Food Plus Words' Lemon Poppy Seed Cake (Review)

Something got me in the mood for a tart, fruity dessert. Maybe it was the weather. A Memorial Day weekend with temperatures in the 90s was far from refreshing. Perhaps that's why I was craving something tart, like citrus or raspberries. Some friends planned to go raspberry picking Monday morning. I would have joined them and used the raspberries for a raspberry pie, but a special someone was scheduled to show up at my door at 6 am after an overnight bus ride from Chicago. I suspected a nap would be a more appropriate welcome than heading out the door to the pick-your-own raspberry farm. So, instead of raspberry, I opted for lemon.

Objective
Make a lemon poppyseed cake to decorate as a graduation cake.

Review
Lemon was the flavor I was in the mood for, but I thought the addition of poppy seeds would make decorating more fun. The recipe I decided to try was Food Plus Word's Lemon Poppy Seed Layer Cake. I was intrigued by the recipe because the cake was layered with lemon curd mousse and topped with a lemon swiss buttercream, not to mention the reviews stated that the cake was very lemony!

Lemon Poppyseed Cake
Depending on your preferences, this cake might be a huge disappointment. The cake itself is relatively easy to make. It is a bit of a time investment because zesting and juicing lemons quickly becomes tedious. I popped the layers in the oven and all seemed well. However, as soon as the cake was done and cooling, it collapsed. There was lip around the side of the cake as evidence of its fall. In a bit of an overly emotional state, I got a little overwhelmed and wondered if I should even proceed. Having experience with gluten free baking, I was afraid it might end up being a brick. Perhaps it would make a good paperweight. Because I'd already made the lemon curd, I figured I may as well proceed. 

In the end, I really enjoyed the cake. It was dense like a pound cake, which is extremely appropriate for a lemon poppyseed cake. The refreshing flavor of citrus complements the richness of a poundcake very well. The only real concern with the cake was that it was far too acidic for my tastes. The flavor was good, but my stomach couldn't quite tolerate it.

Lemon Curd Mousse
After the incredible clementine curd mousse I made for my Clementine Mousse Cheesecake, I was extremely excited to make lemon curd mousse. Knowing how easy it was to make curd, I spent the time juicing and zesting lemons to make my own. The recipe follows in the Supplementary Materials.

The lemon curd mousse had an entirely different texture from the clementine mousse. The clementine curd mousse was light and airy and made with gelatin as a stabilizer. The lemon curd mousse was denser and creamier (not to mention significantly easier and quicker to make). As a stand alone mousse, this wouldn't be very good. However, it made a great cream filling for this cake.

Lemon Swiss Buttercream
This was my first experience with Swiss buttercream. If you've never had it, it's incredibly rich. It's essentially butter melted into whipped, cooked egg whites and sugar. Swiss buttercream makes a great canvas for decorating because it is heavy and can stiffen up quickly in the fridge. A dense, rich frosting on a dense, rich cake was a little too much. I can't think of what type of cake Swiss buttercream would be appropriate for, but this isn't it. It's just too buttery.

Discussion and Future Directions
I would make this recipe again, but with quite a few changes. In the cake, I would eliminate the lemon juice and use only lemon extract (albeit, increasing the volume). That would reduce the acidity in the final product. The buttermilk is still in the recipe, so there would be mild acidity from the buttermilk instead of the overpowering acidity from the lemons.

The lemon curd mousse filling is delicious. However, for a lighter version of the cake, one could simply use lemon curd (not that lemon curd is particularly light). For a twist, it would be interesting to omit the poppy seeds from the cake and use a raspberry or blackberry jam filling. Or, have two filling layers between the cake layers: one lemon curd and the other jam. If the lemon curd seems like too much work, just use frosting.

As I mentioned before, the Swiss buttercream was a bit too rich for the cake. Instead, I would use a fluffy lemon buttercream. I think I could have had more control over a standard buttercream than I did with the Swiss buttercream. I couldn't really control the sweetness or texture like I could have with standard buttercream. I've seen people use cream cheese frosting, which might also be delicious. But again, I think you would really have to find a light and fluffy cream cheese frosting recipe (I recommend this delicious recipe from Allrecipes.com: Sturdy Whipped Cream Frosting).

When I first envisioned this cake, I pictured smooth sides scattered with poppy seeds and a wispy frosting on top with carefully placed candied lemons. However, I ditched that plan in an effort to make it a graduation cake. Overall, I was pleased with how it turned out. I hope the graduate was too!

Supplementary Information

Lemon Curd Recipe
(Original recipe can be found at Joy of Baking)
3 eggs
3/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup lemon juice (2-3 lemons)
4 tablespoons butter (softened works best)
Zest of 2-3 lemons (however many you juice)

Whisk the eggs, sugar and lemon juice in a double boiler. Stir constantly until the mixture begins to thicken (this should take around 10 minutes and most recipes say the magic temperature is 160°F. I disagree. In my experience at 160 degrees, it's just beginning to thicken. Judge for yourself). Remove the mixture from heat. Strain through a fine mesh sieve. Whisk in the butter, tablespoon by tablespoon. Stir in the lemon zest. Cover with saran wrap (lay it directly on top of the curd to prevent a film from forming and cool. Store in the refrigerator.