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January 28, 2015
Last week I had the supreme pleasure of making one of my best friends an early birthday cake. The cake must be left for a different blog post, because this one is all about the lemon curd I made to go with it. Turns out my girl LOVES lemon curd as much as I do, and so I proceeded to make an exquisite batch of it, doused with ground vanilla bean and zest from a Buddha’s hand citron.
Ingredients
adapted from Geetha’s Kitchen
- 1 tsp . cornstarch
- 1/3 cup fresh orange juice I used Cara Cara oranges
- ¾ cup sugar
- ¾ tsp . salt
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/3 cup sunflower oil
- 1 cup water minus 1 Tbsp. + 1 tsp.
- 1 Tbsp . + 1 tsp. orange blossom water
- 2 Tbsp . lemon or Buddha’s hand citron zest
- 2 cups unbleached flour + extra for dusting the cake pans
- 3 tsp . baking powder
lemon curd
- adapted from Bon Appetit
- 2/3 cup fresh lemon juice
- 2/3 cup sugar
- 3 large eggs
- 1 ½ Tbsp sticks chilled salted butter cut into 1-inch pieces, 12 .
- 1 tsp . lemon or Buddha’s hand citron zest
- ½ tsp . ground vanilla bean or 1 tsp. vanilla extract
honey whipped cream
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream
- 1 tbsp . orange blossom honey
- extra tangelo tangerine, or orange to top
Instructions
- First, make the curd: Bring water to a boil in a medium saucepan. In a heat-proof bowl that will fit inside the top of the saucepan, combine lemon juice, lemon zest, vanilla, eggs, and sugar. Whisk until incorporated. Place bowl atop saucepan, making sure the simmering water doesn’t touch the bowl. Whisk continuously until the mixture thickens, about 5-10 minutes (mine took closer to 10).
- Remove from heat, and transfer to a blender. With the blender on low, add the chunks of butter, blending each until the mixture is smooth. When finished, empty curd into a bowl and cover its surface with plastic wrap. Let chill at least 3 hours.
- Then, make the cake: Preheat oven to 375º. Grease and flour a muffin tin that makes 12 muffins.In a large bowl, combine wet ingredients with cornstarch and whisk until fully incorporated. Add sugar, and mix again. In a separate bowl, whisk, flour, salt, and baking powder. Using a beater on low, gradually add dry to wet ingredients. Fill batter just about halfway on each muffin.
- Bake 15-20 minutes, checking at 10, until a toothpick comes out clean.
- While the cake cools, make the whipped cream: Using an electric mixer on high, whip cream and honey until soft peaks form, about 2-3 minutes. Set aside in refrigerator.
- Assemble the mini cakes!: (I’ve always wanted to say that.) Once your little muffins cool, cut off the tops—you can eat them as pre-dessert snacks, or you can do something else clever with them (show me on Instagram, if you do!). Slather the top of each mini cake with lemon curd, then top that with whipped cream. Add a sliver of fresh citrus (I removed the peel and casings on the tangelo I used).
- Enjoy!
