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Lemon Raspberry Cake

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Prep Time 2 hours
Cook Time 25 minutes
Course Dessert, Desserts
Cuisine American

Equipment

  • 3-5 bubble tea straws
  • 1 sieve
  • 2 8"x3" cake pans
  • rubber spatula
  • stand or hand mixer

Ingredients
  

  • Good quality raspberry jam Bonne Maman for example

Lemon Simple Syrup

  • 1 cup water 240 grams
  • 1 cup granulated sugar 200 grams
  • 1 lemon zest and juice

Lemon Curd

  • 2 large whole eggs
  • 2 egg yolks
  • 100 grams sugar
  • Juice of 4 small lemons ~106 ml
  • 2 tablespoons finely grated zest ~14 grams
  • Pinch of fine sea salt ~0.5 grams
  • 2 teaspoons cornstarch ~6 grams
  • 100 grams cold unsalted butter cubed

Yellow Chiffon Cake

Wet Ingredients:

  • 1/2 cup egg yolks
  • 6.5 ounces water
  • 4.5 ounces vegetable oil
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste
  • 3/4 teaspoon almond extract

Dry Ingredients:

  • 9 ounces cake flour
  • 8 ounces granulated sugar
  • .625 ounces ounces baking powder
  • .25 ounces ounces salt

Meringue:

  • 1 1/8 cup egg whites
  • 1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
  • 3 ounces granulated sugar

Icing:

  • 1 cup one package of BelGioioso cold mascarpone 226 grams
  • ⅔ cup powdered sugar 80 grams
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1 ¾ cups cold heavy whipping cream 420 ml
  • Zest of 1 lemon and juice of half the lemon

Instructions
 

Simple Syrup

  • I combined everything in a small sauce pan and cooked on medium-low heat until the sugar dissolved. Then pour it out and set it aside to cool.

Lemon Curd

  • Whisk sugar + cornstarch, zest of two lemons together.
  • Add whole eggs and egg yolks, whisk until smooth.
  • Stir in lemon juice and the rest of the zest.
  • Cook gently over medium-low heat, stirring constantly.
  • Once thickened, simmer for 30 seconds, cook until 180F.
  • Remove from heat, whisk in cold butter gradually until glossy.
  • Strain and chill with plastic wrap touching the surface for at least an hour. It will thicken as it cools.

Chiffon Cake

  • Prep two 8"x3" round pans by wiping the inside thoroughly with a wet paper towel until you can see streaks of water on the pan. If you can't see the streaks of water, it's not wet enough. Set aside. Preheat your oven to 350°F.
  • Combine all of your dry ingredients in a large bowl. Combine your wet ingredients and stir into your dry, making sure to just stir until combined. Don't overmix!
  • Start whipping your egg whites and cream of tartar on medium speed. Once tracks begin to form, gradually add in the sugar as you're whipping. Whip until you get a meringue with a glossy surface and stiff peaks (if it's stiff enough, it shouldn't come out of the bowl when turned over).
  • Working quickly, gently in 2-3 additions, add the meringue to your bowl of cake batter, folding gently and thoroughly to combine. Don't overmix or overwork the batter, as this will deflate the meringue we added in.
  • If the water you prepped the pans with earlier dried, do it again before pouring the batter in. Pour the batter into your prepared pans. Give the pans a quick spin once and then place in your preheated oven and bake for around 25-30 minutes (I always check at the 20 minute mark and continue baking in 5 minute increments until ready). Mine needed about 25 minutes, but you'll be able to tell it's done when it's risen nicely, is golden brown, springs back slowly when poked with your finger and when testing with a skewer, it'll come out with a few moist crumbs but no wet batter.
  • Once they're baked, flip the pans immediately onto a cooling rack so they can cool upside down until the pans are no longer warm to the touch, about half an hour.
  • Unmold the cakes by going around the sides with a paring knife or offset spatula and flip them over. They should release easily from the pan if you wet the pans enough. You can always gently tap them on the counter if they need some help releasing, but just be careful when doing that.
  • Allow them to cool on the rack completely, while you prep everything else. Once they're cooled at room temperature, you can either immediately decorate or I highly recommend wrap and freeze them for at least an hour so they're easier to work with.

Icing

  • With a stand mixer or hand mixer, gently whip the mascarpone, salt, powdered sugar, and vanilla just until smooth (don’t overmix—it can split).
  • In a separate bowl, whip the cream until you get medium peaks.
  • Add the mascarpone to the whipped cream, add in the zest and juice, and fold everything together to combine.

Assembly and Serving

  • The curd should be ready. Combine with about a tablespoon or so of the icing and mix until uniform in color. This will be used for the filling.
  • Place the raspberry jam in a piping bag and do the same for about a cup to a cup and a half of the icing. The rest will be used to ice the cake.
  • Take your cake out of the freezer and cut the two layers in half so there are four total layers. Spoon over or brush on a liberal amount of simple syrup. Not so much that it's soaking wet, but just enough. Spoon on about a cup of the lemon curd filling and eyeball if you need a tablespoon or two more. You want a thick filling, but not too thick, as chiffon is very soft and won't be able to handle that weight. About a cup is perfect. Pipe out some of the raspberry jam on top and gently even it out the best you can with a spatula. Build a small dam of icing around the outside, making sure to start about a 1/4" in.
  • Continue this process until you get to the top layer. Ice the outside. Place 3-5 bubble tea straws into the cake to provide support. You can see that process here. Because it's a soft sponge cake with heavy fillings, this will help keep the cake in one piece. Once the straws are in, decorate as you please and enjoy! Because of the curd and icing, I'd chill this cake when not being served and then leave it out to thaw at room temperature when ready to serve.