6 Layer Lemon Cake

Have you ever looked at a restaurants menu online and realized you absolutely had to have something on there? And then you realize with sadness in your heart that that particular restaurant is no where near you! That's how I feel right now. I recently looked up California Pizza Kitchen's menu and locations. Having come from Las Vegas where there are at least 2-3 in the city and lost more in other cities around the area I was hoping to find a location close to us where I could have some more yumminess. But sadly the closest one is in Jacksonville, FL or Birmingham, AL. I suppose when we visit my mother-in-law we could eat at the one in Jacksonville but that does not really help me right now. Well against my better judgement I went ahead and looked at the menu. Turns out CPK has a new dessert on the menu. A 6 layer lemon cake with lemon custard and limoncello in between the layers and a mascarpone frosting and a blueberry coulis drizzled around. You know what.....I am not explaining it correctly. Click HERE!

CPK version

Now that you have cleaned off the computer screen from the drool and come back to reality you probably want to have a piece of that too! So that is where I come in. I set right to work figuring out a set of recipes to make this dish. And here is what I have come up with.

Lemon Curd:
As with the lemon danish I used Martha Stewarts lemon curd recipe which can be found here. I doubled the recipe to use for the filling on this recipe.

Limoncello:
I did not use any of this. I thought about it. But I didnt have any limoncello on hand and didnt go looking for any so I omitted it although I am sure brushing it lightly on the cake before layering on the curd would be good.

White Cake Recipe:
1c butter, softened
2c sugar
3 1/2c cake flour
3t baking powder
1c milk
1t vanilla
8 eg whites, beaten stiff

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour 2 round cake pans.

Cream together butter and sugar until fluffy.

In a medium bowl combine flour and baking powder. Add half of the flour mixture to the butter mixture. Then add the milk and vanilla. Finally add in the remaining flour mixture. It will be thick and resemble a bread batter right now. Take your beaten egg whites and gently fold 1/3 of the mixture in at a time. Make sure all of the egg whites are thoroughly incorporated.

Pour the batter into the two prepared cake pans. Bake for 30-40 minutes or until toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Remove from pan and cool on a wire rack.

Mascarpone Frosting:
Now I doubled the recipe thinking I needed more and I think I did but I did have quite a bit left over. So use your own judgement on doubling the frosting recipe.

8oz mascarpone cheese
1/2c confectioners sugar
1c heavy whipping cream, beaten stiff

Mix together the cheese and sugar until smooth and creamy, Gently fold in the whipped cream until fully incoprorated.

ASSEMBLY:

Take your cake plate and tear off 3 small 2-3inch wide strips of parchment paper and lay in a diamond shape. Do not place directly on the center of the plate though. This will keep the frosting and crumbs from spoiling your plate. Once you are done you gently remove the paper from the sides of the cake and throw away.

Take a round cake and slice gently into thirds. Take the bottom third and gently place on the bottom of the cake plate. Take 1/4 of the lemon curd and spread almost out to the edge. Take the middle third cake and place on the lemon curd. Spread with another 1/4 of the lemon curd. Then place the top third of the cake on the lemon curd. Spread with some of the frosting.

Take your other round cake and cut into thirds and repeat the process. Spread some frosting around the edges of the cake and smooth out. Place in the fridge to keep cool and set up.


Blueberry Coulis:
1 pint of blueberries
1/4-2/3c water
2-3T sugar
1t lemon juice

Combine all ingredients on a small pot and cook on medium for 10 minutes until gently boiling and berries start to burst. Using an imersion blender (or other blending device), puree the mixture. Let it cool and then strain to remove all the seeds and pulp.

Candied Lemon Peel:
Using a peeler, peel off the lemon skin. It is okay if you get some pith in it. One the peel is off take a small knife and scrape off the pith until none is left. I wanted small strips so I sliced the peel into thin ribbons.

In a small pot place equal parts water and sugar and bring to a boil. Place in the lemon peel and simmer for 15-20 minutes or longer if larger pieces. You want the peel to be tender when you eat it. Remove from the boil water and gently dry. Roll in sugar and let it dry out.


Take your cake and cut into slices. When placed on a plate garnish with candied lemon peel and drizzle some blueberry coulis around the plate.

You know aside from the sauce being a little thinner and not as prettily drizzled, I think mine looks spot on! And you know something else? It tasted really good too! After driving to my Dads house and having a wonderful meal of grilled pork and veggies what naturally comes for me is dessert and this one was really good. The lemon flavor was neither too aggressive or not there. You got enough lemon sharpness without it covering up all the other tastes in the cake. And I am glad I went with a lemon curd instead of lemon custard. I prefer the sharpness of the curd. The cake might have had a little too much vanilla (Im a cook not a baker so I didnt measure my vanilla out like I stated to do in the recipe) but my Dad prefered it that way. And the frosting was light and airy and not too sweet. So you didnt have the overly sugary sweetness of a frosting to compete with the other flavors. And blueberry naturally goes with lemon and it went really well to dip your cake bites in. But you know it wasnt entirely necessary. It does look pretty with it though. Oh and the candied lemon peel? It tastes great on its own, it looks lovely sitting atop the cake, but it kinda gets in the way when eating the cake. I guess thats why it is the garnish instead of integrated into the cake. But overall I would take the time to make this again. And if you are feinding for this cake, it really isnt that hard. It just take a little patience to get all the components together. But hey good things in life (like this cake) come to those who wait! Enjoy it!!