Delicious Lemon Raspberry Cake

If you are looking for that "summery" cake for the next barbeque or dinner party you're invited to or hosting, look no further! This cake has a very summery taste and since the cake is a bit more dense - it is served in very small pieces - thus a little cake goes a long way! I made this cake for my parents 30th anniversary BBQ at the end of July and it was a great hit - I used fresh, handpicked raspberries between the layers and it tasted amazing! Unfortunately I didn't have time to get a photo of the finished product, but I did take pictures during the baking and assembly phases.

You can use any type of icing for the cake, but I chose to use a lighter tasting icing since the cake is rather dense. I used a Lemon Meringue Icing recipe from the Foodnetwork. It is a really fluffy icing and is so easy to work with!

Lemony Yellow Pound Cake

Recipe minimally adapted from Cinda Chavich, p 451 The Guy Can't Cook

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup cubed, unsalted butter
• 1 cup sugar
• 4 large eggs
• 2 cups flour
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 1 tbsp finely grated lemon zest

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 325F. Butter an 8-inch springform pan and cut parchment paper to fit into the bottom of the pan.
2. In a mixing bowl, use an electric mixer to cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, and beat until the mixture is silky smooth.
3. In another bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, and salt. Add the dry mixture to the batter in small amounts, alternating with a bit of the lemon juice and zest, stirring with a whisk until smooth.
4. Spoon the batter into the prepared pan. Bake 40-50 minutes in the preheated oven or until the top is golden and a skewer inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Cool in the pan before transferring to a plate.

**Note: for the cake in the photos - I doubled this recipe because I was feeding a large number of people! For an ordinary dinner party or just for your family, you will only need the recipe as listed above!

I cut this cake into three layers. Once the layers are cut (and the top of the cake has been leveled), brush both sides of the layers with a mixture of fresh lemon juice mixed with icing sugar until it tastes sweet, not tart. Be sure to brush generously - this intensifies the flavour and ensures your cake will be moist and decadent!

Since I used a fruit filling, I didn't want it to make the cake soggy, so I put down a thin layer of buttercream icing on each layer prior to laying out the raspberries. Once the layers have been assembled, make the icing and ice the cake.

Lemon Meringue Icing

Recipe from the Food Network

Ingredients:

4 large egg whites
2/3 cup sugar
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest
Pinch cream of tartar
Pinch fine salt

Method:

1. Bring a few inches of water to a boil in a saucepan that can hold a mixer's bowl above the water. Whisk the egg whites, sugar, lemon juice and zest, cream of tarter and salt in the bowl by hand. Set the bowl above the boiling water and continue whisking until the mixture is hot to the touch and the sugar dissolves, about 1 to 2 minutes.
2. Transfer the mixture to a standing mixer fitted with the whisk attachment and beat at medium-high speed until meringue is cool and holds a soft peak, about 5 minutes. Add a few drops of desired food coloring and continue beating until it holds stiff peaks.

Once I iced the cake, I garnished it with fresh raspberries and a little bit of lemon zest grated over the top of the cake! It looked beautiful and tasted awesome! Thanks for stopping by! See you again soon.