Ever since May, I’ve had cake on the brain. This time around, my sugar cravings are are not the result of a keto-induced fever dream (#neveragain). I attribute my cake musings instead to an article published on Food52 attempting to solve the “Great Layer Cake Mystery of 2020″. Apparently, bakeries and grocery stores reported that sales of layer cakes actually increased throughout the pandemic, despite the fact that pretty much no one was having parties. This would lead us to the conclusion that people are simply buying the cakes for themselves and their households, leading to a higher per-person layer cake consumption. However, in informal dietary surveys (admittedly conducted by the author herself), people actually reported eating less layer cake than usual during the pandemic. Either people are in deep denial of their cake consumption habits or responded to the polls with what we epidemiologists call “social desirability bias” – in other words, not wanting to admit, even in an anonymous survey, that they engaged in a behavior for fear of being judged. Like eating an entire layer cake yourself.
Totally understandable if you had been completely unawares of this intrigue as it was happening – or perhaps you yourself contributed some data points for either side – but it doesn’t really matter. I will never feel ashamed of my deep love for layer cakes, epic in stature and endlessly customizable according to your personal sugar proclivities, and strongly associated with memories of smiling faces wishing us another happy trip around the sun. However, I will be honest and admit that layer cakes sadly do not reliably return my affection. In fact, they are my baker’s nemesis. For years, I struggled with achieving light, airy sponges and precisely split layers. I didn’t have the patience for dainty decorations and the innumerable iterations of oddly nationalistic buttercreams (Swiss, American, Italian…Does the UN have a secret pastry committee?) Since committing to baking by weight vs volume, truly following recipe directions, and some practice, I’ve had a bit more success. But when the baking urge strikes, my inconsistent track record typically holds me back from going after my cake dreams.
But while visiting family in Central NY earlier this month, I had a slice of cake that inspired me to try and love (baking layer cakes) again. We ate this cake at, of all places, a brewery. I’m not sure anyone was expecting to order dessert honestly, as was no dessert menu per se, but our server tempted us with two intriguing options delivered verbally – chocolate fudge and lemon chiffon cakes. I’m a sucker for anything with pucker, so I took the bait.
I could not in my wildest dreams have imagined how good this cake would be – the sponge was somehow moist but lighter than air, with a rich, tart lemon mousse filling at least an inch thick. The entire slice was enveloped in a thin layer of vanilla buttercream. Despite being stuffed and over-carbed from several pints, the 6 of us literally fought over the last bite. I thought about that cake the entire trip home, and immediately went about researching how to recreate it.
The sponge, adapted from an Erin Jeanne McDowell recipe, is light and airy with a lovely lemon flavor, but I think it could have benefited from a lemon syrup to keep things moister and so I’ve included in the recipe below a very simple lemon syrup that you can brush on the cake layers before filling and frosting. Because I made the cake to take to a potluck dinner, I wanted to make a super stable frosting and attempted a vanilla ermine (aka flour) buttercream frosting for the first time in my life (the addition of flour stabilizes the butter, making it an ideal choice for situations where your cake can’t be refrigerated). However, I wasn’t super happy with my results and so I have left you free to your own devices on this element – I personally think a silky, lightly sweet Swiss meringue buttercream would be an excellent frosting for this light and luscious lemon cake.
Lemon Mousse Chiffon Cake
Ingredients
- 180g cake flour
- 1/2 tablespoon baking powder
- good pinch kosher salt
- 1/2 cup (121 grams) vegetable oil
- 1/3 cup whole milk, at room temperature
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- few drops lemon extract
- 4 eggs, room temperature, separated
- 150g white sugar, divided
- zest of 1 large unwaxed lemon
- 1/8 teaspoon cream of tartar
- For lemon mousse
- 1 1/2 Tbsp water
- 1/2 tsp lemon extract
- 3/4 tsp unflavored gelatin powder
- 1/2 whipping cream
- 2 Tbsp powdered sugar
- 3/4 cup lemon curd (homemade or store bought)
- For lemon syrup
- 1/2 cup lemon juice
- 1/2 cup water
- Vanilla frosting of choice*
- More lemon curd, homemade or store-bought (optional, for decorating)**
For cake (adapted from Erin Jeanne McDowell’s Best Lemon Chiffon Cake)
Directions
- To make the cake
- Preheat oven to 325F. Line a 9-inch cake pan with parchment, then grease and flour both pan and parchment.
- Sift cake flour, baking powder, and salt. In a separate bowl, whisk oil, milk, vanilla, and lemon extract.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, whip egg yolks on medium speed 1-2 minutes. Gradually add 100g of the sugar and whip on medium-high speed until it becomes pale and thick and reaches the “ribbon stage” (see pictures above).
- Reduce speed to low and add the lemon zest, and whip for 1 minute more.
- Gradually add the milk mixture in a slow, steady, stream while mixing on low speed.
- Add the flour mixture in 4 additions, mixing on low speed until just incorporated.
- Place the batter in a separate bowl and wash and dry your mixing bowl and whisk attachment thoroughly. Add the egg whites and cream of tartar to the clean bowl and mix on medium speed until foamy, 1 to 2 minutes. Then turn speed to medium high, add the remaining 50g sugar, and whip to medium peaks, 4 to 5 minutes (see picture).
- Fold the egg whites into the batter in 3 additions. Mix the first addition thoroughly to temper the batter, and fold in the remaining 2 additions gently until just incorporated.
- Put batter in prepared pan and bake for 45-50 minutes until cake is golden brown and springs back lightly when pressed.
- Cool in pan 10 minutes, then turn out onto wire rack to cool completely.
- While cake is baking, make the lemon syrup. Add sugar and water to a small saucepan and heat over medium-high heat.
- Bring to a boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar completely. Set on a wire rack and let cool completely. (Popping it in the refrigerator will speed things along).
- Add water, lemon extract, and gelatin to a microwave safe bowl. Whisk to combine and set aside.
- Whip the cream with the powdered sugar.
- Add the lemon curd to a large bowl and break up any lumps with a spatula. Fold in 1/2 of the the cream into the lemon curd until completely incorporated with no lumps. Fold in the remaining cream but only fold in until halfway incorporated.
- Microwave the gelatin in 2 10-second increments. Add about ~1/3 cup of the mousse to the hot gelatin and whisk until completely incorporated. Pour the gelatin mixture back into the mousse and very gently fold until the mousse is smooth and uniform in texture.
- Cover with plastic wrap touching the surface of the mousse to prevent a skin from forming, and refrigerate at least 30 minutes and up to overnight
- Cut the cake evenly into two layers using a serrated knife. Place one half, cut side up, on a cake stand or round cake board. Apply a generous amount of the lemon syrup using a pastry brush.
- Pipe a thick, tall ring of your vanilla frosting of choice around the outside edge of the first cake layer, aiming for ~1 inch high (its ok if yours is shorter). Fill in with the lemon mousse and smooth with an offset spatula.
- Place the second cake layer gently on top. Add a “crumb coat” of frosting – a very thin layer of frosting that will catch loose crumbs and create a smooth canvas for your decorations. Pop in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes to firm up.
- Frost the rest of the cake as desired. I covered the whole thing with a layer of my ermine frosting, then used extra lemon mousse to pipe rosettes along the top edge and filled in with lemon curd, but I have very little patience for decorating cakes.
To make the syrup
To make the mousse
To assemble the cake
- as detailed in the post, I attempted an ermine (aka flour) frosting without success. Use any kind of vanilla-flavored frosting you would like here – American buttercream, swiss meringue buttercream, etc.
- I used additional lemon curd to fill in the top of the cake, but you can leave off and decorate with more frosting if you prefer
