Currently baking from The Art & Soul of Baking by Cindy Mushet.
One of my good friends in Michigan, Linda, is having a long-distance love affair. Any time she gets within a 100-mile radius of Providence, RI, she has to detour to a little cafe/bakery called Pastiche and have herself a slice of their lemon mousse cake. She let me have a bite, once, and it was good. Really good.
So whenever I see a recipe for a lemon cake, I think of Linda and finding her a recipe that does her favorite lemon cake justice. Unfortunately, I don’t think this one is it. It wasn’t bad. It was just ordinary. I don’t know about you, but when I’m eating something lemony, I want to be bowled over with the lemon flavor and this cake was too timid.
It has some things going for it, though. I made the lemon curd, the lemon soaking syrup and the cakes in the space of two hours on one day, then made the frosting/filling and assembled the cake the next day. The cakes, themselves, are on the dry side and really need a soaking syrup.
The lemon curd is a standard lemon curd. Nothing fancy here. I actually don’t like most lemon curds because I think they are too eggy, and I had the same problem with this one. Once it was layered into the cakes and mixed in with the filling, though, it was okay. Next time, I’ll stick with my regular lemon curd which has only half the amount of eggs as this one.
The lemon mascarpone filling does double duty as the frosting and is made up of mascarpone, whipped cream and lemon curd. I didn’t think the mixture was lemony enough, so I added some more curd to it. This left me with less curd to add between the layers which really would have helped up the lemon flavor. Next time, I’ll double the amount of curd. I liked Mushet’s tip about blending a little bit of mascarpone with the whipped cream. She says it helps stabilize the cream and allows the cream to hold it’s shape and texture for a couple of days. I don’t think the mascarpone, itself, added much flavor to the cream, so this is a tip that will come in handy on other projects.
Mushet also says that the cake is better the day after assembling, once the flavors have had time to meld. I have to agree. When I tried a slice the next day, the cake was more moist and the lemon flavor seemed much stronger. The whipped cream mixture was holding up very nicely with no weeping.
Hi Anne. Thanks for stopping by. As a rule, I don’t post recipes unless I alter them pretty dramatically. I don’t feel it is fair to the author’s to publish their recipes without express permission. However, if you do a search for this cake, you’ll find the recipe out there.
Any chance I can request the recipe for this cake? It looks gorgeous!
Sure. In fact, the next cookbook is all about grains and I’m going into serious baking withdrawal. Vegan cleanse? Good luck.
I have a small request. Could you please refrain from baking anything this mouthwatering for the next 7 days? Or if you do, could you avoid any pictures in your post. I am in the middle of a vegan cleanse and these pictures are making me rethink my unwavering willpower! Oh how yummy it looks!
Please, I beg you! Tell me you didn’t put even the smallest piece of this in the trash??? It looks so good. Pastiche better watch out! You could give them serious competition. And, could you pass me a napkin? I drooled all over my desk. Tell hubby I said to please eat a slice for me. He should also have a cup of Earl Gray tea w/cream and sugar. That would be the perfect snack. By the way, I agree. A lemon flavored anything, especially cake, should knock your socks off w/the lemon part! I bet this recipe would work better if you tried it in my kitchen! Ha!
Papa would love this one as he loves lemon cakes and I cannot make a decent one. It is beautiful to look at also.