Last September my boyfriend wanted a homemade birthday cake. Knowing he loved lemon, raspberries and white chocolate, I hunted for the perfect combination. Coming up short I decided to improvise. I combined three recipes and actually turned out a wicked pretty looking cake. I could have decorated it with flowers like the recipes called for but I used the whole fruit and my own inexperienced chocolate work. This turned out amazing and between us, never left the house.

This lemon cake used to two cakes cut in half to create 4 layers. I filled each layer with lemon butter cream and raspberry preserves and topped it all off with a pink colored white chocolate ganache. This was definitely a special birthday surprise! Bon appétit!

LEMON & RASPBERRY LAYER CAKE WITH LEMON BUTTER CREAM & WHITE CHOCOLATE GANACHE

 

Serves: 10-12 (ish)

 INGREDIENTS

LEMON CAKE

2 1/4 cups cake flour

1 tbs baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 1/4 cup whole milk or buttermilk, room temperature

4 large egg whites, room temperature

1 1/2 cup granulated sugar

2 teaspoons fine lemon zest

1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature

1/2 tsp pure lemon extract
Lemon Butter cream

8 ounces cream cheese, softened

1 stick (8 tablespoons or 4 ounces) unsalted butter, softened

2 3/4 cups powdered sugar, sifted

2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice, divided (from about 1/2 a large lemon)

1 tablespoon freshly grated lemon zest

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1/8 teaspoon kosher salt

 

RASPBERRY LAYERS

1 jar seedless raspberry preserves

 

PINK CHOCOLATE GANACHE

⅓ cup cream

1 cup white chocolate, chopped finely

A few drops pink gel food coloring (only gel or its too thin)

DIRECTIONS
Pre-heat your oven to 350°F and place a rack in the lower third of your oven. Coat two 8″ or 9″ pans with butter or nonstick spray and line the bottoms with a circle of parchment. Place the pans on a baking sheet and set aside.

In a medium bowl, sift together the cake flour, baking powder and salt and set aside.
In a second small bowl, combine the milk and egg whites and set aside.
In the bowl of your stand mixer, combine the sugar and lemon zest and mix for a minute on medium speed until fragrant. Add the butter and cream together on medium speed for 4-5 minutes until the mixture is light and fluffy. Beat in the lemon extract and then grab your bowl of flour and milk.
Reduce the mixer’s speed to slow and add 1/3rd of the flour. Once moistened, increase the speed to medium and mix until incorporated. Then add 1/2 the milk mixture and beat until the mixture is uniform. Repeat with the remaining flour and milk, alternating until you’ve finished with the last 1/3rd of the flour. Mix the batter for a further 2 minutes to ensure it is lump free and well aerated.
Divide the batter between your baking pans and bake for 30 to 35 minutes until the centers of the cake springs back when touched lightly.
Place the cakes on wire racks to cool. After a few minutes, run a knife around the outside of the pan to release the cake and remove from the pans. Allow to cool right side up until room temperature.

Prepare the frosting:

Using a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment or a hand mixer, beat the cream cheese and butter together on medium speed until smooth and no lumps remain, about 3 full minutes. Reduce the mixer speed to low, then add the powdered sugar, 1 tablespoon lemon juice, lemon zest, vanilla extract, and salt. Once the sugar begins to incorporate, increase the mixer to high speed and beat for 3 minutes. Add the remaining tablespoon lemon juice to thin if desired.

To make the ganache

Put the finely chopped white chocolate in a bowl. Heat the cream in a small saucepan until it just reaches boiling point. Pour the cream over the chocolate and leave for 3-4 minutes. Stir with a fork to combine to make a silky ganache (if the chocolate hasn’t quite melted, carefully microwave for 5-10 seconds and stir again).  Add the pink gel food coloring, a little bit at a time, until the ganache reaches the color you want.

 

To assemble

• (After the 2 layers are cooled I used a cake cutter to slice each cake in half horizontally.)
• Place one cake layer on the cake stand you plan to serve it on.
• add a layer of raspberry. Then top with top of first cake.
• Top with a spoonful of cream cheese buttercream and use an offset spatula to spread evenly over the cake at about ½ cm – 1 cm thick. (I try to get on eye level to make sure the icing is level, as this is key to a straight cake!). See photos above as a guide to icing thickness.
• Repeat with Raspberry preserves.
• Gently place a second cake on top. Repeat with the icing, then another cake layer, raspberry then the top layer. The top only ice with only icing. If it is warm in your kitchen, at this point you may want to place the cake in the fridge for 20 minutes to make it easier to ice the sides.
• Gently spread icing around the sides of the cake.
• To drip the pink chocolate ganache down the cake, use a small teaspoon and do a trial drip to check the consistency of the ganache. Gently spoon ganache onto the edge of the cake and nudge over the side – the ganache should run down the side of the cake slowly, and stop before the bottom. If it is too thick, quickly microwave for 10 seconds and stir again. Continue adding drips around the side of the cake. Carefully fill in the top of the cake with the remaining pink ganache, smoothing the surface.
• If it is summer/warm, refrigerate for another 30 minutes to set the cake together.

Original recipes credit to: Thebrickkitchen.com/notsohumblepie.com