“But there’s always a first time for everything”
Melissa de la Cruz
End November, Mum’s birthday, time to bake cake. As I said before, the last quarter of the year is laden with birthdays, anniversaries and celebration. being winter it makes it more fun to bake, as well as to eat! Flavours for a cake are a simple choice as we are a family that is game for any and all flavours in dessert. Coffee and chocolate rule the roost, and I can blindly bake anything that includes either, or both, and we cut the cake singing. But life isn’t that simple. Winter brings visitors to India, and visitors mean added tastes, sometimes those who don’t like chocolate! Oh yes, of those I find plenty these days, amazing but true.
Mum’s friend is here from the UK and she c a n n o t stand chocolate. No summer berries these days, Quark Mousse Cake with Roasted Balsamic Strawberries recently made, so I was left looking for choices. Lemon seemed a nice option, so it was back to the net, and to my bursting bookmarked folder. Oh the choices, but the one I picked was from this beautiful blog, Technicolour Kitchen by Patricia Scarpin. I do love her blog. She posts delicious and interesting baked stuff, with a tale or two thrown in. Her recipes are always make-able, and gorgeously photographed. Browsing her cakes folder brought me to a halt here … Lavender cake with lime curd icing.Yes, this was the one I would try. Lavender because I HAD to use the culinary lavender that Vino Luci aka Barbara sent me from her garden in the US. Utterly whimsical and elegant flavour, and something I’ve been waiting to try again after this beautiful Lavender Mascarpone Cake I had made 2 years ago. Patricia’s cake, a chiffon, was one I have never baked before. Have you baked a chiffon cake before?
A chiffon cake is a very light cake made with vegetable oil, eggs, sugar, flour, baking powder, and flavorings. In contrast to butter, the traditional fat used in cake making, it is difficult to beat air into oil, so chiffon cakes, like angel cakes and other foam cakes, achieve a fluffy texture by beating egg whites until stiff, and folding them into the cake batter before baking.
It was a new cake experience, a learning curve thrown in too. I baked 2 three egg chiffons. The first was fabulous, and I took a shortcut on the second one. I knew that I should have scrubbed the beaters clean for any traces of yolk, or the whites would misbehave. Didn’t heed the inner warning, and rinsed them in a hurry. Learnt my lesson. Once the yolk batter was ready, the whites in the second chiffon were going nowhere. Uff…bunged them in, and baked a flattish cake, still soft, but not as chiffony as it should have been.
Chiffon…what does it bring to your mind? For me, it brings memories of light summer evenings, with sprinklers on, the waft of wet mud, fireflies in the dark… dim lights and ladies in chiffon sarees at the club houses! yes, we were kids, but the parties in the summer evenings at the services club was full of ladies in beautiful flowing chiffons, clinking glasses, and the forces band playing music in the background! Sigh…etched in memories, those days never came back. Now, I long to drape a saree, but somehow jeans call my name!
Now for the the filling. Lemon curd. Light, tangy, citrusy, delicious … simple and home made too. Ju @ Little Teochewposted some Easy Lemon Curd on her blog a short while ago, and I made and bottled it almost immediately. Used some for lemon tarts that I made for the photo-shoot and froze a jar of the rest. That came down from the freezer for this cake to be whipped into lemon cream {Sorry S…have made more and frozen it since; I remember!!} Mmmm … yes, I did add a vanilla bean to my lemon curd too as the eggphobic feeling continues!
Which comes to whipped lemon curd cream! Hello? No one ever told me this thing is so darned delicious and addictive. I couldn’t stop licking it off the bowl once I was done with the filling and frosting. My word, it had no taste of egg, and was light as a cloud and full of wonderful citrus flavour. I didn’t add much sugar to the whipped cream as the lemon curd is sweet too. The taste was just right. Not cloyingly sweet – wonderful!
I especially went with girly pink colour in the border as it is a fave with my 5 year old niece Amani who was on her last day of her visit to India. She looked at the cake, and said ‘Ooooh, that’s pretty! I ♥ it! Can I smell the flowers please? Mmmm…NICE!!’ She’s a charming little girl, well mannered, sociable, and LOVES company. She and the teen hit it off very well, despite the 10 year age gap, and soon little Amani was having long tel-conversations with all Meher’s friends! I do think she brought my teen down from the clouds for a while! She has a little baby sister who is a year old, is very sweet, but would rather have her Mum than us … her temperament as fiddly as finding feet on macarons {IMHO}!
The cake was a winner. The flavours of lavender, very delicate and mildly fragrant. They complimented the lime beautifully, and the cake vanished in half an hour! The chiffon was excellent too, despite my earlier faux pas, and I liked the way it held the cake up. Looked firm to touch, but was still tender to bite. I think it’s a great sponge to use, and for sure has found a place in my heart! It’s always an inspiring feeling to discover so many new baking methods, and also to know that there’s still so much more to learn!
Patricia, I am SO GLAD I baked this cake, and your commentary on the cake is what had me sold! It’s a fabulous change from chocolate and coffee, and I’m glad I was forced to leave my comfort zone! In Patricia’s words, “Now this combo can go straight to the all time favorites list, with apples + cinnamon and chocolate + hazelnuts. 🙂” … I so agree!
Lavender Chiffon Cake with Whipped Lemon Curd Frosting adapted minimally from Technicolour Kitchen Serves 12-16 Lavender Chiffon Sponge
6 eggs, separated
¼ cup neutral vegetable oil
6 tbsp water
1 ½ cups caster sugar
1 ½ teaspoons dried edible lavender buds
1 1/3 cups cake flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon cream of tartar Method
Preheat the oven to 180°C. Line the bottoms of two 20cm (8in) round cake pans with baking paper; do not grease.
Place 1 cup of the sugar in a food processor, add the lavender buds and process. Sift into a large bowl, discarding the excess lavender.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the egg yolks, oil and water. Set aside.
Sift the flour, baking powder and salt into the sugar and whisk gently to combine. Add the yolk mixture and whisk to form a smooth batter.
Place the egg whites in a large bowl and beat with an electric mixer fitted with the whip attachment on medium-high speed until frothy. Slowly add the remaining ½ cup (100g) sugar and the cream of tartar and continue to whip until soft, droopy peaks form. Fold ¼ of the beaten egg whites into the batter, taking care not to deflate the mixture. Gently fold in the remaining whites. Divide the batter among the prepared pans.
Bake for 18-20 minutes or until golden and a cake tester or wooden toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean. Allow layers to cool completely in the pans. To remove, run a blunt knife around the edges, invert each pan and tap out the cake onto a wire rack. Carefully peel off the paper. Easy Lemon Curd From Ju @Little Teochew
{I used 1/2 the recipe for this cake. Had used the other half earlier in puff pastry lemon tarts}
200g sugar {depending how sweet or tart you like it}
1 egg
3 egg yolks
120ml fresh lemon juice
1 tsp grated lemon zest, or more if you like {depending on how strong you want the flavour of lemon}
50 to 60g unsalted butter {more butter will make it smoother, but at the same time, fattier too … you decide} Method:
In a large bowl, whisk all the ingredients except the butter*. Mix well. Place the bowl over a bain-marie** (water bath) and stir constantly. The mixture may look curdled, but it will smooth out as it cooks. If you want a more subtle taste of lemon, do not add the zest at this stage. Set aside with the butter.
Once the mixture thickens – it should leave a path on the back of a spoon – turn off the flame and add butter in 2 or 3 additions. If you have not added in your lemon zest, add it in now and stir to mix well.
Allow the curd to cool slightly before transferring to a clean jar or bowl. Make sure it is covered to prevent a skin from forming. Chill in the refrigerator. The curd will thicken further as it cools. Covered tightly, it will keep in the refrigerator for a week and in the freezer for 2 months.
While the cakes are baking and cooling, make the lime curd and chill completely.
Whipped Lemon Curd Cream Frosting
700ml low fat cream
1/2 vanilla bean, scraped
1/2 recipe lemon curd
2-3 tbsps sugar {the lemon curd adds it’s own sweetness too} Method:
Whip the cream and sugar till firm peaks hold. Gently fold the lemon curd through, about 2/3rd to being with, and taste for sweetness, tartness etc. Add the rest if desired, and add sugar if required. Lemon Sugar Syrup:
1/2 cup sugar
1/8 cup water
Juice of 1 lime. Method:
Place all ingredients in a pan, bring to a boil, stir until the sugar is dissolved. take off heat, and allow to cool. To Assemble the Cake
Slice both sponges horizontally to get 4 layers.
Reserve 1/3rd whipped cream for top and sides.
Place one cake layer on a cake stand or serving plate, brush with lemon syrup and spread 1/3rd of the cream for filling.
Repeat with the other 2 layers.
Top with the third cake layer, and frost the top and sides with the remaining cream.
{Mix 1 tsp of lemon curd in any left over cream, and pipe a border etc.} I finished mine with a border of a firm white chocolate ganache coloured pinkish-purple.
