Lemon Cake with Lemon Meringue Buttercream

This divine citrus-infused cake is for all the lemon-heads out there. It’s filled with lemon cream and iced with lemon meringue buttercream. Because the filling is so addictive, I wanted to get more of it in every bite, so I sliced each of the two layers in half to create a four-layer cake. It manages to be delicate and luscious, creamy and tangy, all at once.

MAKES two 9-inch layers; serves 8 to 16

INGREDIENTS

5¼ cups (613g/21.3oz) cake flour

1½ tablespoons baking powder

1¼ teaspoons salt

3 cups (600g/21.2oz) granulated sugar

2 tablespoons grated lemon zest

1½ cups/3 sticks (340g/12oz) unsalted butter, cut into 1-inch pieces, at room temperature

5 egg whites

2¼ cups (540g/19oz) buttermilk

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

Lemon Meringue Buttercream

Lemon Cream Filling

1. Preheat the oven to 325°F. Grease and flour two 9-inch cake pans. Line the bottoms with rounds of parchment paper.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the cake flour, baking powder, and salt.
3. In a stand mixer with the paddle, combine the sugar and lemon zest. Mix for 1 minute, until fragrant. Add the flour mixture. Mix on low speed for 1 minute.
4. Add the butter to the mixer bowl all at once. With the mixer on low speed, mix until the mixture looks like wet sand, 2 to 3 minutes.
5. In a large liquid measuring cup, whisk together the egg whites, buttermilk, and lemon juice.
6. With the mixer on low speed, slowly pour in the egg white mixture. Mix for 1 minute. Scrape down the bottom and sides of the bowl. Mix again for 1 minute, until the batter is smooth and creamy. Scrape down the bottom and sides one more time.
7. Evenly divide the batter between the prepared pans. Bake for 45 to 50 minutes, or until the tops spring back when touched and a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean.
8. Let the cakes cool in the pans for 1 hour. Transfer the cakes to a cooling rack to cool completely.
9. To make it easier to cut each cake into 2 layers, chill the layers first. This will firm them up with less chance of breakage while slicing. Place one layer at a time on a flat surface. With a large sharp serrated knife, score the outside edge as a marker before you fully cut through the cake. Carefully and slowly work your way around the cake, cutting through the cake with a sawing motion while holding your other hand on the top of the cake. Once you have completely cut through the cake, carefully lift the layer with the knife or two knives across each other, and move it to a flat surface.
10. Place the bottom cake slice on a cake turner, cut side up. Start assembling your cake layers before cutting into the second layer. You want to use the layers immediately so they don’t dry out.
11. To assemble and decorate the cake as in the photo, place 1 cup of the lemon meringue buttercream in a piping bag, no tip necessary. Pipe a dam around the perimeter of the first layer. You may not need to use all the buttercream, it’s there just to hold the lemon filling in place. Fill the center with about ½ cup of the lemon cream. Repeat with the next two layers, placing the final layer bottom side up. Using an icing wand, spread the remaining buttercream over the top and sides, smoothing with the icing wand to create the naked cake effect. There is enough buttercream to fully cover the cake with smooth sides and a rosette border on top (see the Everyone’s Favorite Vanilla Cake).