Sunshine Citrus Cake

I made this 6" three layers Sunshine Citrus Cake for my birthday because of its bright name. The cake was not impressive, but the creamy whipped frosting was amazing.

Ingredients

[CAKE]

All purpose flour - 1 and 1/2 cups
Baking powder - 2 tsp
Salt - 1/2 tsp
Unsalted butter - 1/2 cup, softened to room temperature
Granulated sugar - 1 cup
Citrus zest - 1 and 1/2 TBSP  (combination of lemon, orange, and lime or other)
Eggs - 2 large, at room temperature (I used egg replacer)
Pure vanilla extract - 1 and 1/2 tsp
Whole milk- 1/2 cup, at room temperature
Freshly squeezed citrus juice - 1/3 cup, (combination of lemon, orange, and lime or other)

[WHIPPED FROSTING]

Cream cheese - 6 ounces block, softened to room temperature
Confectioners’ sugar - 3/4 cup
Pure vanilla extract - 1 and 1/2 tsp
Heavy whipping cream - 1 and 1/2 cups, cold
optional: sliced citrus fruits or citrus twists to garnish
[LEMON CURD]

Previous made, 1 cup

Steps

Make the cake

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. 

2. Grease three 6" cake pans, line with parchment paper, then grease the parchment paper. Parchment paper helps the small cakes seamlessly release from the pans.
3. Whisk the flour, baking powder, and salt together in a medium bowl. Set aside. 

4. Using a handheld or stand mixer fitted with a paddle or whisk attachment, beat the butter and sugar together on medium-high speed until combined, about 1 minute. Scrape down the sides and up the bottom of the bowl with a rubber spatula and then add the citrus zest. Beat on medium-high speed until combined and creamy, about 2 minutes. Add the eggs and vanilla extract. Beat on medium-high speed until combined. Scrape down the sides and up the bottom of the bowl and beat again as needed to combine. Add half of the flour mixture, half of the milk, and half of the citrus juice. Beat on low speed until mostly combined, and then add the remaining flour mixture, milk, and citrus juice. Beat on low speed until combined. Do not over-mix. You may need to whisk it all by hand to make sure there are no large lumps at the bottom of the bowl. The batter will be slightly thick with some small lumps. You will have between 3.5 – 4 cups of batter.
5. Divide and pour batter evenly into cake pans. If batter appears to have bubbles, give the pans a light tap on the counter to pop them. Bake cakes for 18-21 minutes or until baked through. To test for doneness, insert a toothpick into the center of the cake. If it comes out clean, it’s done.

6. Allow cakes to cool completely in the pans set on a wire rack for 30 minutes. Remove cakes from the pans and set them on a wire rack to cool completely. The cakes must be completely cool before frosting and assembling.

Make the whipped frosting

1. In stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, beat the cream cheese on medium-high speed until creamy, about 1 minute. Scrape down the sides and up the bottom of the bowl and beat again as needed until creamy. 

2. Add the confectioners’ sugar and vanilla extract, and then beat on medium speed until combined and completely smooth (absolutely no lumps), at least 2 full minutes. Scrape down the sides and up the bottom of the bowl and beat again as needed to smooth out. 

3. Turn the mixer to low speed and with the mixer running, carefully pour in the cream in a slow and steady stream. After all of the cream has been added, turn the mixer up to high speed and whip until thick and stiff peaks form, about 1-2 minutes. Do not walk away during this time and do not be concerned if your frosting takes longer to whip. You’re looking for a thick, airy consistency with stiff peaks. If your frosting appears soupy now or at any point you are working with it, it needs more whipping to introduce more air. If your frosting appears chunky or curdled, it’s over-whipped. To fix, stir 1 Tablespoon of heavy cream into the frosting by hand to smooth out again. You will have about 3.5 cups of frosting.

4. To make lemon curd frosting filling, spoon 1 cup of frosting into a separate bowl. Stir in 3 heaping Tablespoons of cooled lemon curd. This will be your filling for the cake. Enjoy remaining lemon curd drizzled on the cake slices or as a topping on other baked goods.

Assemble

1. If the cake layers aren’t flat on top, carefully and slowly level them off using a large serrated knife. 

2. Place 1 cake layer on your cake board. Evenly cover the top with 1/2 of the lemon curd frosting. Top with 2nd cake layer and evenly cover the top with remaining lemon curd frosting (if you have extras, just use it on the exterior of the cake). Top with the third cake layer. Spread a very thin layer of regular whipped frosting on top and all around the sides of the cake to create a crumb coat. Refrigerate uncovered for 30 minutes.
3. Add remaining frosting on chilled crumb-coated cake. Refrigerate the decorated cake uncovered for at least 30 minutes to help set the frosting.
4. After 30 minutes in the refrigerator, the decorated cake is fine to slice and serve or sit out at room temperature for a few hours. Cover leftover cake tightly and store in the refrigerator for 5 days.

NY Mets Cake

This is a Lemon Blueberry Cake with Lemon and Blueberry Buttercream, and decorated with fondant baseball hat, mitten and bat.

[Blueberry Reduction]

In a small saucepan over medium-low heat, combine 1 cup blueberries, 1 TBSP lemon juice, 1 TBSP water and 1 TBSP granulated sugar. Mash and stir for a minute then reduce to a simmer. Simmer until reduced by half then strain into a small bowl to chill.

[Blueberry Buttercream]

Use a stand mixer with paddle attachment to mix blueberry reduction from above into Swiss Meringue Buttercream, until you are satisfied with the color and taste.

[Lemon Buttercream]

Use a stand mixer with paddle attachment to mix Lemon Curd into Swiss Meringue Buttercream, until you are satisfied with the taste.

Lemon Chiffon Cake(柠檬戚风蛋糕)

I tweaked my normal chiffon cake recipe to add Lemon flavor. It turned out great.

Ingredients

Egg - 20 Large

Cake flour - 370 g (may need to adjust depends on the lemon juice amount)
Oil - 160g
Milk - 160g
Sugar - 240g for egg white
Sugar - 120g for egg yolk
Lemon - 2 (it creates about 2 TBSP zest and 100g juice)
* To make a 1/4 sheet 2 layer cake.

Steps

[Bake the Cake]

1. Preheat oven to 340°F.
2. Separate eggs into egg yolk and egg whites.

3. zest the lemons and squeeze out the lemon juice.
4. In a mixing bowl, beat egg yolk and sugar lightly; add oil, milk, lemon zest and juice; then sift in the cake flour, mix well.
5. In a clean mixing bowl, use electrical mixer to beat egg white and sugar at high speed to firm peak. Sugar for egg whites are added in 3 batches during the mixing process
6. Pour 1/3 of egg white mixture into egg yolk batter. Gently fold with a spatula to mix them well.
7. Pour the egg yolk batter into the egg white bowl in a thin stream. Gently fold the batter into the egg whites. 
8. Pour the cake batter to 1/2 sheet cake pan, lined with parchment paper. Hold the cake pan and bang the bottom on the table a couple of times to release large air bubbles from the batter.
9. Bake in oven for about 40-50 minutes or until a chopstick can be inserted and come out clean and the top of it springs back when lightly touched.
10. Take out the cake pan, and cool off on cake rake upside down. After the cake is cooled, use knife to loose the sides, and the cake should be able to fall out easily. Slice the cake by half to get two 1/4 sheet cakes. 

[Make Lemon Buttercream]

1. Make Swiss Meringue Buttercream.

2. Use a stand mixer with paddle attachment to mix Lemon Curd into the buttercream, until you are satisfied with the taste. 

[Assemble]

1. Use Lemon Buttercream as filling between two cake layers, and around the cake. 

2. Decorate and serve.

Lemon Curd

I made the lemon curd in order to make lemon buttercream. But Lemon curd can be used directly on bread or as pastry filling.

Ingredients

Sugar - 2 cup
Lemon zest - 4 TBSP (about 4 lemons)
Egg yolks - 12
Lemon juice - 1 cup minus 2 TBSP, freshly squeezed

Unsalted butter -1 cup, cold

Steps

1. Mix lemon zest with sugar.
2. Strain egg yolks into a pot and beat lightly with a wire whisk. Whisk in the sugar and give it a good mix until lighter in color. Stir in lemon juice gradually.
3. Heat on low, while stirring constantly with a wire whisk until mixture thickens, just starts to bubble and coats back of wooden spoon. If you don't have a very low setting on your stove it's best to use a double boiler so you don't overcook the eggs.
4. Remove pot from heat, then add the cold, cubed butter and mix until melted.

5. Strain the final mixture to remove any bits of zest, etc. to get a silk smooth curd.
6. Transfer the curd to a sealable container or bowl. If store in a bowl make sure to cover the surface with plastic wrap to prevent a skin from forming. The curd will set completely in the fridge. The lemon curd will keep in the fridge for 1 week or can be frozen for up to 3 months.

Unicorn Cake

Chocolate cake with swiss meringue buttercream and fondant decoration.