I was in the mood for something lemony and this recipe was PERFECT! Yum yum yum!! Make the lemon curd the day before if you are making from scratch as it has to cool completely in the fridge before you can use it in the cake. I made my own as it’s not very hard – and it’s fabulous if I must say so myself 🙂
Ingredients
- Easy Lemon Curd (make the day ahead or at minimum allow 4 hours to chill in fridge)
- 1/2 cup softened unsalted butter
- 2 cups sugar
- 2 Tbs fresh lemon zest
- 1 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice
- Crumb Topping
- 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1 Tbs fresh lemon zest
- pinch of salt
- 1/2 cup cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
- Cake
- 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup unsalted softened butter
- 1 cup sugar
- 3 large eggs, separated
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 tsp lemon extract
- 1 Tbs fresh grated lemon zest
- 1/2 cup full fat sour cream
- 3/4 cup lemon curd
Instructions
- If making the lemon curd from scratch, make it now as it has to chill for minimum of 4 hours if not overnight!
- Lemon Curd:
- Beat butter and sugar in stand mixer until creamy. Add eggs one at a time, beating until each egg is combined. Mix in the lemon zest. Stream in the fresh lemon juice with mixer on low. Mixture may look curdled.
- Transfer egg mixture to a microwave-safe bowl. Microwave for 5 minutes, stopping every minute to stir. Then microwave an additional 1-2 minutes, stirring ever 30 seconds, until mixture coats the back of a spoon. Do not overcook!
- Place plastic wrap over bowl, down into the bowl to seal the top and up the sides, so it will not form a skin on the top.
- Refrigerate a minimum of 4-6 hours or overnight, mixture should be well chilled and thick.
- Preheat oven to 350. Grease a 9x9 baking dish, then place parchment paper into the pan, smoothing it out and up against the sides so that you will be able to remove it from pan with the edges hanging out. Grease the parchment paper.
- Crumb Topping:
- Stir together flour, sugar, lemon zest and salt. Add the cold butter pieces, mix with fingers for a few minutes. There should be no flour left unmixed, and the mixture should resemble sand.
- Cake:
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat butter and sugar on high speed until creamy about 4-5 minutes. Beat in the egg yolks one at a time, and add in extracts and lemon zest until combined.
- In another bowl, stir together flour, baking soda and salt.
- Beat in 1/2 the flour mixture until just combined. Beat in the sour cream and then remaining dry ingredients until just combined.
- In yet another bowl (!), beat eggs with a hand mixer until foamy. Slowly add in the 2 Tbs of sugar, and beat until stiff peaks form. Gently fold this into the cake batter.
- Spread the batter into the prepared pan. Dollop the lemon curd onto the batter, then use a knife to gently swirl it in.
- Sprinkle the crumb topping all over the batter, making sure to evenly coat the entire cake. Bake for approximately 40-45 minutes (I have a convection oven and it was finished in 36 minutes so pay attention!) or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.
- Place cake in the pan on a rack until completely cool.
- Lift out of pan with the edges of the parchment paper and slide onto a serving tray.
As always – enjoy!