I made this Lemon Cake with Fresh Raspberry Buttercream for my “Let Them Eat…” cake column on Serious Eats: Sweets. I normally don’t cross-pollinate between my blog and Serious Eats, but I couldn’t resist shooting it different ways, it was so pretty. The full cake accompanies the recipe but here is a slice to whet your appetite.

I heart Nigella Lawson. The gusto and relish with which she eats are contagious—like laughter. The recipe that follows is an adaptation of “Lemon Meringue Cake” from Nigella’s Feast. I was looking through the book a few weekends ago while visiting family in D.C. and swooned when I saw the photo: a gold-tinged cloud of cake oozing bright yellow silk. The cake is baked and assembled in this manner: two cake pans get a layer of cake batter and a layer of French meringue spread on top. Once baked and cooled, lemon curd and whipped cream are sandwiched between the cake layers for a cake, custard, cream, and meringue miracle. Perfect for me, as I continue having my crush on all things whippy and white,but, also, what dreamier than a big, fluffy, sticky cake sandwich?

As you know, I recently posted a pastel de limón recipe and, wanting to avoid repetition and bore you, I settled on a filling of goat’s milk dulce de leche, toasted and chopped pecans, and a sprinkle of Maldon salt. Having no guests handy, the leftover cake would have to be refrigerated for a few days, so the whipped cream needed to be stabilized to avoid it becoming a sad, weeping mess. A bit of gelatin and cream cheese will keep this dessert fresh and pretty for about 3 days (probably longer, but you’ll surely have eaten the whole thing by then).

An announcement to Future Dinner Party Guests: this was so intensely, close-your-eyes-at-first-bite delicious that you will be seeing it more than once. However, I do intend to vary the fillings…Nutella and strawberries, dark chocolate ice cream and cherries, banana pudding and toffee, poached figs and custard, etc.

NIGELLA LAWSON’S PERFECTION CAKE
Originally published as Lemon Meringue Cake

Very Important Notes: You can replace the goat’s milk dulce de leche with regular dulce de leche or fillings of your choice—see some of my suggestions above.
- Gelatin needs to be dissolved in warm water, but if you add warm water to your chilled whipped cream, you’ll defeat the purpose of the chilled cream, no? Be sure to cool the gelatin to room temperature, and don’t be tempted to pop it in the refrigerator or freezer because it’ll turn boing-y and won’t mix into your cream, capisce?

1 tablespoon unsalted butter, softened, for greasing the cake pans
4 large eggs, separated
1½ cups plus 1 teaspoon sugar
8 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into 8 pieces and softened
¾ cup unbleached all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon table salt
Grated zest of 1 lemon plus 4 teaspoons lemon juice
2 teaspoons milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon unflavored gelatin
2 tablespoons water
4 tablespoons cream cheese, softened
½ cup confectioners’ sugar
1 cup heavy cream, chilled
½ goat’s milk dulce de leche
½ cup toasted and chopped pecans
½ teaspoon Maldon salt

- Position an oven rack in the middle of the oven. Preheat the oven to 400˚F. Line and grease the bottoms of 2 8-inch round cake pans with parchment paper and 1 tablespoon butter.

- Place the egg yolks, ½ cup of the sugar, butter, flour, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and lemon zest in food processor and pulse until combined. Add the lemon juice and milk and process once again until combined.

- Divide the batter equally between the prepared pans. It is a skimpy amount of batter, but that’s how it’s supposed to be. Simply spread as evenly as possible with a rubber spatula.

- Place the egg whites and the remaining ¼ teaspoon salt in a clean, dry mixing bowl. Beat the whites on medium speed with an electric mixer until they loosen, about 1 minute. Increase the speed to medium-high and whisk until soft peaks form, 2 to 3 minutes. Slowly add the remaining 1 cup sugar and continue to whisk until stiff, glossy peaks form, 2 to 3 minutes more. Add ½ teaspoon of the vanilla and whisk just until incorporated, about 15 seconds more. Dived the stiff, glossy whites between the 2 pans, spreading straight on top of the batter layer. Leave 1 smooth, then, peak the second one.

- Bake 10 to 20 minutes until the meringue tops are golden and a cake tester comes out clean when inserted. Transfer the cake pans to a cooling rack and cool completely, about 1 hour. While the cake is cooling, chill a (metal) mixing bowl and whisk so they’re ready for making the whipped cream. Carefully unmold the flat-topped cake onto a cake stand or plate, meringue-side down.

- Combine the gelatin and water in a small bowl. Microwave until the gelatin dissolves, about 20 seconds. Cool to room temperature, about 5 minutes. Place the cream cheese, ¼ cup of the confectioners’ sugar, remaining ½ teaspoon vanilla, and dissolved gelatin in the chilled bowl and whisk on medium speed until whippy, about 2 minutes. Add the cream and whisk just until thickened, about 2 minutes.

- Drizzle the dulce de leche evenly over the inverted cake and top with pecans and salt. Spread the whipped cream on top, to the edges. Carefully invert the second cake onto the palm of your hand, then, gently turn over so the meringue is facing up, and place it on top of the whipped cream. Sift the remaining ¼ cup confectioners’ sugar over the cake and serve. Refrigerate leftovers for up to 3 days.

My mother and I always baked together (¡TQM, mami!). She used to make an orange Bundt cake very often, and I used to zest the oranges (I wasn’t too thrilled about it, but I guess even at a young age, you have to pay your dues!).  She also made carrot cake and with a generous slather of cream cheese frosting. Sweet, tangy, and silky, I prefer cream cheese to any other frosting. Especially buttercream. I loathe and detest buttercream. I think I can eat a hunk of butter straight off the stick, but there’s something smothering and unctuous about buttercream that gives me the willies.

I got carried away on my buttercream diatribe. I fully meant to say that the following frostings are easy to make and would make a great Mother’s Day treat. How ‘bout something as nice and sweet as she is on her special day? And, if you’re a mom, the cherry and chocolate versions below are a piece of cake to make with a little one who wants to lend a hand or lick a sticky spatula in the kitchen.

All of the following recipes make enough frosting for: One 9- by 13-inch cake / 24 cupcakes / Two 9- by 9-inch or 8- by 8-inch cake squares or rounds. Cake recipe follows at the end of post.

SALTED CARAMEL CREAM CHEESE FROSTING
TIPS: You’ll recognize Maldon salt by its large, flaky crystals. It melts delicately on your tongue and is my favorite for seasoning food once its served. Look for it at specialty stores and/or supermarkets.

Cool the salted caramel before making the frosting—it’ll melt otherwise.

¡Atención! If you read my Red Rum! post you’ll remember my warning: working with hot sugar is muy peligroso. I read a Julia Child recipe last night where she says to cook something until it’s “too hot for your finger.” Melted sugar is always too hot for your fingers.

For the Salted Caramel
¼ cup water
1 cup granulated sugar
½ cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 teaspoon Maldon salt or Kosher salt, plus additional for sprinkling

For the Frosting
1 stick (4 ounces) unsalted butter, softened
2 (8-ounce) packages full-fat Philadelphia cream cheese
1 (1-pound) box confectioners’ sugar, sifted
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

- Place the sugar and water in a heavy bottomed, stainless steel, medium saucepan. Bring the mixture to a boil over medium-high heat and cook, gently swirling the saucepan from time to time, until the sugar turns deep amber and begins to smoke (you really will see wisps of smoke), 10 to 12 minutes.

- Immediately remove the saucepan from the burner, and slowly and carefully pour in the the cream. The mixture will sputter quite violently—don’t move the saucepan or stir the mixture. Once the sputtering has subsided, return the saucepan to medium heat, and with a heat-proof rubber spatula, stir it until smooth, about 3 minutes. Cool completely before making the frosting.

- Using an electric mixer, beat the cream cheese and butter on medium speed until they’re light and airy, about 3 minutes. Beat in the chocolate, vanilla, and salt, scraping the sides and bottom of the mixing bowl with a rubber spatula from time to time.

- Reduce the mixer speed to low. Add the sugar and beat until just incorporated, about 1 minute. Add the salted caramel. Bring the mixer speed up to medium-high and beat until smooth, about 2 minutes. Frost cake and sprinkle with salt.

Chocolate cupcake with cherry cream cheese frosting.

CHERRY CREAM CHEESE FROSTING

2 (8-ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
4 ounces butter ( 1 stick or ½ cup), softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
¼ teaspoon salt
1 (16-ounce) box confectioners’ sugar, sifted
¼ cup cherry preserves
3 to 4 drops red food coloring

- Using an electric mixer, beat the cream cheese and butter on medium speed until they’re light and airy, about 3 minutes. Beat in the vanilla and salt, scraping the sides and bottom of the mixing bowl with a rubber spatula from time to time.

- Reduce the mixer speed to low. Add the sugar and beat until just incorporated, about 1 minute. Add the cherry preserves and food coloring. Bring the mixer speed up to medium-high and beat until smooth, about 2 minutes. Frost cake.

De chocolate.

CHOCOLATE CREAM CHEESE FROSTING

6 ounces semisweet or bittersweet chocolate, chopped, melted, and cooled
2 (8-ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
4 ounces butter ( 1 stick or ½ cup), softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
¼ teaspoon salt
1 (16-ounce) box confectioners’ sugar, sifted

To melt the chocolate on the stovetop: Fill a medium saucepan about ¾ full and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat to medium-low, making sure the water remains at a steady simmer. Place a medium stainless-steel bowl on the saucepan. Place the chocolate in the bowl and stir constantly with a rubber spatula until melted, smooth, and glossy. Remove from the heat and allow the chocolate to cool to room temperature before continuing with the recipe.

To melt the chocolate in the microwave: Place the chocolate in a microwave safe bowl and microwave for 1 to 2 minutes, pausing to stir with a rubber spatula every 30 seconds, until the chocolate is melted, smooth, and glossy. Allow the chocolate to cool to room temperature before continuing with the recipe.

- Using an electric mixer, beat the cream cheese and butter on medium speed until they’re light and airy, about 3 minutes. Beat in the vanilla and salt, scraping the sides and bottom of the mixing bowl with a rubber spatula from time to time.

- Reduce the mixer speed to low. Add the sugar and beat until just incorporated, about 1 minute. Bring the mixer speed up to medium-high and beat until smooth, about 2 minutes. Frost cake.

EASY CHOCOLATE CAKE
One 9- by 13-inch cake / 24 cupcakes / Two 9- by 9-inch or 8- by 8-inch cake squares or rounds
This cake is adapted from Food & Wine

2 cups plus 2 tablespoons sugar
1¾ cup all-purpose flour
¾ cup plus 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1½ teaspoons baking powder
1½ teaspoons baking soda
1½ teaspoons salt
2 large eggs
1 cup full-fat sour cream
½ cup vegetable oil
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
¾ cup plus 2 tablespoons boiling water + 2 teaspoons instant espresso powder

- Preheat the oven to 350°F.

- Butter and flour a 9-by-13-inch cake pan or two 12-tin muffin pans—or line with paper cupcake liners and spray with Pam for Baking.
In a large bowl, whisk together the sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

- In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, oil, and vanilla.
Whisk the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients. Whisk in the boiling water and coffee mixture. Pour the batter (it will be thin) into the prepared pan or muffin tins and bake for 30 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

- Cool for 10 minutes, then invert. Cool completely before frosting.

For a recent cooking class, my tutee wanted to make rum cake. I don’t have rum cake in my repertoire, and although there are several fortified Nicaraguan desserts and rum is like mother’s milk to the populace, I couldn’t find one in the infamous Nica Joy of Cooking, Doña Angélica. My mom suggested I use our household orange bundt as a base and replace some of the milk with rum. A sensible suggestion, but I Googled “rum cake” anyway. Boxed yellow cake + rum. Not quite the avenue I’d planned on taking.

But then, an actual recipe claiming to be some well-known rum company’s original TOP SECRET recipe…

I like secrets! And I also like that this recipe had 3 sticks of butter plus 1 cup of heavy cream.

I added a few spices to the recipe and, deciding that ¾ cup rum in the cake was stingy (mother’s milk, remember?), made a buttery-burnt sugar-orange-rum glaze. This cake is incredibly moist and stays that way for about a week.  Love it. Love it. Love it.

RUM CAKE with BUTTERED RUM GLAZE

I recommend a 7 or 12-year-old Flor de Caña (Nicaraguan rum) for this cake. If you can’t get Flor, substitute with dark rum of your liking. For an extra burst of orange flavor, process the sugar and orange zest in a food processor for about 1 minute.

Prepare the glaze while the cake is in the oven. It’s best to use a stainless steel saucepan for this recipe—a dark pan will make it difficult to determine the caramel’s color and progress. Avoid a shallow pan as there will be sputtering.

¡Atención! The base of this glaze is caramel, just like the one  on flan.  Please be careful when working with hot sugar—it’s like liquid napalm and you should never be tempted to stick your finger in the pot to have a taste. Unless you’re looking to erase the friction ridges on your fingertips.

For the Cake
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground ginger
¼ teaspoon ground allspice
¼ teaspoon salt
1 cup heavy cream
¾ cup dark rum
1½ cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1½ cups sugar
1 tablespoon grated orange zest
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 large eggs plus 1 large egg yolk

- Position a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat it to 350˚F. Butter and flour (or spray with Pam for Baking) a Bundt pan.

- Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, allspice, and salt; set aside. Combine the cream and rum in a liquid measuring cup; set aside.

- With an electric mixer (use the paddle attachment if using standing mixer) on medium speed, beat the butter, sugar, and zest until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the egg yolk and beat until fully incorporated. Add the whole eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the vanilla and reduce speed to low. Add the flour mixture in 3 additions, alternating with the cream-rum mixture, stopping once or twice to scrape the sides and bottom of bowl with a rubber spatula. Mix until smooth, about 1 minute.

- Pour the batter into the prepared Bundt pan and bake until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean, about 1 hour.

For the Buttered Rum Glaze
½ cup dark rum
½ cup orange juice (use the zested orange from the cake recipe)
1 cup sugar
¼ cup water
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
¼ teaspoon salt

- Combine the rum and orange juice in a liquid measuring cup; set aside.

- Place the sugar and water in a heavy bottomed, stainless steel, medium saucepan. Bring the mixture to a boil over medium-high heat and cook, gently swirling the saucepan from time to time, until the sugar turns deep amber and begins to smoke, 10 to 12 minutes.

- Immediately remove the saucepan from heat, and slowly and carefully pour in the rum-orange juice mixture. The mixture will sputter quite violently—don’t move the saucepan or stir the mixture. Once the sputtering has subsided, return the saucepan to medium heat, and with a heat-proof rubber spatula, stir until smooth, about 3 minutes. Stir in the butter and salt. Reserve ½ cup of the glaze.

- Once the cake is out of the oven, poke it all over with a metal or wooden skewer. Pour the remaining glaze over the cake and allow it to sit in the pan for 20 minutes before turning out onto a cooling rack.  Brush the cake with the reserved glaze and cool completely before serving.

P.S. This is how good this cake is:

My favorite way to eat coffee cake: smear both sides of the slice with butter and whatever topping crumbs you can collect, then griddle over medium-low heat until golden.

My apartment is overrun with cooking equipment and groceries. They’ve busted out of the kitchen cabinets and counters and begun squatting on the floor, on my dining room table, on top of the bookshelves… Developing recipes from home means I have to purchase groceries several times a week, and in some instances, more than once a day due to last-minute changes, “Hmm. I suppose I could use spaghetti instead of rotini here.”

I’ve been cleaning up as I go—never, never, ever allow pots, pans, etc. pile up in your sink until you’re done because I can tell you, woodland creatures are very unreliable and won’t clean up after you like they do for Snow White—but my kitchen can’t contain the abundance of paraphernalia I need for my assignments.

The eye of the storm? My coffee table. If I need a moment away from The Pit of Despair I sit on the couch and bask in the order of that table. New magazines, books, flowers, and most importantly, cake. Cake sitting pretty under that glass dome is one of the few things that centers me and irons out the crease between my eyebrows…I should make cake more often. Don’t you just love cake?

A moment of clarity.

Once upon a time, in the faraway land called Matagalpa, my great-grandmother made an upside-down pineapple cake – or pineapple turnover, as she called it. This turnover was subsequently made by my grandmother, then my mother, and a few weeks ago, me. Everyone knows pineapple upside-down cake, but it’s not quite as chic as say, flourless chocolate cake. I suppose its out-of-a-can-pineapple topping and occasional studding with maraschino cherries is a little kitschy and June Cleaver-ish, but why not? Sometimes a piece of cake from memory lane is just the thing.

PINEAPPLE TURNOVER

This recipe calls for a cast iron skillet, but as my skillet is seasoned with bacon and beans, I used my tarte tatin pan, which is about 10 inches in diameter. If memory serves me, my mom has made this in a 9 x 13-inch pan.

1 stick (4 ounces) butter
1 cup milk
1 ½ cups white sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs, separated
1 ½ cups brown sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 cups flour
5 slices of pineapple
5 cherries (optional)

-To make batter, cream ½ stick of butter with white sugar. Mix in well with egg yolks. Sift together flour and baking powder, and add alternately with milk. Add vanilla.
-Beat egg whites and fold in batter. Set aside.
-In cast iron skillet, place ½ stick of butter in small dabs, and add brown sugar, pouring evenly over butter. Place 1 slice of pineapple in center of pan and other slices around, centering each with a cherry. Pour batter over this and bake in a slow oven, 300 degrees F. for 1 hour or until done.
-Test by inserting toothpick in center of cake and when toothpick comes out clean it is done!
-Enjoy!

I had leftover pineapple chunks and used them instead of rounds.

This is my tarte tatin pan — don’t make it in anything smaller than a 10″ round pan as batter will surely overflow.

I had a rash of bad days recently, and I kept stomping into the kitchen in hopes that food would make me feel better. We’ve all been there, haven’t we? I have a moderate sweet tooth, but my reasoning was that when people feel lousy and turn to food for succor, they don’t go for carrots or lettuce. They go for chocolate. Or ice cream. Or both.

I pulled a recipe for chocolate cake from Food & Wine that’s actually quite fabulous when made in its entirety – it’s very much like a large Snickers or Whatchamacallit candy bar. It’s a bit too tricked out for a weeknight, but would be the perfect thing for a child’s birthday party. Anyway, the cake bit itself is perfection. Please don’t laugh, but in the same way that the Colonel’s KFC biscuits were the role models for my own, so is chocolate cake from a box, be it Duncan Hines or Betty Crocker, the muse for all my chocolate cakes. I’ve tried many a recipe throughout the years, all promising to be The Best. Some had mayo, some had espresso powder, others had full cups of coffee, and yet others combined cocoa powder and melted chocolate. None of them ever tasted like Betty’s or Duncan’s. Until this one.

I made half the amount posted below and divided the batter into cupcakes because it would be easier to freeze the leftovers, but aesthetically, it’s not the best decision. The results are squat with square tops and in dire need of some cover-up (ice cream, anyone?), but looks aside, the cake is moist and dark and quite possibly the very cake that Ole Golly used to make for Harriet.

If I like box cake so much, why don’t I buy it, you wonder? Because it’s full of preservatives and unpronounceable additives, silly. Also, this made-from-scratch cake can be pulled together in the amount of time it takes your oven to preheat. You can’t beat that.

This is the adapted version, but for the whole shebang, visit Food & Wine.

CHOCOLATE CAKE
Makes one 9”x13” cake or 24 cupcakes.

2 C. plus 2 tablespoons sugar
1 3/4 C. all-purpose flour
3/4 C. plus 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 1/2 tsp. salt
2 large eggs
1 C. whole milk
1/2 C. vegetable oil
1 TBSP. pure vanilla extract
3/4 C. plus 2 TBSP. boiling water

-Preheat the oven to 350°F.

-Butter and flour a 9-by-13-inch cake pan or two 12-tin muffin pans – or line with paper cupcake liners and spray with Pam.

-In a large bowl, whisk together sugar + flour + cocoa + baking powder + baking soda + salt.

-In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs + milk + oil + vanilla.

-Whisk the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients. Whisk in the boiling water. Pour the batter (it will be thin) into the prepared pan or muffin tins and bake for about 30 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool.