Sugar-Free Lemon Butter Cake with Mascarpone Whipped Cream and Lemon Curd

This is a baby Yoda- lemony- (partially), sugar free part 2 bake for hubby's birthday! 

Please see my previous post for part 1 for sugar-free lemon bar with baby Yoda grapes.

Baby Yoda is made out of kiwi this time!

Please visit Melly's Instagram page for the tutorial on how to make baby Yoda out of kiwi @mellyeatsworld.

Here's a peek at a slice of the cake!

This lemon cake is made of a dense and rich tasting lemon butter sponge that is full of lemon flavour but has a melt in your mouth texture, sugar-free lemon curd, and mascarpone whipped cream. I brushed the sponge with mixture of honey and lemon juice to add moisture and more lemon flavour.

I adapted Hanbit Cho's lemon cake recipe for this bake.  You may find his detailed recipe and video tutorial on youtube over here. I tweaked it by including egg separation method to include a meringue component in the batter, as well as adding a little more lemon juice. I replaced half of the sugar with erythritol. You may use Hanbit's recipe as it is too but I was going for something like Mrs SK Ng's butter cake where both creaming method and meringues are used, but with the weight of eggs similar to Hanbit's recipe.

Lemon butter sponge

Ingredients (makes two thick 6" layers):

152g unsalted butter, softened (around 20-22C)

50g castor sugar (I used erythritol)

A pinch of salt

24g honey

4 egg yolks* (large, room temperature)

34g finely ground almond powder

136g cake flour

3/4-1 tsp baking powder

8g lemon zest

35g lemon juice

1 tsp vanilla extract

Meringue

2 egg whites* (large)

60g castor sugar (I replaced 15g with erythritol, may replace all with sugar replacements for totally sugar-free version)

1/8 tsp cream of tartar (optional)

* Total weight of egg yolks plus egg whites used about 152g.

Steps:

1. Preheat oven to 165C. Line two 6" round pans with parchment paper at the base. I didn't have two identical pans that size so I used the paper cases for panettone.

2. Sift together almond, cake flour and baking powder, set aside.

3. Beat softened butter with electric mixer until loosened. Add sugar and salt and beat until light and fluffy. Add honey and beat until well combined.

4. Add one egg yolk and beat with electric mixer until well combined. Add a third of the sifted dry ingredients and beat until well combined.

5. Add the rest of the egg yolks one at a time, beating until well combined before adding more. Add in rest of dry ingredients and beat until just combined.

6. Add lemon juice, zest and vanilla and beat until well combined. 

7. Divide batter between two pans and bake for 25-30 min or until skewer comes out clean. Cool for 5 minutes before unmolding from pan.

For the cake assembly, I sliced each layer horizontally into two.

Lemon curd

Ingredients:
3 egg yolks
100g lemon juice (about 2 large lemons)

80g sugar of choice (I used erythritol for sugar-free option)
100g unsalted butter, cut into small cubes at room temperature
Zest of 1 lemon

Steps:
1. In a heatproof bowl, whisk together sugar and egg yolks until smooth. Add lemon juice and mix well.

2. Double-boil egg mixture and whisk until temperature reaches 80C. 

3.Sieve mixture if you wish. Add softened butter one cube at a time, mixing until well combined after each addition with a spatula.

4. Add lemon zest and mix well. Use it immediately or to store, keep in airtight container with cling wrap touching the surface in the fridge for up to a week or freezer for up to a month. 

Mascarpone whipped cream
Note that conventional mascarpone whipped cream has sugar added and non-dairy whipped cream is not used. I use some non-dairy whipping cream for added stability in tropical Singapore. It is also pre-sweetened and has stabilizer added so I didn't add sugar. I used double cream instead of regular dairy whipping cream for a milkier taste and better stability.

Ingredients:
100g Whip topping (non-dairy whipping cream)
50g Mascarpone cheese
150g double cream (45% fat)

1.5 tsp vanilla extract

Steps:
1. Whip non-dairy cream until stiff peaks. Set aside.

2. Whisk Mascarpone cheese until loosened.

3. Add double cream and vanilla to loosened cheese and whisk until well combined. Do not overmix. Once the mixture is smooth and creamy, stop whisking in with the hand whisk.

4. Fold in non-dairy whipped cream in 3 additions with a spatula. 

5. Keep refrigerated airtight until use or transfer to piping bag and use straight away.

I folded in lemon curd into some of the mascarpone whipped cream and added a little yellow gel colouring for piping the dots around the cake.

Assembly

Get ready all the above and prepare a syrup made from honey and lemon juice with 1:1 ratio for brushing the sponge. You may refer to the reel on how I assemble the cake. Feel free to pipe it and decorate anyway you like! Hubby loves a mouth puckering lemon bake so adjust the ratio of mascarpone whipped cream and lemon curd on the cake to your preference. The sponge is sweet (but not overly so), mascarpone whipped cream mildly sweet and the curd is really sour. I kept the piping bags that are not in use in the fridge, and chill the cake in the fridge whenever necessary while working as Singapore is warm.

https://www.instagram.com/reel/Cksz3KsAV82/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

Refrigerate cake and best consumed within a week.

with lots of love,

Phay Shing