Foodie Friday -- Cream Cheese Pound Cake

For those of you who dabble in social media, you might have seen me post this picture last Friday.

The point of this picture is to show you that boo-boos happen to the best bakers, but most of them can't laugh at themselves enough to post it on social media.

I have no problem embarrassing myself.

But after I took the cake out, let it cool and popped it out of the pan. It looked like this. Purty, huh?

Let's just say that the cleanup took a bit longer than expected since I had to clean the oven racks, the bottom of the oven, the counters I managed to get crumby, but Maggie (the dog) took care of the crumbs on the floor.

Though this is a simple recipe with few ingredients, I will warn you that it is extremely TIME intensive--from the 10 minutes required to cream the butter and sugar together to baking it in a cold oven and increasing the temp every 20 minutes until it bakes for an hour.

So if you have a couple hours to spare then this is a fabulous recipe! I'm sorry, but I have no idea where I found this recipe. It might be Bon Appetit, but I could be wrong. Sorry!

*Before you even start, if you don't want your cake to look like the first picture make sure that your Bundt pan is a 12-cup one! I didn't measure my fancy-schmancy pan and look what happened!*

Cream Cheese Pound Cake

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, room temperature
1 8-ounce package cream cheese, room temperature
3 cups sugar
1 tsp. salt
6 large eggs, room temperature
4 tsp. vanilla extract
3 cups sifted all purpose flour

Butter and flour 12-cup Bundt pan. Using electric mixer, beat butter and cream cheese in large bowl until fluffy, about 4 minutes. Add sugar and salt; beat 10 minutes, occasionally scraping down sides of bowl. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating until blended after each addition. Beat in vanilla. Beat in flour at low speed until batter is smooth (do not overbeat). Transfer batter to pan.

Place pan in cold oven. Set temperature at 200 degrees F; bake 20 minutes. Increase temperature to 250 degrees F; bake 20 minutes. Increase temperature to 275 degrees F; bake 10 minutes. Increase temperature to 300 degrees F, bake cake until tester inserted near center comes out clean, about 1 hour longer. Cool cake on rack 15 minutes. Turn cake out onto rack; cool completely.

Can be made 3 days ahead. Wrap in plastic and store at room temperature.

Tips & Tricks: 

• When it says room temperature, it means room temperature. If you plan to make this in the morning, then set the ingredients on the counter before you go to bed. 
• You know my feelings about fat free or 1/3 less fat or off brand cream cheese--don't cheat! Use the real stuff. It's not you'll be eating the whole thing alone. This is called a "special occasion cake". Don't mess with a good thing.
• Oops, I forgot to sift the flour. Cake turned out great! I used Gold Medal flour if that helps your decision to sift, or not to sift, . . . plus there's less flour all over the place if you don't sift. 
• If you don't have a standing mixer, be prepared to hold the mixer for 4 minutes, 10 minutes and then when you add an egg at a time, and then when you add the flour in small increment...unless you want to see the flour fly all over the kitchen. By any standards, that's a freaking long time!
• I used butter flavored spray to coat the Bundt pan before flouring.
• If the batter fills the pan more than 1/2 to 2/3 full, you might have the same problem I did. Set the pan on a large cookie sheet so you only have one messy pan to clean up instead of the oven. Just saying. 
• Though my Bundt pan is non-stick and I butter and floured it, the overflow made it stick a little around the top edge and it didn't immediately release. . . so I cut away the overflow and beat on the pan with a wooden spoon to encourage the cake to release. 

We had company and enjoyed the cake with berries mixed with a little Grand Marnier. It was yummy!

Enjoy!
Later, Peeps!

Foodie Friday -- Cappuccino Torte

Many, many years ago, I made this recipe from Bon Appetit magazine. It turned out beautifully. I used chocolate covered coffee beans to decorate, but then ate the rest of the chocolate covered coffee beans and wasn't able to drink coffee for over six months. Yep, it burned my stomach up.

 The next time it was made was the year my daughter was born--2000. I managed to finish the nut crust and the fudge layer, but my daughter decided to make an early appearance. My wonderful sis-in-laws tried to finish the torte, but this is one of those recipes that it is important to have a standing mixer (due to the amount of time it must  beat) . . . my SIL only had a hand held one. It wasn't beaten long enough and the cappuccino buttercream went *flop*. It was still wonderfully tasty, but it didn't hold up.


This year I made this dessert. I thought, "Why not? I have all the ingredients. Let's give it a shot." I, too, had some issues with this recipe. My fudge layer wouldn't set. Six hours in the fridge and it still didn't set. It wasn't until I was making the cappuccino buttercream did I figure out what went wrong.

--I had forgotten to add the stick of butter to the fudge. Ack!

So what do you think I did?

I poured the fudge out of the pan, and scraped the crust free of fudge as much as possible. Microwaved the fudge just enough to warm it, AND THEN I beat the missing butter into the mixture. I could tell it would work this time, because it was starting to thicken as I was beating.

Now, I was fighting the clock on this one since I was in the process of making the cappuccino layer. So I put the fudge in the freezer to firm up. The buttercream went into the refrigerator until the fudge was firm enough to hold the weight. I whipped it one last time before spreading it on the fudge layer.

The key item to remember is -- who cares if you mess it up? It still tastes good and no one will know unless you post it on Facebook. ;-0.

Cappuccino Torte

Crust:

4 whole graham crackers

1/2 cup chopped walnuts (2 ounces)

1/2 cup slivered almonds (2 ounces)

1/4 cup sugar

Pinch of salt

5 Tbls. butter, melted and cooled

 

Fudge Layer:

2 cups whipping cream

1 pound semisweet chocolate, finely chopped

2 Tbls. light corn syrup

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, cut into 8 pieces, room temperature

 

Cappuccino Buttercream Layer:

2 1/2 cups golden brown sugar, firmly packed (about 1 1/4 pounds)

1/2 cup water

6 egg yolks

1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) butter, room temperature

1 Tbls. instant espresso powder, dissolved in 1 tsp. hot water

4 ounces unsweetened chocolate (Bakers), chopped, melted, cooled

 

Coffee Whipped Cream:

1 1/4 cups chilled whipping cream

2 tsp. instant espresso powder

1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

2 Tbls. powdered sugar

 

Optional:

2 ounces semisweet chocolate, grated

chocolate shavings

chocolate coffee bean candies

 

For crust: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Butter 10-inch-springform pan with 2 3/4-inch high sides. Grind graham crackers to crumbs in processor. Add nuts, sugar and salt and chop coarsely using on/off turns. Add butter and process until crumbs are evenly moistened. Press crumbs into bottom of prepared pan. Bake until edges begin to brown, about 15 minutes. Cool.

 

For fudge layer: Bring cream to boil in heavy saucepan. Reduce heat to low. Add chocolate and stir until melted. Remove from heat. Mix in corn syrup. add butter 1 piece at a time, stirring until smooth. Cool to lukewarm, stirring occasionally.

 

Pour fudge into cooled crust. Refrigerate until firm, about 2 hours.

 

For cappuccino buttercream layer: Cook sugar and water in heavy medium saucepan over very low heat, stirring until sugar dissolves. Increase heat to medium and boil 2 minutes.

 

Meanwhile, beat yolks in heavy-duty mixer at high speed until thick and pale. With mixer running, gradually pour boiling syrup into yolks (do not scrape saucepan). Continue to beat until yolk mixture is cool, about 15 minutes. Reduce mixer speed to medium. Mix in butter 1 tablespoon at a time. Add espresso mixture, then melted chocolate.

 

Spread buttercream over chilled fudge layer. Cover pan loosely with waxed paper. Refrigerate overnight.

 

For coffee whipped cream: Combine 1 Tbls of whipping cream, espresso powder and vanilla in small bowl; stir until powder dissolves. Beat remaining cream in large bowl until beginning to thicken. Mix in coffee mixture and powdered sugar. Beat whipping cream mixture to firm peaks.

 

Run small sharp knife around sides of springform pan to loosen torte. Carefully release pan sides. Spread most of Coffee Whipped Cream neatly over tops and sides of torte. Press grated chocolate around sides. Transfer torte to serving platter. Transfer remaining cram to pastry pag fitted with medium star tip. Pipe cream in rosettes around top edge of torte. Garnish with chocolate shavings and coffee bean candies, if desired. Can prepare 6-8 hours ahead; refrigerate). Let stand 1 hour at room temperature and serve.

 

Tips &Tricks:

• Though this recipe says it serves 12-14 people. This is a very rich, very dense torte. Each piece will be pretty small, so plan on serving a crowd.
• If your nuts for the crust seem overly oily, use less butter. BUT if you happen to have a rimmed cheesecake pan all the better to catch the excess oils exuded from the baking process. If you don't have a rimmed pan, then place a piece of foil under the pan when you bake the crust.
• Watch the cream when you make the fudge layer. If you put it on the stove and walk away, it will boil over.
• I don't finely chop my chocolate, but the larger chunks take longer to completely melt, which equals more stirring.
• When you add the soft butter to the fudge layer, it will start to thicken up. . . your clue that you DID remember to add the butter . . . Yeah, even the best cooks get sidetracked!
• Use a standing mixer . . . unless you want to build up your arms by holding a hand mixer for over 25 minutes total while the cappuccino buttercream is beaten.
• Start mixing the egg yolks when you heat the sugar. By the time the sugar is ready the egg yolks have thickened and turned a lighter yellow.  
• Many times recipes will tell you NOT to scrap the sides of the pan while boiling sugar. BUT if you constantly scrape the sides, the sugar is immediately dissolves into solution, which decreases the chance for sugar grains to reform when the solution cools.
• I DO NOT scrap the pan when I'm adding the sugar solution to the egg yolks simply because it's too awkward with my mixer.  
• DO let the cappuccino buttercream mix for 15 minutes to cool prior to adding the softened butter.
• The cappuccino buttercream layer will become the texture of icing when it is close to being finished.
• I walked away from the whipping cream (oops!), and it had whipped just a couple of seconds too long, going from stiff peaks to chunks, BUT it seemed to spread quite nicely AND hold its shape. So it isn't the end of the world
• Do not whip cream for too much longer than this or you will make a coffee butter. Just saying.
• When you cut into this dessert--it has a knockout impact. But you can really make it a feast for the eyes when you decorate it. If you do use grated chocolate on the sides, make sure your hands are ice cold, or you use pastry gloves, or the chocolate will melt all over them and make a mess.  
• Chocolate covered coffee beans are usually found in candy stores. These are very addictive (caffeine AND chocolate), so only buy as many as you think you'll need.

That's it for now! Enjoy!

If you plan to make this, or any other of my recipes, and I haven't covered your question in my tips or tricks, then feel free to ask your question in the comments section or email me at: Margaret (dot) golla @ gmail.com {remove spaces and make (dot) a .}

Later, Peeps!





Foodie Friday -- Honey Cakes

When my daughter started school this year, we knew the sixth graders would be working on a pumpkin project. We had experience with this particular project because she had to do one in the fifth grade at her last school . . . we learned from our mistakes.

This year the teacher chose the topic of children’s books and they could have partners. My kidlet and her friend OJ got their heads together and chose a book called Bear Wants More by Karma Wilson and illustrator Jane Chapman.

Bear's head

The girls decided to make the pumpkin into Bear’s head (cute, isn't it?), and they will be working on a background poster with the narrative and illustrations today (so no pic yet, sorry). So when they were over at our house to do Bear’s head, they were talking about his little friends and how Bear wanted some Honey Cakes.

 

Of course, having too much time on my hands, I decided to find a recipe for honey cookies . . . er cakes and make them. I found two recipes that I liked and sort of merged them.

I will tell you that this recipe makes a gooey dough and the cookies bake into a cakey cookie. The thing to remember is that this recipe isn’t very flavorful, other than the honey and a touch of ginger, because Bear likes them this way!

 

Honey Cakes

1 cup sugar

1 cup butter
1 cup honey (Orange Blossom honey, of course!)
2 eggs, beaten
1 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. salt
1 tsp. ginger
4 cups flour

Turbinado sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Melt together sugar, butter and honey over medium heat. Let mixture cool. Sift baking soda, baking powder, salt, ginger and flour into large bowl. Beat eggs and add vanilla in small container, add some of honey mixture if still hot to temper the eggs. When eggs are tempered, add to honey mixture, mix well. Add honey mixture into flour mixture. Stir until flour is mixed in.

Using a medium cookie scoop, scoop cookies 2-inches apart on parchment lined cookie sheet. Sprinkle Turbinado sugar on top of each cookie. Bake for 12 minutes or until golden brown. These cookies are 3-inches in diameter.

 

Hints and suggestions:

·         I put the honey sugar mixture in the refrigerator to chill

·         Since my liquid measuring cup was already dirty from the honey, I used it to lightly beat the eggs

·         I use a large mesh strainer to sift the flour mixture

·         Tempering the eggs--Adding the eggs to a large quantity of hot tends to cook the eggs. We don’t want that. We want to bring the eggs up to the temperature of the hot liquids gradually by placing a little bit of the hot liquid into the eggs and quickly incorporating it (beating it). Do this process a few times and then add the add mixture into the hot liquid mixture.

·         Though I use Silpat sheets, I still like to use parchment paper to bake cookies. The bottoms don’t overcook that way.

·         Normally, with this cookie scoop I can make 8 cookies per cookie sheet, but I only made 6 cookies per sheet with this recipe since I didn’t want them running into each other. 

·         In this picture, I hadn’t tried the Turbinado sugar yet. The large sugar granules give the cookie a little bit of texture and crunch without adding too many other elements.

 

Enjoy, Peeps!

Foodie Friday -- Gingerbread

When I posted last week's gingerbread truffle recipe, Marilyn mentioned that she'd never had gingerbread. After about 3 days, I realized she'd never TASTED gingerbread. Yeah, yeah, I'm a little slow. So I looked through the recipes I had posted and realized, I had never posted any gingerbread recipe.

And I have tons of gingerbread recipes, but I always go back to my mom's recipe. No, I have no idea where she got it, but I copied it over 30 years ago from her files, which means it was at least 30 years old at the time. I imagine she copied it out of Family Circle or Women's Day magazines. There are very few ingredients in this recipe and I had them all on hand.

If you expect this gingerbread to be sweet, you will be mistaken. Some recipes will top the gingerbread with a lemon powdered sugar glaze, but I like this straight up as a snack cake.

And I took pictures as I made this yesterday.

Gingerbread

1/2 cup shortening
2 Tbls. sugar
1 egg
1 cup molasses
1 cup boiling water
2 1/4 cups flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. ginger
1 tsp. cinnamon

Mix together shortening, sugar and egg. Blend in molasses and water. Sift an stir in flour, soda, salt, ginger and cinnamon. Pour into greased and floured 9-in glass baking pan. Bake in preheated 325 degree F. oven for 45 to 50 minutes.

Enjoy, Peeps!

All the ingredients needed

greased and floured pan

flour mixture on liquid/shortening

Ready to pop in the oven

right before I popped it into my mouth!

 

 



Foodie Friday -- Lemon Curd Cake--Redo

Today is my hubster's birthday!

EDIT note: I took pictures, but obviously the light wasn't nearly bright enough! Hopefully, I'll get better!
Happy Birthday, Sweetie!! I LOVE you! You are my sooooouuuul-mate. *snork* *inside joke*

In honor of his birthday, he requested Fleming's Chipolte Mac n' Cheese for dinner . . . and nothing else, except Lemon Curd Cake . . . which I am currently making.

So for today's Foodie Friday we are playing REDO Day. Here are those recipe links:

Fleming's Chipolte Mac n' Cheese

Lemon Curd Cake

Enjoy, Peeps!

FOODIE FRIDAY -- Coconut Pound Cake

I worked in a hospital lab on night shift for about eleven years, and this recipe came from my old boss, Richard. I’m not a coconut fan, but I LOVE this recipe.

Coconut Pound Cake

1 cup vegetable shortening (Crisco)

1 stick butter, room temperature
2 ½ cups sugar
6 eggs, separated
½ tsp. almond extract
½ tsp. coconut extract
3 cups flour
¼ tsp. salt
½ tsp. baking soda
1 cup whole milk
1 ½ cups coconut (Bakers)

Preheat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease and flour Bundt pan.

Beat sugar, shortening and butter until creamy. Add egg yolks and cream until light. Add extracts. Sift flour, salt and baking powder, add alternately with milk. Beat egg whites until stiff and fold in batter with coconut. Bake for 1 hour 20 minutes. Cool. Turn out onto serving plate.

Enjoy!

FOODIE FRIDAY -- German Bundt Cake

This cake came from my mom. I have no idea where she got it, but I do know she used to make it all the time for special occasions. Yes, you MUST do all the little extra stuff when you make this cake.

**All ingredients MUST be at room temperature for 2-3 hours before starting**

German Bundt Cake

1 cup butter

1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup powdered sugar
4 egg yolks
1 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. almond extract
3 cups cake flour, sifted three times prior to measuring
2 tsp. baking powder
Pinch of salt
1 cup whole milk
4 egg whites, beaten into stiff peaks

Whole almonds

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Cream butter, sift the two sugars together and add gradually to butter. Add unbeaten egg yolks, one at a time, and beat until smooth. Mix in extracts. Sift flour, measure, sift together with baking powder and salt three times. Starting with flour mixture and ending with flour mixture, add flour and milk alternately into batter. Fold in stiffly beaten egg whites.

Grease cake mold well. Put large dabs of butter along creases of mold, embedding an almond in each dab. Pour batter into mold and bake for 1 to 1 ½ hours. When baked, let stand 15 minutes before turning cake out of pan. Turn carefully and gently tap bottom of pan until cake releases.

Enjoy!!

FOODIE FRIDAY -- Bacardi Rum Cake

This recipe has been passed around many times. I’ve seen some rendition of it in newspapers, magazines and on blogs like this one. Bundt cakes are cakes that are formed in a ring, as if for tea-time. The pans used to make Bundt cakes can be simple to very decorative.

Okay, I had some issues embedding the pics--Sorry!

rose



simple

cathedral

  

Bacardi Rum Cake

Cake:

1 cup chopped pecans
1 18½  oz. pkg. yellow cake mix
1 3¾ oz. pkg vanilla instant pudding
4 eggs
½ cup cold water
½ cup oil
½ cup dark rum (80 Proof)

Glaze:

¼ lb. butter
¼ cup water
1 cup granulated sugar
½ cup dark rum (80 Proof)

Cake:

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Grease and flour 12-cup Bundt pan. Sprinkle nuts over bottom of pan. Mix all cake ingredients together. Pour batter over nuts. Bake 1 hour. Cool. Invert onto rimmed serving platter.  Prick top.

Glaze:

Melt butter in saucepan. Stir in water and sugar. Boil 5 minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Stir in rum. Spoon and brush glaze evenly over top and sides of cake. Allow cake to absorb glaze. Repeat until glaze is used up.

Enjoy!

Foodie Friday--Chocolate Cream Cake

I have no idea where my mom got this recipe. I just know that over the last 15+ years it has been the ‘fall-back’ birthday cake recipe.

Chocolate Cream Cake

3 oz. (squares) unsweetened chocolate, Bakers
2 ¼ cups sifted cake flour
2 tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. salt
½ cup butter, softened
2 ¼ cups firmly packed light brown sugar
3 eggs
1 ½ tsp. vanilla
1 cup sour cream
1 cup boiling water

Melt chocolate over hot water.  Set aside. Cool. Sift flour, baking soda and salt. In another bowl, beat butter, sugar and eggs at high speed until light and fluffy. Beat in vanilla and cooled chocolate. Stir in dry ingredients, alternating with sour cream, beating until smooth.  Stir in water. Batter will be thin. Grease and flour two 9-inch round pans.  Tap out excess flour. Pour batter evenly into each pan.  Bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes.  Cool in pans for 10 minutes, then turn out onto wire racks.  Cool.  Split each layer in half crosswise to make 4 layers.  Fill and frost with frosting.
 

Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting

8 oz. pkg. cream cheese, room temp
6 Tbls. cream or milk
1 ½ lbs powdered sugar, sifted
6 Tbls butter
4 oz. (squares) unsweetened chocolate

Melt butter and chocolate together, beat in cream cheese. Alternating sugar and cream beat into chocolate mixture. Frost middle and sides of cake.  Refrigerate.

Enjoy! 
Later, Peeps! 

FOODIE FRIDAY--Breakfast Apple Cake

Today I’m posting another breakfast item. I cut this recipe out of the newspaper in 2007--I actually wrote the date on the silly thing this time! Yay! And I have “Rachel loves it!” written on it. So if you have kids who are finicky, then this recipe might work for you!

I ran it through the Weight Watcher points plus recipe cruncher, using Splenda instead of sugar--the numbers are the same. Remember one of my blog posts where I said it didn’t matter if you used zero calorie sweeteners your body still gives the same insulin push? Well, the WW conversion proves that is true. So this has fewer calories, but your body will react as if it has had a shot of sugar.

I lightened up the original amount of butter by substituting half with applesauce.

Breakfast Apple Cake

1 cup Splenda

1 cup flour
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. nutmeg
1 tsp. baking soda
Pinch of salt
¼ cup butter, melted
¼ cup applesauce
2 eggs, slightly beaten
1 cup raisins
1 cup chopped nuts (pecans)
2 ½ cup peeled and chopped apples
1 Tbls. vanilla

1. Mix together Splenda, flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda and salt.

2. Add melted butter, applesauce, eggs and raisins
3. Fold in nuts, apples and vanilla
4. Pour into 8 x 8-inch greased square pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes.

Easy-peasy--enjoy!

FOODIE FRIDAY--Lemon Curd Layer Cake

And here’s another Bon Appetit recipe. I made this cake numerous times in 2008/2009 from family occasions to the hubby’s work parties.  This recipe must be made in parts as they must be chilled prior to building the cake. Please read the entire recipe prior to making. Allow two days.

A word of warning: this recipe takes a DOZEN EGGS.

Lemon Curd Layer Cake

LEMON CURD: will be used in frosting AND cake

2 1/3 cups sugar
2 tsp. cornstarch
1 cup fresh lemon juice
4 large eggs
4 large egg yolks
¾ cup (1 ½ sticks) unsalted butter, cut into ½-inch pieces

FROSTING:

¾ cup powdered sugar
2 cups chilled whipping cream

CAKE:

1 ½ cups cake flour
1 ½ cups sugar
2 ½ tsp baking powder
¾ tsp salt
4 large egg yolks
¼ cup vegetable oil
¼ cup orange juice
1 ½ tsp grated lemon peel
8 large egg whites
¼ tsp cream of tartar

Lemon slices, halved, patted dry

FOR LEMON CURD: Combine 2 1/3 cups sugar and 2 tsp cornstarch in heavy medium saucepan. Gradually whisk in fresh lemon juice. Whisk in eggs and yolks; add butter. Whisk over medium heat until curd thickens and boils, about 12 minutes. Pour (through strainer to catch cooked bits of egg) into medium bowl. Refrigerate until cold, at least 5 hours (Can be prepared 1 week ahead. Cover and keep refrigerated).

FOR FROSTING: Beat powdered sugar and 1 ¼ cups lemon curd in large bowl just until blended. Beat cream in medium bowl until firm peaks form. Fold cream into curd mixture in 3 additions. Chill until firm, at least 4 hours.

FOR CAKE: Preheat oven to 350 F. Butter and flour three 9-inch-round cake pans with 1½-inch sides; line bottoms with parchment paper. Whisk 1½ cups cake flour, ½ cup sugar, 2 ½ tsp. baking powder and ¾ tsp. salt in large bowl. Add 4 yolks, ¼ cup vegetable oil, orange juice, lemon peel and ¾ cup lemon curd to bowl (do not stir). Combine whites and ¼ tsp. cream of tartar in another large bowl. Using electric mixer, beat whites until soft peaks form. Gradually add remaining 1 cup sugar, beating until stiff but not dry. Using same beaters, beat yolk mixture until smooth. Fold whites into yolk mixture in 3 additions.

Divide batter equally among prepared pans. Bake cakes until tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 25 minutes. Cool cakes in pans on racks 15 minutes. Turn cakes out onto racks; peel off parchment. Cool cakes completely.

Spoon 1 cup frosting into pastry bag fitted with plain round tip; refrigerate bag. Place 1 cake layer on cake platter. Spread top of cake layer with 1/3 cup curd, then 1 cup frosting. Top with second cake layer; spread with 1/3 cup curd and 1 cup frosting. Top with third cake layer. Spread remaining frosting over top and sides of cake. Spread remaining curd over top of cake, leaving ¾-inch border around edge. Pipe chilled 1 cup frosting in bag in small mounds around edge of cake. (Cake can be prepared 1 day ahead; refrigerate). Place lemon slices between mounds of frosting. Slice cake and serve.

Enjoy!