Lemon Lime Perfect Party Cake – Filled with lemon and lime curd, this cake is perfect for any celebration.

This is a happy day for me. Not only is it the day we post our Daring Bakers Challenge for March, (my 9th challenge already!), but it is also my 1 year blog birthday!! I can’t believe it’s already been a year since I started this little blog!!

I was going to remake the cake I made for my first post for my birthday post, but the Daring Bakers posting date just happened to fall on the same day. But when I found out that this challenge was Dorie Greenspan’s Perfect Party Cake, I thought it was even better, because I had made and blogged about this cake before!! (And it was even for a fellow Daring Baker’s blog birthday!) This time around, I could remake the cake, but find a way to challenge myself and make it even better!

After promising to make the challenge earlier in the month, I was all set out to do the cake the first weekend of the month. I was going to substitute the raspberry preserves with candied lemon and orange peels. I candied the lemon and orange, but that is as far as I got. But I’m glad I didn’t continue on, because over the next week, I came up with a different game plan that I liked even better. I have talked about Pierre Hermè’s French Lemon Cream, which I learned from Dorie Greenspan in Baking. In my opinion, this is the very best recipe ever created!! I thought to do just lemon cream in the layers instead of the raspberry preserves, but then I realized I had some limes that needed to be used, the idea came to me to do a lemon-lime cake, with 2 layers of lemon and one of lime. And just to challenge myself, I decided to do some fondant decorating. I had never worked with fondant before, but it is always something I have wanted to play around with, and this was the perfect opportunity.

The cake came together easily. I know many people had problems with flat cakes, but the recipe worked great for me. Since I had made the buttercream before, I knew that it would seem to curdle before it came together, so this also was pretty easy for me. I made the lemon cream just as I had before, and for the lime cream, I just substituted lime juice for the lemon juice. I did add a bit of coloring to the lime cream, because it was the same color as the lemon, and I wanted the layers to be distinct.

The fondant was fun. I used a marshmallow fondant recipe that I read about on Shawnda’s blog, Confections of a Foodie Bride. She makes beautiful cakes, and I trusted her recipe completely. I had pictured the fondant polka dots in my mind, and decided to stay with the same colors as the cream fillings – green and yellow. I’m really glad I tried this fondant, because now I am really excited to keep working with fondant, and maybe even learn how to cover a whole cake with it! And this fondant does taste much better than normal fondant. I really got a workout kneading and rolling this out. I did the yellow first, and I think I hadn’t let the fondant sit long enough, because I couldn’t get it very thin. The green worked much better for me. I ended up taking all of the yellow polka dots off, re-rolling them thinner, and then re-cutting them.

Overall, this was one of best cakes I have ever made. The lemon and lime cream complimented the cake and buttercream perfectly. I remembered the first time I made this cake with the raspberry, it was too sweet for me, but the sweet/sour combo of this was wonderful. My mom and sister even said that they could see it being served in a restaurant! The only thing I am disappointed in is my pictures. 🙁 I took this cake to a family get together, and it’s always hard to get good pictures while everyone is eating, and when you aren’t in your own house where you know the lighting is the best. But believe me that it was much better looking in person!!

Now is the time to say thank you to everyone for reading this past year. Without going into details, let’s just say that this little blog of mine has changed my life for the better. I am always touched with every comment that is left, and every single one of them means so much to me. The food blogging community is such a wonderful place, and I plan to be a part of it for a long time!!

Looking for more free recipes?

Subscribe to my free recipe newsletter to get new family friendly recipes in your inbox each week! Find me sharing more family-friendly inspiration on Pinterest and Instagram.

Lemon Lime Perfect Party Cake

Author: Deborah Harroun

Print Recipe

Description

Lemon Lime Perfect Party Cake – Filled with lemon and lime curd, this cake is perfect for any celebration.

Scale

Ingredients

Cake:

2 1/4 cups cake flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cups whole milk or buttermilk
4 large egg whites
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 teaspoons grated lemon zest
1/2 cup (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 teaspoon pure lemon extract

Lemon Cream:

1 cup sugar
Finely grated zest of 3 lemons
4 large eggs
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice (from 4–5 lemons)
2 sticks plus 5 tablespoons (10-1/2 ounces) unsalted butter, cut into tablespoon-size pieces, at room temperature

Lime Cream:

1 cup sugar
Finely grated zest of 3 limes
4 large eggs
1/2 cup fresh lime juice (from 4–5 limes)
2 sticks plus 5 tablespoons (10-1/2 ounces) unsalted butter, cut into tablespoon-size pieces, at room temperature

Buttercream:

1 cup sugar
4 large egg whites
1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Marshmallow Fondant:

16 oz bag plain marshmallows (the small ones)
2 Tbsp water
shortening, for greasing bowls
1–2 tsp flavoring
2 lb confectioner
pinch of salt

Instructions

To make the cake:

Place the rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 350F. Spray 2 9-inch cake pans lightly with nonstick spray, then line the bottoms with parchment paper. Lightly spray the parchment paper. Place the cake pans on a baking sheet.
In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder and salt. In another bowl, whisk together the milk and egg whites.
In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the sugar and the lemon zest. Using your finger, rub the zest into the sugar until it is moist and fragrant. Add the butter to the sugar mixture and beat until very light, 3 minutes. Beat in the lemon extract. Beating on medium speed, add one third of the flour mixture. Beat in half of the milk/egg mixture, then half of the remaining dry mixture. Add the remaining milk/egg mixture, followed by the remaining dry mixture, beating on medium the whole time. Beat for 2 minutes, making sure everything is thoroughly mixed and aerated. Divide the mixture between the two pans and smooth the tops with a rubber spatula.
Bake in the preheated oven for 30-35 minutes, or until springy to the touch and baked through. Transfer to a cooling rack to cool for 5 minutes, then run a knife around the sides of the pan. Turn the cakes out onto a cooling rack and remove the paper liners. Cool to room temperature.

To make the lemon and lime cream (repeat recipe for each flavor):

Getting Ready: Have an instant-read thermometer, a strainer and a blender (first choice) or food processor at hand. Bring a few inches of water to a simmer in a saucepan.
Put the sugar and zest in a large heatproof bowl that can be set over the pan of simmering water. Off the heat, rub the sugar and zest together between your fingers until the sugar is moist, grainy and very aromatic. Whisk in the eggs, followed by the lemon juice.
Set the bowl over the pan, and start stirring with the whisk as soon as the mixture feels tepid to the touch. Cook the lemon cream until it reaches 180 degrees F. As you whisk—you must whisk constantly to keep the eggs from scrambling—you’ll see that the cream will start out light and foamy, then the bubbles will get bigger, and then, as it gets closer to 180 degrees F, it will start to thicken and the whisk will leave tracks. Heads up at this point—the tracks mean the cream is almost ready. Don’t stop whisking or checking the temperature, and have patience—depending on how much heat you’re giving the cream, getting to temp can take as long as 10 minutes.
As soon as it reaches 180 degrees F, remove the cream from the heat and strain it into the container of the blender (or food processor); discard the zest. Let the cream stand, stirring occasionally, until it cools to 140 degrees F, about 10 minutes.
Turn the blender to high (or turn on the processor) and, with the machine going, add the butter about 5 pieces at a time. Scrape down the sides of the container as needed as you incorporate the butter. Once the butter is in, keep the machine going—to get the perfect light, airy texture of lemon-cream dreams, you must continue to blend the cream for another 3 minutes. If your machine protests and gets a bit too hot, work in 1-minute intervals, giving the machine a little rest between beats.
Pour the cream into a container, press a piece of plastic wrap against the surface to create an airtight seal and refrigerate for at least 4 hours or overnight. (The cream will keep in the fridge for 4 days and, or tightly sealed, in the freezer for up to 2 months; thaw it overnight in the refrigerator.)
When you are ready to assemble the tart, just whisk the cream to loosen it and spoon it into the tart shell. Serve the tart, or refrigerate until needed, or top with meringue.

To make the buttercream:

Place the sugar and egg whites in a mixing bowl. Place the bowl over a pan of simmering water and whisk constantly. Whisk until it feels hot to the touch and the sugar is dissolved, about 3 minutes. The mixture should look like shiny marshmallow cream. Remove the bowl from the heat.
With the whisk attachment (or a hand mixer), beat until it is cool, about 5 minutes. Switch to the paddle attachment. Add the butter, one stick at a time, and beat until very smooth. Once all of the butter has been incorporated, beat on medium-high speed until it is thick and very smooth, 6 to 10 minutes. The mixture may curdle or separate – just continue to beat until it comes together. With the mixer on medium, add the lemon juice gradually, and then the vanilla. The frosting should be shiny and velvety.

To make the marshmallow fondant:

Grease a microwave safe bowl, a spoon, the dough hook, and the bowl of your stand mixer with shortening (grease it well).
Place the marshmallows and water in the greased microwave-safe bowl and microwave for 60 seconds. Stir with the greased spoon. If all the marshmallows have not melted, microwave for 30 seconds more. Stir in flavoring.
Place confectioner’s sugar and salt in the stand mixer bowl, reserving 1 cup, and make a well in the center. Pour in the marshmallow mix and turn the mixer on to the lowest setting. When it sounds strained, increase the mixer speed up one setting. Turn off the mixer once all sugar has been incorporated. If the fondant is sticky, add the reserved confectioner’s sugar 1/4 cup at a time.
Turn fondant out onto plastic wrap. Rub a bit of shortening on the outside of the ball. Wrap in plastic wrap, place in a ziploc bag, and let rest for at least 2-3 hours. Keep unused portions covered when not using. If the fondant becomes stiff, place in microwave for 20 seconds at a time until pliable.
Roll out on a greased mat/fondant circle to the desired thickness.