We celebrated my husband’s birthday last weekend. We’re now closer to 30 than 20. Kind of weird. In normal fashion, I asked him what kind of cake he wanted. Without hesitation, he said Lemon Raspberry Cake.
I was so excited he knew what he wanted, I made the cake without hesitation hoping he wouldn’t change his mind. As I was putting the final touches on the cake, I realized something. The cake was pink. Pale pink. I had just made my husband a pale pink birthday cake. I never considered that raspberry icing would produce a pink cake. Happy birthday little girl husband!
Luckily, he ate it in all it’s pale pink glory. I guess I could have done raspberry on the inside and lemon on the outside. The scarecrow said it best—If I only had a brain.
Speaking of lemon, this graced the inside of the cake.
Between all four layers.
Mini Lemon Raspberry Cake
Yellow Butter Cake + Lemon Curd + Raspberry Italian Meringue Buttercream
Yellow Butter Cake
I halved the Yellow Butter Cake recipe from a couple posts back. Bake in a square pan. Follow recipe as directed. Check cake at 20 minutes. Allow to cool. Cut cake into fourths to achieve mini square cake as pictured.
Lemon Curd
recipe from Cake Love by Warren Brown; yields 2 cups
1 c. fresh squeezed lemon juice
2 1/4 c. sugar
2 tsp. cornstarch
4 large eggs
4 egg yolks
1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, chilled
1. Squeeze lemon juice making sure to strain out seeds. Measure sugar and cornstarch into a heavy bottomed saucepan. (I use my Le Creuset for this.) Crack eggs and yolks into a separate bowl and set aside.
2. Whisk lemon juice into sugar mixture, followed by the eggs and yolks.
3. Whisk in cold butter one tablespoon at a time.
4. Set saucepan over medium heat and bring to simmer, whisking continuously.
5. When you begin to see lava bubbles—large, slowly forming bubbles that burp steam—reduce the heat to the lowest setting and whisk briskly for 1 minute to pasteurize the lemon curd. (Lava bubbles usually appear 10 minutes in.)
6. Pour directly into bowl, and cover with plastic wrap pressed to surface to keep a skin from forming.
7. Immediately refrigerate for at least 3 hours before using.
Note: I halved the recipe for the mini cake.
Raspberry Italian Meringue Buttercream
I halved the Italian Meringue Buttercream recipe from a couple posts back and added raspberries. Make recipe as directed. If you are making a full recipe, you’ll need 1/2 c. raspberries. If you are making a half recipe, you’ll need 1/4 c. raspberries. Puree raspberries in food processor. Using a fine mesh sieve, strain the puree into a bowl to remove seeds. Add puree to buttercream and whip until combined.
Ice the Cake
For a quick tutorial, click here. Serve cake at room temperature.
Can I let you in on a little secret? I wanted to show you a slice of the cake, but I wasn’t serving the cake until later that evening. So, I cut the cake. Took some pics. And put the cake back together. The Italian Meringue Buttercream is very forgiving like that.
Still pink, but good as new!
This cake is so delicious and I use the vanilla cake recipe for all my cakes. Question for you though. I am making a naked cake for my sister’s bridal shower and I wanted to make the layers a little thicker. So I was thinking of using the recipe for two 9-inch rounds and putting it in one. Do you think it will still turn out okay, I’m guessing I just need to cook it longer. Any suggestions on how much longer if I do it? Thanks!
Hey Annita! I haven’t tried that exactly so I’m not sure how best to advise besides what you said—a longer cook time. I’m a little worried that doubling the recipe might cause the edges to burn before the center is done. I’d almost recommend testing a 1.5 recipe and splitting the batter between the two pans. I’m about to start working on my brother’s wedding cake so I’ll know better soon! I think I’d recommend testing first just to be sure. If it works out great, once cooled, wrap it in a layer of saran wrap and an outside layer of foil and then freeze it until you’re ready to use. Let me know if more questions pop up!
It is also good to strain out the lemon zest when cooking the lemon curd before it curdles!
I have made this cake twice now and the vanilla cake once with a salted caramel drizzle on top. This is amazing, rich cake. If you make the frosting ahead of time and refrigerate it for a while, it can look curdled when re-mixing it. I figured out that if you let is warm up to room temperature first it helps, and then once it is in the electrical mixer, don’t give up! Eventually it will stop being lumpy soup and go back to beautiful frosting 🙂
I LOVE THIS CAKE
Ah, thanks for this tip. Genius!
Hello,
I want to make your “Pink” Raspberry lemon curd cake for my wifes birthday but I am having no luck with the links in the post (404). Also the search box is not letting me search for any of the original recipes that you mention, specifically the italian meringue buttercream.
Thanks,
Matt
Hi Matt! Thanks for the heads up on the links. They have all been fixed. Here’s the post they were referring to: http://www.thefauxmartha.com/2011/04/27/very-vanilla-cake/
Does the frosting “crust”?
Not really. It stays pretty soft, but firm.
This looks amazing
Can’t wait to make this! Can you make the icing ahead of time?
Happy belated birthday to your husband! Very nice cake, I guess he was very pleased with it!
Looks so classy!
P.S. Do you think the lemon curd would work as a filling in a chocolate cake?
Hmmm…maybe an orange curd would work better. You’d have a chocolate valencia cake! Yum!
Yummo! That looks like a slice of heaven.
That looks absolutely AMAZING. Lucky guy!
If only it wasn’t pink 😉
Yum! Beautiful cake!
Next year I’m going to try and think up a handsome cake, if there is such a thing.