Four-Layer Lemon Torte with Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting
Bon Appetit
Cake ingredients
Servings: 12
1 18 1/2 ounce package yellow cake mix (I seem to remember I can never quite find this size of package but a close approximation is fine)
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, room temperature
6 large eggs
1/2 cup whipping cream
1/2 cup water
1 tablespoon grated lemon peel (I use Penzey’s dehydrated grated lemon peel that I keep in the refrigerator)
Steps to make it
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour two 9-inch pans with 2 3/4 inch high sides. Cut a piece of parchment to put in the bottom of the pan.
Combine ingredients in a large bowl and beat until smooth, 2 minutes.
Divide batter between prepared pans.
Bake cakes until tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 28 minutes.
Let cool for 10 minutes. Using a small knife, cut around sides of pans to loosen cakes. Remove cakes from pans. Cool completely.
Frosting ingredients
Makes 4 3/4 cups
3 8-ounce packages cream cheese, room temperature (sometimes I get excited and don’t wait for full room temperature and then I cannot get the frosting totally smooth. I don’t care if it’s not super pretty as long as it’s delicious)
1 11 1/4-ounce jar lemon curd (or you could make your own lemon curd from last week’s recipe - you would need about 1 1/2 cups)
1 cup powdered sugar
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice (I am lazy and use the bottled stuff)
1 tablespoon grated lemon peel
Steps to make it
Using electric mixer, beat cream cheese and curd in a large bowl until smooth.
Add remaining ingredients and beat until well blended, about 2 minutes.
Ingredients to assemble the cake
3/4 cup raspberry preserves (strawberry or cherry are equally delicious)
1 1/2 cups sliced almonds, toasted (I never do this part)
Steps to assemble the cake
Using serrated knife, cut each cake horizontally in half.
Place 1 cake layer, cut side up, on platter. Spread with 1/4 cup preserves, then 3/4 cup frosting. Repeat with 2nd and 3rd cake layer.
Top with fourth cake layer, cut side down. Spread with remaining frosting over top and sides of cake.
Press almonds into sides of cake.
Chill until frosting sets, about 2 hours.
This week is Margaret’s birthday! I normally get to celebrate with her at a yearly conference I was so good about attending before Covid. I really enjoyed going and nerding out with those in my field and catching up with fellow practitioners but I haven’t been great about conferences after Covid. I struggle with being online all week and then doing it again to learn something. I’ve learned I need lots of breaks from screens and even though this conference has moved back to in person, I have yet to attend.
I met Margaret through Samantha and we bonded early because we were the first in our age group to get cancer. It was 14 years ago that I learned I had cancer at the beginning of March, and this conference was the first place I started sharing my diagnosis and treatment more broadly. Now in my late 40’s more of my friends have joined this crummy club where we have all learned the frustrations of the medical system, the fear that remains for the rest of your life that some new ache or exhaustion could be cancer, and some of the food tastes like aluminum foil and membership dues will be collected regardless of your willingness to participate. As a fellow member, Margaret helped me navigate and let me be mad and have a totally twisted sense of humor about the whole thing which was such a comfort to me.
Our friendship is so much more than being cancer survivors now, but it became deeper during that time. I hope I can offer helpful advice based on my experiences, but I also realized that 14 years later and after many, many other challenges, that cancer is a small blip in my life. This became incredibly obvious when my friend Susan was diagnosed with stage 1 breast cancer and realized by the look of disbelief and horror on the faces of her and her partner that I should not have celebrated her stage 1 diagnosis out loud. Adding insult to injury, I was having lunch with Susan and declared I’d had the best year ever at the end of the year when she had just had the worst year of her life. I did mention to her “I might not be the right person for you right now” when I realized my error but I still shake my head at how insensitive those statements were and I’m glad she’s still my friend. From my perspective, I was relieved the prognosis was good and blurted it out. I would have liked to be supporting and understanding that she hadn’t been through cancer before and acknowledge that it is really scary.
When I took my mom to England after she retired to show her where I had lived, Margaret met us at the V&A to wander around and have a tea break. I had planned to visit her again when the Alexander McQueen show came to the V&A but her parents needed more help in Australia and so she decided to move back. She gave me the tickets and the beginning of “Ladies who London” was born with Alyssa, Becca, and Kris. I still haven’t been to see Mags in Australia and I really do need to fix that sometime soon. Thankfully she has also visited Minneapolis so we still get to hang out and though I wish I was better at setting up regular check ins with her, we can pick up right where we left off. So many of my friendships are this way. I’ve decided to no longer feel bad for how long we don’t speak, but to treasure the times when we get to catch up.
The reason I paired this recipe with Mags was because the year we had our conference in San Diego, Julie and I met Margaret early and got an airbnb a few days before the conference. Because I love to bake for people, I made the cake and cut it into fourths, froze it, and packed it in my luggage to bring with me. I bought the frosting ingredients once I got there and assembled the cake for all of us to enjoy. Once the conference started I cut up some pieces to share with Mags and others and left the rest of the cake in the fridge where the host later thanked me for leaving a delicious cake though her husband ate most of it.
While I don’t normally make cakes that include a cake mix, this is a great cake. Cake mixes taste fine, but I don’t like feeling that I have to buy a specific flavor when I typically have all the general ingredients involved in making a cake and I would rather go through all the steps (the more drawn out the better) to make anything. Cooking and baking is my meditation. Yes, it fulfills a need to feed myself, but I try and give away most of what I make because I like the act of doing it. I freeze so much if there is no one to give it to that I have to consciously eat what is in my freezer when it gets too full. Many of my friends find this behavior confusing and I have scared acquaintances by providing them with baked goods when they make an offhand remark that they would love something baked and I harass them until a date and time is set. Perhaps it’s not normal human nature, but it’s this human’s nature.
I’ve used the frosting sandwiched between ginger snaps (a genius idea), scooped up with a graham cracker (also smart) or eaten out of the bowl with a spoon (solid good idea). When I have made this cake for Tenessa, I bring whatever frosting is leftover so she can continue to enjoy it as I do. Tenessa always provides amazing commentary on the things I bake for her. But honestly I love being able to bake something amazing and when you have friends who are effusive about what is made, I get so excited that I got to provide joy to people I care about. It’s really the best.