Good Things by David

 I usually use lemons from my father's trees to create this cake and to my mind, it makes the dessert that much more special & tasty.  Now it's time to fill & frost those delicious layers that were made in the previous post.  It takes a little bit of planning, so I suggest you pace yourself.  The lemon curd  can be made a day  in advanced (you'll need to make two batches of this) and the swiss meringue buttercream  can also be made a day in advanced.  This is how I do it. 3/4 cups lemon curd is added to the swiss meringue buttercream . With a silicone spatula, thoroughly mix the chilled lemon curd.  You want to blend this until it's creamy.   The buttercream is smooth & delicious.  It takes on a very appealing lemon color.    I dab a bit of buttercream onto my turntable to help stabilize the layers.  Using a lazy susan like this allows  me to turn the ca...

This cake has a special place in my repertoire.  It gets requested by aunt Marg for her birthday every year and it never fails to please.  The recipe I follow comes from Martha Stewart's Baking Handbook  and the one I've linked from marthastewart.com is a slight variation.  The cake is tender, lemony & so scrumptious.  I'll show you how I assembled and decorated these layers for aunt Marg's cake in my next post.  Bookmark this and make it for your next special occasion. The ingredients are carefully measured out.  Make sure the eggs, butter & sour cream are at room temperature.  Click here  for the recipe. Yield : Two 9"x2" rounds As I've said before, I always beat my butter before adding the sugar whenever I make a butter cake. Recipes always say to cream your butter & sugar until pale & fluffy.  This is what pale & fluffy should look like.  Don...

Lining cake pans with parchment paper guarantees that your layers will release without any problems.  It is possible to buy parchment rounds from specialty shops, but one doesn't always have them on hand.  Simply cut a piece of parchment paper that's roughly the same diameter as your round cake pan.  Follow these steps and you'll see how easy it really is. This layer pan is 9" in diameter. Fold the parchment in half, lengthwise. Fold the closed sides in half. Fold the closed sides in half again two more times. You should end up with a triangular piece of parchment like this. Turn your cake pan upside down.  Take the tip of your parchment paper and place it right in the middle of your pan.  Trim the overhanging piece of parchment. Voila!  Unfold your parchment & you have a perfect round with which to line your pan. This is such a simple trick that all bakers should know how to do.  Now you can line your cake...

There are several types of buttercream options for bakers and I think it's good knowing how to make at least one or two.  Swiss meringue buttercream is among my favorites, because it's simple to make and its texture is light & creamy.  The buttercream can be flavored or tinted to suit your tastes.  It helps if you have a stand mixer for this, but a good hand-held mixer can certainly do the job.  Every baker should know how to make a good buttercream.  Let's begin! Click here  for the actual recipe.  The egg whites and sugar are ready to be whisked.   Place the bowl of your stand mixer over a pot of simmering water and start whisking vigorously.  You don't want the water to be boiling.  After a few minutes, you will see a change in texture.  You want the sugar to completely dissolve.  Don't walk away from this task or you risk curdling the egg whites.   When working at the sto...