Lemon Raspberry Cream Cake

This wonderful

Lemon Raspberry Cream Cake

one of my favorite cakes,

one that I often ask for on my birthday.

It is light and luscious with lemon

cream frosting, lemon curd and

raspberry filling.

Top it with fresh raspberries 

and a dusting of powdered

sugar and sprinkles and

it makes a magnificent presentation.

This is perfect any time of year

but especially in spring and summer

when you want that

light lemon taste.

Lemon Raspberry Cream Cake

2 Betty Crocker French Vanilla Cake Mixes

1/2 C. mayonnaise

Raspberry Jam

2  10 oz. jars Lemon Curd

(I like Dickinsons or Trader Joe's)

2 C. heavy whipping cream

Powdered sugar

Sprinkles (opt.)

Crushed Lemonheads (opt.)

Make the cake mixes according to package 

directions but adding 1/2 C. mayonnaise.

Line bottoms of 3 8 inch pans with parchment

paper.  Do not grease pans.

Divide the cake mix between the three

pans.  You will have a little left over to

make a small 6 inch cake.

Bake for about 30 minutes or until

cake springs back and toothpick comes

out clean.

Let cool 10 minutes then run the knife

around the edge of the pan and turn

out onto a cooling rack.

(Lining the pans with parchment and not

greasing the pans will make your cakes

come out much flatter.)

When cool, remove the parchment paper.

Place the 2 C. whipping cream in a large

mixer bowl with one jar of lemon curd.

Beat until fairly stiff peaks form.

Divide the bowl of frosting into thirds with

your knife - using 2/3's for the sides and 1/3

for the top. 

Place a small dollop of frosting on cake platter

and place first layer on upside down.  

Cover with raspberry jam to about 1 inch

from the edge.  You don't want to go

farther or the jam will leak out into your frosting.

Place second layer on top of the first layer

with top side up.  Cover with second jar of

lemon curd, going only out to within one

inch of the edge again.

Place third layer on top, top facing up.

Cut off 3 bamboo skewers and insert

them into the cake to hold the cake together.

Press them down into the cake.

Use a knife or offset spatula to apply the cream

to the sides of the cake, pushing gently down

to the cake plate.  You will use about 2/3's of

your frosting for this.

Then spoon the remaining third of frosting

onto the top of cake, mounding some in the

center.

Spread the frosting to the edges.  

Mound a package of fresh raspberries

on the top of the cake.  

Place powdered sugar in a fine mesh sieve

and sprinkle over the berries and cake platter.

Finish off with a garnish of sprinkles and

crushed Lemonheads if desired.  

Refrigerate.

Serves 16

Click here for printable recipe.

The mint leaves were the only ones alive

in my garden!

My daughter made this for my birthday one year

and as it was set on the counter, it slide right

off and flipped over.  We had to just scoop it

up and eat it anyway.  Of course we took pictures!

I will be posting this with

Foodie Friday

The Scoop

Inspire Me Tuesday

Purple Pansies and Violets - Lemon Supreme Cupcakes

I started a family cookbook using photos when I first got a digital camera, how many years ago?  At first it was only for family but then my husband wanted to share it with friends.  It started out as the family Top Ten Recipes, but soon grew, especially the dessert category.  My husband kept saying I should do a blog to update recipes.  I finally have spent all I want to spend on copies for cookbook updates for all my dear friends and family and they will have to endure my blog to get the newest recipes.  I will also include ones I already put in the cookbook.  Maybe that will inspire them to pull the book out and try something new.  My sister Joni started a food blog - Red Couch Recipes.  It is so inspiring.  She always said she had no creativity!

Check out her blog.  She got into blogging recipes because her daughter wanted a blog.  Check her blog out too - Polka Dot Pantry Sweets.

I planted violets just so that I could do candied violets.  Have you checked out the price for ready made ones?  Every year I seem to miss them as the violets are on for just a short time.  This year I not only candied them, but did it several times and taught one of the young women in my neighborhood.  She went home and taught her sisters and they made these Lemon Supreme Cupcakes for their mother for Mother's Day.

I am a fan of lemon and when I saw a recipe for homemade lemon cake using lemon yogurt, I thought maybe it would be moist enough.  The recipe came from a recent Woman's Day Magazine.  I modified it.  I am a
frosting lover, and I usually eat just the top half of a cupcake.  Inspired by these beautiful cupcake wrappers made by Wilton which I found at JoAnn Fabrics, I made the cupcakes, removed them from their original
cupcake cups, split them in half and filled them with Lemon Curd, put them back together,
gently placing them in the Wilton Cups then frosted them with my own recipe for Lemon Curd Frosting and
finished it off with the most beautiful sugared spring flowers.

Sugared Flowers

Just Whites (powdered egg whites, found in your baking section)
Granulated sugar
Fresh edible flowers that have no pesticides

Reconstitute egg whites according to package directions.  You will probably want the equivalent of just one  or two egg whites.  The egg whites are really sticky and take a minute to dissolve in the water.  Be patient with it and get all of the lumps out.  Gently wash the flowers.  Dip the clean flowers one at a time into the egg whites.  Blot excess off on a clean paper towel.  Holding the flower by the stem end, gently spoon granulated sugar on the front of the flower and then on the back.  Lay on parchment paper to dry overnight.  If there is too much egg white and the sugar seems too thick, just rinse the sugar off and start over.

Lemon Supreme Cake

1 lemon
3 C. flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 C. milk
1- 6 oz. container lemon yogurt
1 tsp vanilla
1 C. butter, softened
1 3/4 C. sugar (Baker's sugar is a finer grain and gives you a finer grain in your finished cake, but it is opt.)
3 large eggs

   Heat oven to 350 degrees.
   Zest the lemon, you should have about 1 tablespoon.
   In a medium bowl, mix the flour, baking powder and salt
   In a small bowl whisk the milk, yogurt and vanilla.
   In mixer bowl, beat butter and sugar together on medium speed until light and fluffy.  Beat in eggs, one at a time, scraping the bowl after each addition and beating well after each addition.
   On low, beat flour mixture into butter mixture in three additions, alternating with the milk mixture.  Beat well and scrape bowl after each addition.  Fold in the zest.
   Spoon into prepared pans - use 2 - 8 inch pans or 18-20 muffins.  I used jumbo muffin cups in regular muffin pans and filled about half full.  This gave me a taller muffin.  I later discarded that muffin cup.
   Bake 25-30 minutes for the 8 inch pans and 20-25 minutes for the cupcakes, or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cool for 10 minutes and then remove from pan.
   When doing a round cake, cut parchment paper to fit the bottom and don't grease the sides of the pan.  When the cake has cooled for 10 minutes, run a sharp knife around the edge of the cake.  Your cake comes out perfectly this way, and doesn't dome up in the center.

Lemon Curd Frosting

1/2 C. butter, softened
1 -10 oz jar Lemon Curd ( I like Dickinson's which you can find in many grocery stores in the jam section.  If you have a Trader Joe's, theirs is wonderful.  Don't use any that are bright yellow.  They can be bitter)
4 C. powdered sugar
1-3 T. water
Cream all together, adding water as needed until soft and creamy.

Assembly

Remove cupcakes from cups, split and spread with a little lemon curd.  Put halves back together.  Place in Wilton Cupcake Wrappers.  I found these at JoAnn's Fabric or you can find them on line.  Etsy.com has a great selection.  I also tried making my own with a 6 1/2 x 6 1/2 inch piece of paper which I pleated over a narrow glass that I had turned over.
Place frosting in a frosting cone with a large plain tip or in a Ziploc plastic bag with the corner cut off.  Frost in a circular motion from the outside to the center.

   For the cake, fill between layers with lemon curd.  Frost top and sides and finish with crushed Lemonheads if desired.

   I brought these to a shower and then to a charity auction and they were huge hits.

   Well, that's all for my first blog ever.  My friends can't believe I am finally a blogger!