Meyer Lemon Layer Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
 
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Whether you're making a layer cake or cupcakes, this recipe is the ideal way to highlight one of my favorite seasonal ingredients. With Meyer lemons in the cake, filling, AND frosting, it's a true celebration of this unique and beautiful citrus fruit. Heads up that the recipe for the luscious Meyer lemon curd filling will make more than you need for this cake. Stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator, it will keep for several weeks. I love it as a topping on everything from yogurt to pancakes to muffins, or as a component of a cheese platter.
Author:
Recipe type: Dessert
Yield: One 8-inch 2-layer cake or 30 standard cupcakes or 72 mini cupcakes
Ingredients
  • For the curd:
  • 132 g (⅔ cup) granulated sugar
  • 27 g (3 Tbsp) arrowroot starch
  • ¼ tsp salt
  • Zest from 1 lb (5-6) scrubbed Meyer lemons
  • 180 ml (¾ cup) fresh Meyer lemon juice (from about 1 lb lemons)
  • 4 large eggs, lightly beaten
  • 4 large egg yolks, lightly beaten
  • 56 g (¼ cup or ½ stick) butter, softened and cut into cubes
  • Optional: a few drops of pure lemon oil or extract
  • For the cake:
  • 346 g (2 ½ cups) gluten-free baking flour blend*
  • 62 g (½ cup) tapioca starch or arrowroot
  • 2 tsp baking powder
  • ½ tsp baking soda
  • ½ tsp salt
  • 300 ml (1 ¼ cups) buttermilk
  • Zest of 2 scrubbed Meyer lemons
  • 60 ml (¼ cup) fresh Meyer lemon juice (from 2 lemons)
  • 5 ml (1 tsp) pure lemon extract
  • 2 ½ ml (½ tsp) pure vanilla extract or paste
  • 149 g (10 Tbsp + 2 tsp) butter
  • 324 g (1 ½ cups + 2 Tbsp) organic cane sugar
  • 4 large egg whites
  • 1 large egg
  • For the frosting:
  • 227 g (8-oz pkg) reduced-fat cream cheese, room temperature
  • 56 g (¼ cup or ½ stick) butter, room temperature
  • 50 g (7 Tbsp) confectioners sugar, sifted
  • Large pinch of fine Kosher or sea salt
  • ¼ tsp pure lemon extract
  • 1 ½ tsp Meyer lemon zest
  • Optional garnish: candied Meyer lemon slices, edible flowers, sanding sugar
Procedure
  1. Make the curd: Set a fine mesh strainer over a heatproof mixing bowl and place next to stove.
  2. In a medium saucepan whisk together sugar, arrowroot and salt to combine. Zest and juice the lemons, and whisk in the lemon juice. Add the whole eggs and yolks and whisk until smooth. Stir in the lemon zest.
  3. Cook over medium-low heat for 6-9 minutes, stirring gently and frequently with a wooden spoon or stiff rubber spatula and scraping along the bottom and sides of the pot as you stir, until the mixture reaches 155°F. If you don’t have a thermometer to check the temperature, it should be thick enough to coat the back of the spoon/spatula, and when you swipe your finger through it, the cleared trail you left on the spoon should remain.
  4. Remove the pan from the heat and scrape the curd into the strainer set over the bowl. Working it against the sides and bottom of the strainer with your utensil, scrape and push the curd through the mesh into the bowl, leaving behind the zest and any clumps of coagulated egg. Discard the solids in the strainer.
  5. Stir the butter into the warm curd until completely melted. Add optional lemon oil if using, and stir to distribute. Cover and refrigerate until ready to use, transferring about a cup of the curd to a piping bag if making cupcakes.
  6. Make the cake: Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour or line pans with parchment and set aside. If making cupcakes you can ether grease and flour the pans or use cupcake liners.
  7. Sift baking flour, tapioca starch, baking powder, baking soda and salt into a large bowl. Whisk to combine and set aside.
  8. In a liquid measuring cup or medium bowl, whisk together buttermilk, lemon zest, lemon juice, lemon extract, and vanilla. Set aside.
  9. In a stand mixer (or large bowl with hand mixer), cream together butter and sugar on medium-high speed until light and fluffy. Reduce speed to medium and beat in egg white and whole egg until foamy. Reduce speed to low, and pour in half the buttermilk/lemon mixture, and half the dry ingredients. Mix to combine, then add the remaining buttermilk and dry ingredients and slowly increase speed to medium-high. Beat for 30-60 seconds until thick and creamy.
  10. Spoon batter into prepared pans, and tap gently but firmly on counter to release any trapped air bubbles. Bake cakes for 28-32 minutes, standard cupcakes for 14-18 minutes, and mini cupcakes for 7-10 minutes, rotating pans 180 degrees halfway through baking time. When done, tops will feel firm when pressed and a toothpick inserted in the center will come out clean.
  11. Turn cakes out onto a rack and cool completely before assembling.
  12. While the cakes are cooling, make the frosting: In a large bowl, use a hand mixer or stand mixer on medium-high speed to combine the cream cheese and butter until light and fluffy.
  13. Carefully add the confectioners sugar and salt, and mix on medium speed until smooth. Add the lemon juice and zest, and beat to combine. If piping onto cupcakes, transfer to a piping bag. Chill until ready to use, and remove from refrigerator about 10 minutes ahead of time to allow to soften.
  14. To assemble a layer cake: Set one layer of cake on a flat plate or a rotating cake decorating stand. Scoop anywhere from ⅔ to 1 cup of curd onto the center of the cake, and use a spatula - I prefer an offset - to spread the curd over the surface, taking it to about ¼ inch from the edge. Leave it somewhat thicker in the center because the weight of the cake you're going to place on top will squeeze it out to the sides.
  15. Using an offset or other flat spatula, spread the oozing curd all over the sides of the cake. I like to begin at the bottom, taking the excess that drips down and spreading it upward. Once you've coated the sides evenly with the curd, chill the cake for about 15 minutes to let the curd firm up and soak into the cake a bit. If your frosting is in the fridge, take it out now.
  16. After the cake has chilled for 15 minutes you can proceed with frosting it. Begin by spreading frosting onto the sides of the cake and working it around into an even, thin layer (if you’re familiar with a crumb coating, that’s pretty much what you’re doing). The frosting will pick up a little bit of curd as you go, which is fine. Let the curd swirl into the frosting if it wants to.
  17. Once you've got the sides coated pretty evenly, slather some frosting onto the top of the cake and smooth it out. Now scrape all the excess off the top and sides, and pop the cake back into fridge for about 10 minutes to firm up the frosting.
  18. At this point it's up to you if you want to add more frosting and cover the cake completely - the recipe makes more than enough frosting the be generous with it. Otherwise you can stop here like I did and keep it "naked" style. Feel free to decorate or enhance it further with fresh or candied Meyer lemon slices, edible flowers, sanding sugar, sprinkles, or whatever else your heart desires. Enjoy!
  19. To assemble cupcakes: Using an open star piping tip (½ inch length) or a small apple corer centered above the top of a cupcake, carefully press it into the cupcake and push down to about ½ inch depth. Twist gently, and pull out to remove the “core” of cake. Drop that bit of cake into a bowl and repeat with remaining cupcakes. (You can turn those cupcake cores into cake balls or pops with the leftover frosting; buzz them in the food processor to sprinkle onto yogurt or ice cream; or use to make a press-in crust for cheesecake.)
  20. Once you’ve cored all the cupcakes, fill each one with lemon curd using a piping bag or heavy ziploc with the corner snipped off. You want the curd to come all the way to the very rim of the core so it’s even with the surface of the cake.
  21. Now frost the cupcakes using your preferred method - either spreading with a spatula or piping it on. Garnish as desired, and enjoy!
Notes
*You can use any gluten-free all purpose blend for this recipe. If you're purchasing one, I recommend Bob's Red Mill 1-to-1 Gluten Free Baking Flour because it's mostly whole grain flour and still yields a wonderful texture.

If you'd rather mix up a simple blend at home, I recommend the following:
125 g (1 cup) brown rice flour
67 g (½ cup) millet OR 57g (½ cup) sorghum flour
70 g (½ cup) sweet white rice flour
38 g (¼ cup) potato starch
Generous ½ teaspoon xanthan gum

Whisk together and use in place of the 2¼ cups flour blend called for in the recipe.
Recipe by Good Health Gourmet at https://goodhealthgourmet.com/meyer-lemon-cake-cream-cheese-frosting/