Lemon Curd Chiffon Cake

Yesterday, I had a slice of Starbuck's lemon curd cake. I was blown away. It was really tarty and refreshing. I decided to bake one, replicating it. I think I did it. It's not the exact same cake of course.. theirs has 2 kinds of curd.. but this is the bomb. 

The hubby ate his slice in 10 seconds and I had mine in a minute. It was just the right taste and texture, especially when chilled. 

Those layers! (: 

This recipe will take about 4 hours in all to bake and I'll rate it a difficulty level 3 out of 5. 

Lemon Curd Chiffon Cake Recipe

This recipe yields a 7" cake (super delicious one at that!)

5 eggs (55g), room temperature

110g cake flour

120g castor sugar

1/4 tsp baking powder

70g lemon juice (from about 3 - 4 lemons)

60g oil (canola is good)

1 tsp vanilla bean paste

zest of 2 lemons

80g lemon juice

3 eggs (55g)

150g castor sugar 

55g unsalted butter, cubed, room temperature

zest of 1 - 1.5 lemons

Method

Sift cake flour and baking powder.

Use some salted to scrub the wax of 2 lemons. Zest 2 lemons.

Absolutely fragrant.

Squeeze the lemon to obtain juice.

Separate eggs, ensuring that the bowl and equipment for the whites are free from dirt/water/oil.

Pretty yolks!

To the yolks, add half the sugar.

Whisk till well combined. 

Add in oil and vanilla bean paste. Mix well.

Start whisking the egg whites on medium speed. Once frothy/bubbles are observed, add in remaining castor sugar. Whisk till stiff peaks are formed.

Add in 1/3 of flour into yolk mixture. Well well.

Add in 1/3 lemon juice into mixture. Mix well. Repeat flour and lemon juice additions for 2 more times, 1/3 portion each.

Whites are all stiff! (: 

Mixture is all ready! 

Add 1/4  - 1/3 of the whites into the yolk mixture and fold well. You can be rough at this stage. 

Pour in yolk mixture into remaining egg whites and fold till well combined. I love doing so using my hands!! 

Pour into baking tin lined with baking paper ONLY at the bottom, it eases the removal from the base. However, if you're confident of removing the base (I usually do so by hand), you can omit the baking paper.

Tap baking tin against countertop/drop from a low height a couple of times to released trapped air bubbles. 

Bake in pre-heated oven of 150 degree Celsius. Place the cake tin and align it such that the cake is in the middle of the oven. Bake for 1 hour. 

Remove cake an cool it on a raised rack as you would for a chiffon cake. Let it cool completely. It'll take about 30 mins to an hour. You can blast a fan at it to speed up the process. 

Scrub the skin of 1 to 2 lemons (I think 1.5 is awesome but to some it's too much) with salt to remove wax. Zest it! Prepare 80g of lemon juice.

In a boil suited for double boiling, place lemon juice, sugar and 3 eggs together. Whisk well. 

Place bowl on top of a pot of boiling water and cook curd. Do so on low - medium heat. Avoid high heat as the whites may cook too soon and end up curdling. 

Stir it every minute or so to prevent curdling.

Stir stir stir. 

Cook till curd is thick.. It took about 6 minutes for me. It can take anything from 6 to 10 minutes. 

Remove curd from heat and add in butter. Stir/whisk to dissolve butter.

If your curd is clumpy, you may want to pass it through a sieve. 

Add in lemon zest and stir well. Cover bowl well with food wrap to prevent mixture from druing up. Allow mixture to come to room temperature before sending it into the freezer for 20 - 30 minutes till it firms up more. You'd want a mixture thick and cold enough to frost the cake.

Slice off the top most layer of the cake and discard. It's usually too dry for layered cakes though it's great for a chiffon. 

All ready! 

Slice the cake into 3 layers. Take about 1/4 of the curd and spread it on the first layer.

(:

Repeat for second layer.

Go generous for the third layer, reserving some for piping onto the cake. Keep the remaining curd in a piping bag (sealed) so that it doesn't form a layer of skin drying up. Send cake into the chiller for about 20 minutes for the curd to firm up a little. Pipe the remaining curd onto the cake. 

The smell drove me crazy. 

HEH. 

Allow the cake to set for about an hour to two for the curd to set more before serving. However, the hubby was hungry when he got home from work so I sliced some for the two of us without letting the curd set much. 

He gobbled it in 10 seconds and I savoured mine in under a minute. IT WAS THAT GOOD. Haha! We had it again for dessert after our brunch and the hubby had it in a split second! >.< 

He's actually asked me to bake a cake for his office's potluck party on Monday and I had a rainbow cake in mind.. He's decided to ask for this instead. I think we've found our favourite cake ever. 

So, enjoy this darling.

Enjoy the fluffiness of the chiffon, the tarty curd and the fragrant zest!