay haha
I tried to think of a playful vintage cake that didn't involve a jello mold or a bundt pan, which was a bit more of a challenge than to be expected.
Seriously everything from the 60's came out of a jello pan. Google it.
I've never used gold leaf before, this was the first time and I'm pretty sure I did it completely wrong.. BUT once it was on the cake it looked a-okay and I fell in love with it. I will definitely be using it in the future. Maybe I will become Midas of the cake world... or not who knows.
anyways
This beauty is six layers on the bottom and four on top of alternating lemon curd and blueberry compote and it is stunning when it is cut open! The slices of cake were so big they almost didn't fit the plates. oops!
This recipe yields a very tall 6in' cake or a shorter 9'in cake. If you want to make this recipe to make a two tired cake like the one I have pictured I tripled the cake recipe to fill 3 9in' cake pans and 2 6in' cake pans. As well as also doubled the lemon curd, blueberry compote, and tripled the frosting recipe!
Lemon Poppy Seed Cake
Cake:
2 c cake flour
2 t baking powder
pinch salt
1 1/2 c sugar
1 1/2 sticks room temp. butter
zest of a whole lemon
1 T vanilla
1/2 c milk
6 egg whites
2 T poppy seed
Lemon Curd:
5 egg yolks
1 c sugar
1/3 c lemon juice
1 stick of butter, cubed
Blueberry Compote:
8 oz blueberries (I used frozen)
1/4 c sugar this depends on how sweet your fruit is!
1/4 c lemon juice
Swiss Meringue Buttercream:
250g egg whites
14 oz sugar
7 sticks medium temperature butter, yes 7 sticks.
2 t vanilla bean
pinch of salt
Cake:
first things first, heat your oven to 350F. next mix 1 1/4 c of the sugar with the room temperature butter with a stand mixer until it is super fluffy and no longer granular, this takes about 5 minutes and helps the cake be nice and fluffy!
once the butter and sugar have gotten nice and fluffy add the lemon zest and vanilla. while that whips up sift all of your dry ingredients into one bowl.
scrape down the sides of the bowl and add 1/3 of your dry ingredients and mix again, once that is combined, add some of your milk, and continue doing this until you've added all of the flour and milk. then gently fold in the poppy seeds until you can see them speckled through out the batter.
separate your egg yolks and whites and put your egg whites in a large clean bowl. save the yolks for the lemon curd! with the whisk attachment whip the egg whites until they become nice and frothy, slowly add in the remaining sugar until the egg whites come to a stiff peak and are super shiny.
okay now it's time to combine the mixtures. add 1/4 of the egg whites to the batter and gently fold the whipped whites into the batter with a rubber spatula. once that is combined add the rest of the egg whites and fold it in. be careful not to deflate the whipped egg whites because the air is what makes your cakes rise!
now divide the batter between two prepared 6in' pans ( this recipe is actually for a 9in' cake, but I like my cakes tall!) and bake until a toothpick comes out clean. approximately 25-35 minutes.
Lemon Curd:
while the cake is baking prepare the lemon curd! in a double boiler whisk the egg yolks and sugar until thick and light yellow.
whisk in the lemon juice and whisk constantly because you don't want your egg yolks to cook! whisk the lemon curd until the mixture gets really thick, about 8 to 10 minutes.
once the mixture is thick, remove it from the heat and add in the cubed butter and mix until the butter is incorporated.
let the lemon curd cool in the fridge before you put it in the cake and resist not eating it with a spoon.
Blueberry Compote:
in a small pot add the fruit, sugar, and lemon juice and bring to a boil.
once the fruit begins to boil reduce to a simmer until it is gooey and looks syrup-y.
remove from heat and chill.
for the cake I mixed the compote with a small amount of frosting so it wouldn't be as thin.
Swiss Meringue Buttercream:
over a double boiler mix your egg whites and sugar with a whisk until foamy. the sugar should be dissolved and no longer granular, about 3 minutes.
whip the mixture on high until glossy and the bowl is no longer warm.
add the softened (not room temperature!) butter in pieces slowly, the frosting will look like it has broken but it will whip back up just keep adding butter and give the frosting lots of compliments.
after the frosting has whipped back up again and looks lovely add your flavorings and a pinch of salt.
And here's a little sneak peak at the Chocolate "Olive Martini" Cake Pops I made for the shower!
