A Lemon and Blueberry Adventure!

Today is the day! My first day of blogging my baking adventures. I've always enjoyed baking sweets, but I really started to get out of boxed cake and brownies mixes a couple of years ago. What sparked my love for baking was baking pies. I always knew I baked a really great apple pie. It was really my only specialty. When I started baking for my boyfriend, Jake he was really the person who got me out of apple and into the fun stuff like, rhubarb and strawberries, banana delights, and cranberries. This year I turned 24 and with turning 24 I received a gorgeous white Kitchenaid Mixer. Since the arrival of my new friend I have really started to pour my heart into baking and branching out and trying things in the kitchen that scare me a little. I am happy to share with you successes and failures in the kitchen! Here we go....

Today. 1.18.12 Triple Lemon Blueberry Layer Cake
* Triple Lemon Blueberry Layer Cake Recipe was found on the Sweetapolita Blog (a fabulous and fun blog with the best sweet recipes!)
Music: Katy Perry pandora station. I was feeling like dancing while baking.

This recipe looked a little tough, but I certainly was up for a challenge on this really cold winter day! Buying blueberries in January felt like a little burst of spring! I am hoping this is what the cake will taste like.

We live in a tiny little house so space is limited. This is my little baking station! Its small but it does the job.


I started the process of the cake by making the lemon curd. The lemon Curd was a recipe adopted from Martha Stewart. It was a very simple and delicious recipe. You have to let it sit in the refrigerator for a while so it gave me time to do other things before I really dove into the baking.

Next came the cakes. It was a recipe for a simple white cake, but incorporated some lemon extract, and lemon zest to give it the lemony kick and of course the blueberries. The recipe called for blueberries coated in flour. Rosie of Sweetapolita says this helps the blueberries adhere to the batter. A very interesting and helpful tip, I thought! And into the oven these little sweets went..

The house started to smell of lemon blueberry muffins, never a bad thing if you ask me!
Three sweet little blueberry cakes sat to cool and waited to be frosted. While the cakes cooled I began the process of creating the frosting. I am not a huge fan of frosting and I think it probably would have been just as delicious with just the lemon curd in between the cakes. But, understanding this is a learning experience I wanted to at least attempt to make the frosting!

As you can see from the picture, I am in fact an incredibly messy baker!

The frosting was an interesting process. The recipe called for "Icing Sugar" which I had never heard of, but assumed it was the same thing as powered sugar. Once googled I found it was the same thing. After finishing the frosting, now I am not so sure I should have trusted google. It called for 2 sticks of butter a few eggs, and the sugar. I put the sugar in a cup at a time, but did not really give much time in between cups. I finished off the frosting with the lemon extract, and lemon zest it called for. The frosting should have been a smooth whipped consistency, which is not what I ended up with at all! The best word I have to describe my frosting is "Gritty". It was almost as if the mixer could not mix the sugar up well enough to smooth it out. I think the problem could have been from adding to much sugar at once. Thinking back, I probably should have slowly added a cup at a time giving the mixer time to mix up the sugar. Although it was not the correct consistency it was still a burst of sugary lemon in my mouth!
It was finally time to assemble my cake! As you can see above the lemon curd sat in between the two layers. As I mentioned before I think it would have been just as delicious left this way. I added the frosting, which of course wasn't all that easy due to the way it actually came out. And now for the finished product...

Please disregard my ugly frosting job. But as you can see the inside of the cake was the perfect combination of blueberries and lemon curd. It was fabulous! Although the frosting was slightly gritty it still added a delightful sweetness to the cake.

Reviewer: My mother Irene - She gave it 4 1/2 out of 5 stars saying "It was just as moist as can be!" And believe me, she knows her cakes!

All in all I am happy with the way this cake came out. What I learned is that I need a little more work in the frosting area! Please find this fabulous Sweetapolita Recipe below.


Lemon-Blueberry Layer Cake

Ingredients

2 cups plus 6 tablespoons all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

3 cups fresh blueberries

1/2 cup sour cream

1/2 cup whole milk

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

3/4 teaspoon pure lemon extract

1 teaspoon lemon zest

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened about 20 minutes out of refrigerator

1 1/2 cups white sugar

4 large eggs

Method

Preheat oven to 350°F. Prepare three 8" round cake pans with parchment paper, butter and flour. Sift dry ingredients into medium bowl. Transfer 1 tablespoon flour mixture to larger bowl. Add fresh blueberries and toss to coat them with flour. Set remaining flour mixture and blueberries aside.

Stir whole milk, sour cream, vanilla extract, lemon extract and lemon zest in small bowl. In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream butter and sugar, until pale yellow and very fluffy, about 5 minutes. Beat in eggs one at a time, until well combined. Mix in flour mixture alternately with milk mixture, starting and ending with flour mixture. Stir until just combined. Gently fold in blueberries. Divide batter equally among 8" round pans.

Bake cakes until toothpick inserted into centre comes out clean, about 25 minutes. Cool cakes in pans on racks for about 10 minutes, then invert onto racks until completely cool.

Frost with Zesty Lemon Frosting..

Zesty Lemon Frosting

1 cup soft unsalted butter

2 teaspoons lemon zest

5 cups icing sugar (or 6 cups for sweeter version)

60 ml fresh lemon juice

6 tablespoons whipping cream (35% cream)

1/2 teaspoon pure lemon extract

2 tablespoons water

pinch salt

drop of AmeriColor "Electric Yellow" gel color (optional)

Method

Cream butter and lemon zest in bowl of electric mixer fitted with paddle attachment, about 3 minutes. Slowly add icing sugar, mixing on low speed for about 2 minutes. Add remaining ingredients and beat on med-high for 3-4 minutes until very fluffy. If using color gel, add a drop or two, then beat until blended. Yields enough to frost outside of three layer 8" round cake.

Pair with Lemon-Blueberry Layer Cake

Lemon Curd Ingredients

• 3 large egg yolks, strained
• Zest of 1/2 lemon
• 1/4 cup lemon juice
• 6 tablespoons sugar
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, cold, cut into pieces

Directions

1. Combine yolks, lemon zest, lemon juice, and sugar in a small saucepan. Whisk to combine. Set over medium heat, and stir constantly with a wooden spoon, making sure to stir sides and bottom of pan. Cook until mixture is thick enough to coat back of wooden spoon, 5 to 7 minutes.
2. Remove saucepan from heat. Add butter, one piece at a time, stirring with the wooden spoon until consistency is smooth.
3. Transfer mixture to a medium bowl. Lay a sheet of plastic wrap directly on the surface of the curd to avoid a skin from forming; wrap tightly. Let cool; refrigerate until firm and chilled, at least 1 hour.