Lemon and plum layer cake. Gluten free.
Things I love about this cake:
1: The colour, it’s some kind of crazy bright watermelon pink/red, so vibrant! I used wilton red and plum powder by fresh as.
2: The taste, Lemon and plum…..delicious! The cake is lemon, I used plum jam to sandwich the cakes together and plum powder in the frosting.
3: The frosting technique, I used this technique a while back but never blogged it. Pinterest seems to be going crazy for this at the mo so I thought id jump on the band wagon. There is more detail and photo’s on this technique below the recipe.
I made this for my (almost) sister in laws birthday yesterday. I really hate the whole present trap around birthdays and Christmas, I think they should more about the person rather than some gift that I bought last minute. It should be more of a chance to get together, catch up and eat cake….and that we did, and it was lovely!
Also I loved the plum powder, I’d been meaning to try it out for a while and can’t wait to experiment some more!
The recipe and more photos (frosting technique) are below, enjoy! X
Lemon layer cake
Adapted from sweetaploita
2 cups plus 5 Tablespoons of gluten free flour
2 teaspoons of baking powder
1 teaspoon of salt
1/2 cup buttermilk (combine 1/2 cup of milk and 1 teaspoon lemon juice let sit for a few minutes until thickened)
1/2 cup milk
2 teaspoons of vanilla extract
juice of a lemon
zest of 1 lemon
1 cup of softened butter
1 cup sugar
4 large free range eggs
Preheat over to 180 degrees C.
Prepare 2 8” cake tins with butter, flour and baking paper.
Combine the buttermilk, milk, vanilla, lemon juice and zest in a bowl and set aside. In another bowl combine the flour, baking powder, and salt, set aside.
In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy (5 minutes). Beat in the eggs one at a time. Scrape down the bowl with a spatula, the butter will stick to the bottom if it was to cold. Beat until combined.
Mix in the flour alternately with the milk mixture, starting and finishing with the flour.
Divide the batter between the two tins and bake for around 30 minutes, or until a toothpick can be inserted into the cake and removed clean. Cool the cakes in the tin for 5 minutes before turning out onto a cooling rack.
Allow the cakes to cool completely before frosting
Swiss meringue buttercream
1 cup of butter, cubed and at room temperature
3 large egg whites
1/2 cup + 1 Tablespoon sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 vanilla bean split with seeds scraped out
pinch of salt
1 Tablespoon plum powder
red food gel of your choice
Prepare a bain marie, place your kitchen whizz mixing bowl over the simmering water. Pour the egg whites and sugar into the bowl and gently whisk until the sugar is dissolved and the mixture is hot (about 150 degrees). You can test this by taking some of the sugar syrup from the whisk and rubbing it between your finger tips, the mixture should not be gritty.
Remove the bowl from the bain marie and place it in your stand mixer, whisk on a medium speed until the outside of the bowl is cool to touch and the egg whites are forming stiff peeks. This step can take up to 10 minutes.
Remove the whisk attachment and replace it with the paddle attachment.
Beat on a low speed and add the butter pieces one at a time, remember to scrape down the sides of the bowl occasionally. Continue this until all the butter has been added. The mixture may split, just continue beating, it will come together (Swiss meringue buttercream is a fickle bitch sometimes).
Add the plum powder and some red food gel until the desired colour is achieved.
Assemble
Your cakes may need leveling, simply take a long bread knife and remove any risen points on the top of the cake.
Place one of the cakes on a large plate, place 1/2 cup of plum jam on top of the cake and spread out evenly. Place the second cake on top of the jam.
TIP: I sandwich my cakes face down, this ensures a flat surface to place your frosting on to.
Do a crumb coat, a thin layer of frosting over the whole cake. This traps in any loose crumbs and sets them to the cake.
Allow the cake to ‘set’ in a cool area.
You are now ready to frost your cake.
You will need a piping bag with a 2A round nozzle.
A small palatte knife or a large butter knife.
A bowl to scrape off any excess frosting.
Start by squeezing a vertical line of 3 blobs of icing. Place the knife on the blob and drag it away. Repeat this with all three blobs and do another line of blobs, repeat, repeat.
When you get all away round the cake, simply do three blobs of frosting to complete the circle.
Now for the top. Your trying to achieve a spiral look rather than a circle.
I love this technique because it is very forgiving, you don’t have to get this perfect!
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