Italian Limoncello Cake

2-9” cake pans

 

Cake:

2 1/2 cups flour

1 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened 

1 1/2 cup sugar

3 eggs

1/2 cup buttermilk

1/2 cup limoncello

zest & juice of one lemon

 

Mascarpone Frosting:

16 ounces. mascarpone

1 1/4 cup lemon curd (recipe follows)

2 cups whipping cream

2/3 cup powdered sugar

OPT: white chocolate shavings

 

Cake: Prepare two 9” cake pans—I lined the bottoms of my pans and oiled/floured the sides. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine the dry ingredients and set aside. Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time. Add flour mixture alternately with the buttermilk, the limoncello and the juice/zest. Divide batter between the two pans. Bake 20-25 minutes or until cake tests done. Cool 10 minutes before turning out to finish cooling.

 

Frosting: Combine the mascarpone and lemon curd together. Whip the cream with the powdered sugar until peaks form. Fold into the mascarpone/lemon curd. Frost the bottom layer of cake with 1/3 of the frosting. Top and frost the sides and top of cake. If desired, garnish top with white chocolate shavings.

 

*’Foolproof’ Lemon Curd: 

6 Tbsp. unsalted butter, room temperature

1 cup sugar

2 large eggs

2 large egg yolks

2/3 cup lemon juice

1 tsp. lemon zest

 

In a small bowl: Beat the butter and sugar together. Add the eggs, egg yolks, juice and zest and combine until smooth. Pour into a medium saucepan. Cook over low heat until it reaches 170 on a thermometer or until clear and thickened. 

 

Curd can be stored in the refrigerator up to 2 months.