Every once in a while I really get in the mood to have a nice slice of lemon cake. I’ve made lemon pound cake or bundt cakes before but never a layer cake. I think I ran across this recipe on Instagram so I added to my “to bake” list.

The cake is fairly easy to throw together. I think the most time consuming part of the cake portion was zesting the lemons (which you’ll need throughout the recipe so you might has well do a whole bunch at one time). I did use parchment paper in the bottom of my cake pans and I went with the 6 inch cake pans since I wanted this to be a little taller. I made it all the way through the cake part, put the cakes in the oven and then realized I hadn’t seen anywhere in the recipe where it said how long these needed to bake. I left a comment so hopefully that will be resolved soon, but I decided to throw the timer on for 18 minutes and then see how things go from there. We ended up finding the YouTube channel for Preppy Kitchen and I think they mention to bake it for 30 minutes on there. All in all I think mine ended up baking for around 25 minutes and then they were done.

I let the cakes cool for a while before starting the filling mixture. Be sure to let your butter and mascarpone come to room temperature so they’re easier to use. I didn’t have any issues making the filling issue so this is honestly the easiest part!

I don’t think I’ve made Swiss Meringue before so this was new. It’s not difficult, but it’s quite time consuming so keep that in mind if you’re looking for a quick cake. Once we finally got the sugar/egg white mixture to 165 the rest was fairly easy; again, just time consuming since you need the mixture to come to room temperature. I opted to just keep the frosting white rather than use yellow or the ombré look since I was starting to room out of time before my guests arrived. Mine didn’t look as pretty as the recipe showed, but that’s usually the case. I did have some trouble getting smooth sides so I ranked myself at a 9 mainly for that reason. It piped nicely though so those added a nice little touch.

Taste was it was good but not great. I was looking for a nice fluffy interior and it was more dense than I expected. The middle filling was really good, but my layers kind of mashed together when I tried to cut the cake. I think you can avoid that though by letting the cake sit out for 15-30 minutes before serving. The Swiss Meringue wasn’t my favorite, which is a shame since it took so long to make. It had a nice flavor, but was a little grainy. My husband said he felt like this could have been solved by letting the sugar/egg white mixture cook longer and slower so I’ll keep that in mind for future recipes.

It was a good cake; just not what I was looking for when I set out to make a lemon cake. I am glad I tried it though! I think the ombré look would have been a nice touch if you have the time.

Baking Ease	9
Time Spent	7
Taste	8
Visual	9

Recipe Used: Preppy Kitchen