vanilla cake with lemon frosting

this cake may require a trip to the grocery store, but it is so fluffy and moist. flavor wise, the cream cheese and sour cream add a nice tang but its still buttery with a subtle sweetness. i explain below why this method is full proof way to have the ideal soft cake (its in purple font so skip it if you don't want a chemistry lesson)

the frosting: a simple lemon curd folded into whipped cream. it's simple, sweet, tangy and fresh

cake: egg yolks, 55g

sour cream, 121g

vanilla extract, 1 tsp

cake/pastry flour, 150g

superfine sugar, 150g

baking powder, 1/4 tsp

baking soda, 1/2 tsp

fine sea salt, 1/4 tsp

unsalted butter at room temp, 85g

cream cheese at room temp, 45g

curd: egg yolks, 35g

egg whites, 45g

sugar, 100g

lemon juice, freshly squeezed and strained, 80g

salt, a pinch

whipped cream:

35% whipping cream, 1 cup

curd, 1/4 cup or to taste

lemon rind (or any citrus you have, orange and yellow rind together looks like confetti), 1 tsp

1. preheat your oven to 350C and prepare a baking sheet, i used a 9x2inch square pan, you can use a large round or two small ones, but watch your baking time.

2. mix egg yolks, vanilla extract and 30g of the sourcream in a small bowl lightly whisk with a fork until combined.

3. in a bowl of stand mixer, add flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder and salt and mix on low for a minute until combined. then add cream cheese, remainder sour cream and butter and mix for about a minute and a half on medium until it is incorporated. then add in egg yolk mixture in two parts, mixing on low for 30 seconds after additions.

4. put batter into prepared baking sheet and bake for ~30 minutes until golden brown, a cake tester should come out clean when inserted and the cake should spring back when you lightly press down on it. it is normal that your cake will deflate and flatten when it comes out of the oven, its supposed to have a flat top.

note: sugar is considered a wet ingredient and often, cake making starts by creaming or mixing your oil and sugars and wet ingredients then very carefully incorporate your dry ingredients to it. if you over mix your batter when the flour is in, the gluten in the flour reacts with the water and creates a strong gluten network resulting in a harder and dense cake. thats why some recipes won't even call for using a mixer, just take your flour and fold it into your batter. but what this recipe uses is a method is called reverse creaming. it is arguably easier and definitely results in a softer, melt in your mouth crumb. you will see i first mixed the flour + dry ingredients with fats that coats the flour particles, so a gluten network doesnt develop. the water from the yolk lightly is mixed towards the end so a very fragile network is being made. so although this batter is mixed more than the average cake, science proves that it will in fact, be a very soft, light crumb. all faith to science

5. make the lemon curd: prepare a double boiler (i use a small sauce pan with a bigger glass bowl nested inside, make sure the boiling water in the pan is not touching the bottom of the bowl, the bowl is supposed to be heated by the steam in the sauce pan). add all the ingredients in the bowl and stir using a spatula. mix occasionally making sure nothing is sticking to the glass bowl. after about 15 minutes, your mixture will tighten up, looking like a thick gravy. strain it through a fine mesh strainer into a bowl and cover with the plastic wrap. make sure that the plastic wrap is touching the curd to create a skin on it or it will dry out. refrigerate.

6. make the icing: whip the cream with the sugar until you get soft peaks. fold in the cold curd and citrus rind. adjust curd to your liking.

7. assemble when cake is cooled.

recipe inspiration: rose levy beranbaum