Read Online Rose's Heavenly Cakes by Rose Levy Beranbaum - Free Book Online Page B

coated with baking spray with flour
    Preheat the Oven
    Twenty minutes or more before baking, set an oven rack in the lower third of the oven and preheat the oven to 350°F/175°C.
    Melt the White Chocolate
    Heat the chocolate until almost completely melted. Use a small microwavable bowl, stirring with a silicone spatula every 15 seconds (or use the top of a double boiler set over hot, not simmering, water, stirring often—do not let the bottom of the container touch the water).
    Remove the white chocolate from the heat and, with the silicone spatula, stir until fully melted. Allow it to cool until it is no longer warm to the touch but is still fluid.
    Mix the Liquid Ingredients
    In a medium bowl, whisk the yolks, 1/3 cup of the milk, and the vanilla just until lightly combined.
    Make the Batter
    In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the flat beater, mix the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and lemon zest on low speed for 30 seconds. Add the butter and the remaining milk. Mix on low speed until the dry ingredients are moistened. Raise the speed to medium and beat for 1½ minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.
    Starting on medium-low speed, gradually add the egg mixture to the batter in three parts, beating on medium speed for 20 seconds after each addition to incorporate the ingredients and strengthen the structure. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add the melted white chocolate and beat to incorporate it. Using the silicone spatula, scrape the batter into the prepared pans and smooth the surfaces evenly with a small offset spatula. Each pan will be almost half full (21 ounces/600 grams).
    Bake the Cakes
    Bake for 25 to 35 minutes, or until golden brown, a wire cake tester inserted in the centers comes out clean, and the cakes spring back when pressed lightly in the centers. The cakes should start to shrink from the sides of the pans only after removal from the oven.
    Cool and Unmold the Cakes
    Let the cakes cool in the pans on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Run a small metal spatula between the sides of the pans and the cakes, pressing firmly against the pans, and invert the cakes onto wire racks that have been coated lightly with nonstick cooking spray. To prevent splitting, reinvert the cakes so that the tops are up. Cool completely.

Lemon Curd
    Makes: almost 1¾ cups/16.3 ounces/462 grams
Volume
Ounce
Gram
lemon zest, finely grated
3 teaspoons, loosely packed
.
6
about 7 large egg yolks, at room temperature
½ cup (4 fluid ounces)
4.6
130
sugar
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons
8
225
unsalted butter (65° to 75°F/19° to 23°C)
6 tablespoons (¾ stick)
3
85
lemon juice, freshly squeezed and strained (about 3 large lemons)
½ cup plus 1 tablespoon (4.5 fluid ounces)
5
141
salt
pinch
.
.
    Make the Lemon Curd
    Have ready a fine-mesh strainer suspended over a medium bowl containing the lemon zest.
    In a medium heavy saucepan, whisk the yolks, sugar, and butter until well blended. Whisk in the lemon juice and salt. Cook over medium-low heat, stirring constantly with a silicone spatula (be sure to scrape the sides of the pan), until thickened and resembling hollandaise sauce, which thickly coats the spatula but is still liquid enough to pour. The mixture will change from translucent to opaque and begin to turn a yellow color on the spatula. Don't allow it to come to a boil or it will curdle. Whenever steam appears, remove the pan briefly from the heat, stirring constantly, to keep the mixture from boiling. When the curd has thickened and will pool thickly when a little is dropped on its surface, pour it at once into the strainer and press it through with the spatula. Stir gently to mix in the zest sitting in the bowl and allow the curd to cool for 30 minutes.
    Divide the lemon curd into two containers: 6 tablespoons/3.5 ounces/100 grams for the buttercream, and the remainder for the filling and topping. Cover tightly and refrigerate until no longer warm, about 3 hours. It keeps in airtight containers for 3 weeks refrigerated.