Lemon Meringue Layer Cake | Baking with Dorie

Phew, we’ve finished making the lemon meringue layer cake. This is next to the last in the layer cakes section of the book, Baking with Dorie, to be completed.

After the last ordeal with a similar cake, the big banana cake, I’m not so sure I’m ready for this one. Among other things I’ve learnt since, I am doing the lemon cake in two days, not one. Bake the cake on the first day and make the frosting and assemble the cake on the next. The pace of the two-day process makes sense. It takes out the stress while making it more fun to tackle a multifaceted project — of making an elaborate layer cake.

Every element of this cake is worthy of adoration. It starts with a pair of delicious buttermilk layers, flavored with lemon and soaked in a lemon syrup. These are sandwiched with a creamy lemon filling that’s in a class by itself, rich, velvety and tart as can be; that’s it also seems light is inexplicable but lovely. Once put together, the layers are swathed in a meringue buttercream frosting and finished with a skim of that sunshine-bright puckery lemon cream.

~ Dorie Greenspan in Baking with Dorie, pp 95

With an endorsement like that, it looks like I’d want to follow the recipe every step of the way. I don’t want to miss out putting together the lemon-syrup-infused buttermilk cake. Taste the silky lemony cream between the layers. Then envelop the cake with a meringue buttercream frosting that seems to be all the rage. I know it when I lick my finger and taste the frosting on it; it’s delish!

The Swiss meringue frosting used in this cake is a great technique to note. You whisk egg white and sugar together over simmering water in a bain marie setup until the mixture is smooth. Then add butter, a small piece at a time. Continue to whisk until the meringue becomes thick and fluffy. This may take a while. But the end result is an absolutely delicious buttery cream; it’s well worth the time and effort.

I did all that: the cake, the lemon syrup, the lemon cream and the buttercream frosting and put it all together in the span of two days. It’s easier than I’ve anticipated. If I have to do it again, I may just do the whole 8-inch cake instead of making a 5-inch mini cake. Proportioning one-third of each ingredient and adjusting the baking time have created more complications than the original recipe. Above all, this is such a delightful and deletable cake of which I want more.