Lemon Cake
Description
Homemade baked goods for tea. Yes, you can't call this cake the easiest one in your life. But believe me, it's absolutely delicious! My friends and family often ask me to prepare it for celebrations, and I'm always happy to do so. Today I'm sharing with you an excellent recipe. Serve it with tea or coffee.
Instructions
- 1
Step 1
First, prepare the base for our cake. To do this, beat the egg yolks with half of the total amount of sugar in a deep container until you get a fluffy foam.
- 2
Step 2
Separately beat the egg whites until foam appears. Then add the remaining sugar and beat until stiff peaks form. Mix the egg white mixture with the yolk mixture. Gradually add the sifted flour, gently stirring with a spoon or a special spatula. It is important not to let the foam collapse.
- 3
Step 3
Transfer the resulting biscuit dough into a baking pan (20 cm in diameter), previously greased with butter and dusted with flour. Bake in a preheated oven at 200 degrees Celsius for 25–30 minutes. Let it cool, remove from the pan, and set aside for now.
- 4
Step 4
Grind the poppy seeds using a coffee grinder. Then mix all the ingredients for the poppy cake (except for the two egg whites) in a bowl (be sure to melt the butter beforehand). Beat the egg whites until fluffy and firm, then add them to the poppy mixture. Gently stir until combined.
- 5
Step 5
Grease the baking pan with oil again and dust with flour. Line the bottom with parchment paper. Pour the prepared poppy seed mixture into the pan and bake in a preheated oven at 180 degrees for 20 minutes. Let the finished poppy seed sponge cake cool, then remove it from the pan.
- 6
Step 6
Now let's make the syrup. To do this, heat sugar and water over fire until boiling. Pour the sugar syrup over lemon slices and let it steep for a couple of hours.
- 7
Step 7
Let's make the lemon cream. We will need the zest and juice of one lemon. Mix eggs, lemon juice, zest, and sugar in a saucepan. Let it sit for an hour (stirring occasionally) until the sugar dissolves.
- 8
Step 8
Strain the lemon mixture, add starch to it, and mix everything well (make sure there are no lumps). Place the saucepan over low heat and cook the mixture, stirring constantly, until it thickens. This will take about 1-2 minutes. Set aside two tablespoons of the cream. Cover the saucepan with plastic wrap, let it cool, and then place it in the refrigerator.
- 9
Step 9
Use cold cottage cheese. Sift it through a sieve. Then beat it with a mixer together with lemon cream, adding the cream gradually, one spoon at a time.
- 10
Step 10
That's it! Let's assemble the cake. First, cut the plain biscuit cake in half horizontally, and soak each part with lemon syrup. Then, place half of the cottage cheese cream onto one of the halves (the one that will be on the bottom). Carefully spread it evenly over the entire surface of the cake layer.
- 11
Step 11
On it, place the poppy seed biscuit and spread the remaining half of the cottage cheese cream over it. Place the second biscuit layer on top. Spread the reserved lemon cream (those two spoons we set aside earlier) over the top. Put the almost-ready dessert into the refrigerator to chill and soak.
- 12
Step 12
While the cake is chilling in the refrigerator, let's make the meringue. To prepare it, mix and beat egg whites and powdered sugar in a deep container. Beat them over a container with gently simmering water until the mixture thickens well.
- 13
Step 13
Take the cake out of the refrigerator and first cover it on all sides with a medium layer of meringue. Then, decorate the top of the finished dessert beautifully with the remaining meringue (I shaped it into a wave). The finished cake can be placed into a very hot oven for just 2-3 minutes to form a meringue crust.