Angel Food Cake With Lemon Curd and Mascarpone Cream

I share this recipe with you with mixed feelings. It was not my best work. But then I recall telling you that as I am but a beginner in these homemaking enterprises that I intended to share with you my failures as well as my successes. This was not totally a failure, but nor would I classify it a success.

I got this recipe from Canadian Living and I brought the cake to a large family gathering. Firstly, I will admit that I did not make the angel food cake. My friend and I attacked this recipe together and as she only had one angel food pan, it would have been a big pain to go through the whole mixing/cooking/cooling process twice. So the actual cake was purchased from the grocery store.

In effect this means that all I really did was the mascarpone cream frosting, the lemon curd, and the decorating. Here’s the recipe. I’ll include the cake recipe in case you want to try it and not cheat like I did.

Angel Food Cake with Lemon Curd and Mascarpone Cream

This is what the beautiful cake is supposed to look like. Photo Credit: Canadian Living.

Ingredients

• 1-1/4 cups (300 mL) sifted cake-and-pastry flour
• 1-1/4 cups (300 mL) granulated sugar
• 1-1/2 cups (375 mL) egg whites, (10 to 12)
• 1 tbsp (15 mL) lemon juice
• 1 tsp (5 mL) cream of tartar
• 1/2 tsp (2 mL) salt
• 1/2 tsp (2 mL) vanilla
• 1 cup (250 mL) quartered hulled strawberries
• Lemon Curd:
• 4 egg yolks
• 1/2 cup (125 mL) granulated sugar
• 1 tbsp (15 mL) finely grated lemon zest
• 1/3 cup (75 mL) lemon juice
• 1/3 cup (75 mL) cold butter, cubed
• Mascarpone Cream:
• 4 oz (113 g) mascarpone cheese, at room temperature
• 1/2 cup (125 mL) whipping cream, (35%)
• 1 tbsp (15 mL) icing sugar
• 1/2 tsp (2 mL) vanilla

Preparation

Cake:

1. In small bowl, sift flour with 1/2 cup of the sugar; sift into separate bowl.
2. In large bowl, beat egg whites until foamy; beat in lemon juice, cream of tartar and salt until soft peaks form. Beat in remaining sugar, 2 tbsp at a time, until stiff glossy peaks form.
3. One-quarter at a time, sift flour mixture over top and fold in until blended. Fold in vanilla. Scrape into ungreased 10-inch (4 L) tube pan. Run spatula through batter to eliminate any large air bubbles; smooth top.
4. Bake in 350ºF (180ºC) oven until cake springs back when lightly touched, 40 to 45 minutes. Turn pan upside down and let hang on legs attached to pan, or on bottle, until completely cooled. Remove from pan. (Make-ahead: Store in airtight container for up to 2 days.)

Lemon Curd:

1. Meanwhile, in heatproof bowl, whisk egg yolks, sugar, lemon zest and lemon juice. Set over saucepan of simmering water; cook, stirring, until thick enough to coat back of spoon, 8 to 10 minutes.
2. Remove from heat. Stir in butter, 1 piece at a time, until smooth. Strain through fine sieve into airtight container. Place plastic wrap directly on surface. Refrigerate until thick enough to mound firmly on spoon, about 2 hours. (Make-ahead: Refrigerate for up to 4 days.)

Mascarpone Cream:

1. Meanwhile, place mascarpone in bowl. In separate bowl, whip together cream, icing sugar and vanilla; fold into mascarpone. (Make-ahead: Cover and refrigerate for up to 24 hours.)

Assembly:

1. Slice cake in half horizontally. Evenly spread lemon curd over cut side of bottom half; top with remaining cake. Spread mascarpone cream over top. Garnish with strawberries.

Source : Canadian Living Magazine: April 2012

So how did it go? Well, it looked okay — though I did this weird thing because I had giant strawberries not pretty little ones like in the magazine’s picture. I think it looks rather like the Easter Island heads.

My version. Unusually tall because of the huge berries, but otherwise pretty enough, I guess.

The mascarpone creme was really good. I love working with that stuff. Actually, it reminds me of a wonderful pancake recipe I have to share with you at some point. The trouble factor, though, was the lemon curd. I have no idea what went wrong. Maybe I misread something in the recipe, who knows. But my curd was extremely sour. It was so lemony that it made it you pucker. Seriously. As if you were some kind of cartoon character or something, this thing would happen to your face.

My mother, because she is my mother, swore that she loved it, sour and all. Nina’s was also sour (unsurprising, I guess, since we made them at the same time).

Would I try it again? Maybe. Not very likely though. There are so many other wonderful desserts out there that this one will likely not be revisited by me again.