We celebrated our daughter's birthday last weekend. She told me to not make a cake and go to all that work but I wanted to do it and I had been thinking about this special combination of lemon cake and blackberry ice cream. It was divine!
My husband loves ice cream. When our children were little, I would always give them a snack before bedtime and he got one too. :) He still has a snack before bed and if he had his way it would be ice cream every night. I know that is not good for him so I have been experimenting with making different ice cream flavors and making it tasty but leaving out some of the heavy cream and using coconut milk coffee creamer, I've tried two different recipes and I think this one is the best. The best recipe, I think, has a custard that you mix with the berries and the ice cream comes out a little more creamy than the other recipe. This is how I make it~
Blackberry Ice Cream
4 pints of blackberries
2 1/2 cups sugar
Juice of one lemon
3 cups half and half
10 egg yolks
3 cups coconut milk coffee creamer
Combine blackberries, 1/2 cup sugar and the lemon juice in a sauce pan and cook over low heat until the berries break down. Should take about 20 minutes. When the berries have broken down pour them through a fine mesh strainer. Take a wooden spoon and smash the berries continuously through the strainer until you have the seeds and pulp left and discard this. Heat half and half and remaining sugar over medium heat. Beat egg yolks and temper with half and half. Cook over medium heat until this mixture thickens about 5 minutes. Pour coconut milk coffee creamer into the berries and mix well and then pour this mixture into the custard and mix well. Refrigerate this until cool and then pour into your ice cream maker. When ice cream is done put into containers for the freezer and let it set overnight.
I can't say enough about this cake. It is delicious and it says, "it's springtime!" This would be a wonderful cake for your Easter celebration. This recipe is only for two 8 inch cake layers. If this is going to be your only dessert and you are having a lot of company, you will want to increase the recipe 1/2 times to make two 9 inch cake layers.
Cake
2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter
1 1/4 cup sugar
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla (I substituted this with lemon extract) for a more lemony flavor
1 cup milk
Lemon Curd
1 tablespoon cornstarch
6 tablespoons butter
3/4 cup sugar
4 egg yolks, beaten
1 tablespoon lemon zest
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
Lemon Buttercream Icing
4 cups confectioners sugar
1/2 cup butter softened
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon lemon zest
2 tablespoons milk
(I increased the icing recipe one half to make sure I had enough icing. It's been my experience that most icing recipes do not make enough icing to do layers and the outside of the cake.)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour 2 8 inch cake pans. Mix together flour, baking powder and salt and set aside. I made the lemon curd next because it has to cool.
Lemon curd - In a sauce pan, mix together lemon zest, lemon juice and cornstarch until smooth. Mix in butter and sugar and bring mixture to a boil over medium heat. Boil one minutes, stirring constantly. In a small bowl, whisk together egg yolks until smooth. Whisk in a small amount of lemon mixture to temper the eggs. Then add the tempered eggs to the custard whisking the hot lemon mixture rapidly. Reduce heat to low and cook stirring constantly 5 minutes or until thick (not to boil). Pour into a bowl. Press plastic wrap to surface so a film won't form. Cool at room temperature and then put in refrigerator for a couple of hours.
Cake batter - In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in vanilla (or lemon extract). Beat in flour mixture alternating with milk. Mixing just until incorporated. Pour batter into prepared cake pans. Bake for 30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool in pan for 10 minutes then remove from cake pan and cool on rack completely.
Icing - In a large bowl beat confectioners sugar, butter, lemon juice, lemon zest until smooth. Beat in milk and increase speed until light and fluffy.
To assemble cake - Use a serrated knife and cut each cake layer in half. Lay cut side down on cake plate and spread half of the lemon curd. Top with another layer and spread about 1/2 cup of buttercream icing. Add third layer and spread remaining lemon curd. Press on final layer and frost top and sides of the cake. Refrigerate cake. Let it set at room temperature several hours before serving.
You can garnish the cake with twisted lemon slices and fresh mint, I used blackberries. You could use raspberries or small strawberries. Even a melody of berries with fresh mint would be pretty.
Hope you enjoy this wonderful cake!
So sorry for the pictures. :(
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