Yield
Units
Makes 1×: Three 6-inch layers, 8 to 10 servings
Pan sizes, bake times, and rest times don't scale with the ingredients. Adjust those by eye.
You'll need
- Three 6-inch round pans, 2 inches deep
- A scale, for dividing the batter evenly
Dry mix, whisk together
- 300 g All-purpose flour
- 5 g Salt
- 4 g Baking powder
- 4 g Baking soda
Wet base
- 350 g Granulated sugar
- 2 Lemons, zest only
- 113 g Unsalted butter, room temp
- 3 Eggs, large
- 240 g Whole milk
- 125 g Sourdough starter discard
- 10 ml Vanilla extract
- 1.25 ml Almond extract, do not exceed
Raspberry filling
- 340 g Fresh raspberries
- 67 g Granulated sugar
- 8 g Cornstarch, plus 1 Tbsp cold water
- 5 ml Lemon juice
Lemon cream frosting
- 226 g Neufchâtel or 1/3-less-fat cream cheese, room temp, not fat-free
- 355 g Heavy cream, very cold
- 60 g Powdered sugar
- 1 Lemon zest, plus 2 tsp juice
- 5 ml Vanilla extract
- 1 pinch Salt
Order of operations
I know this may look complicated, but stick with me.
- Raspberry filling first. It has the longest chill and nothing waits on it.
- Cake while the filling chills. Mix, bake, cool all the way on the rack, about 45 minutes.
- Frosting last, right before you assemble. Whipped cream is best the hour it is made.
- Assemble, chill, coat, chill. Three hours start to finish.
Cake
- Heat the oven to 325°F, rack in the center. Parchment round in each pan, butter the sides, dust with flour.
- Rub the zest into the sugar with your fingers for about 30 seconds, until the sugar is damp and smells like lemon. Fingers, not a spoon. This is where the lemon flavor comes from.
- Whisk the dry mix in a separate bowl and set it aside.
- Cream the butter and lemon sugar 3 to 4 minutes, until pale and fluffy.
- Beat in the eggs one at a time. Add the milk, starter, vanilla, and almond. Mix smooth.
- Add the dry mix. Mix until just combined and no flour lumps remain, then stop.
- Divide by weight, about 433 g per pan. Tap each one on the counter to knock the bubbles out.
Bake
- All three on one center rack in a triangle. Nothing touching another pan or a wall.
- 40 to 48 minutes. Rotate at 25. Start testing at 38. Toothpick clean at the center.
- Cool in the pan 10 minutes, then turn out onto a rack and cool completely before filling.
Raspberry filling
- Simmer the berries and sugar 5 to 8 minutes, mashing them as they break down.
- Stir in the cornstarch slurry. Cook 1 to 2 minutes, until a spoon dragged through leaves a track that holds.
- Off the heat, stir in the lemon juice. Push half of it through a sieve if you want fewer seeds.
- Chill it fully, an hour minimum. It has to be jam-thick when cold, not saucy.
Lemon cream frosting
- Chill the bowl and the whisk first.
- Beat the cheese alone 1 to 2 minutes until completely smooth. Add the sugar, zest, vanilla, and salt, and combine.
- Stream in the cold cream on low, then go to medium-high to firm peaks. Stop the instant the whisk leaves a clean track.
- Fold the lemon juice in by hand. Add the last teaspoon only if it is still holding firm.
- If it goes loose, chill it 15 to 20 minutes and it tightens back up.
Assembly
- Level the tops if they domed.
- Layer one, half the raspberry spread to within half an inch of the edge. Layer two, the rest. Layer three goes on upside down so you get a flat top.
- Chill 20 minutes. Thin crumb coat. Chill 15 more.
- Final coat, scraped back semi-naked so the layers and the jam show through.
- Refrigerate. Pull it out 20 to 30 minutes before cutting so the crumb isn't cold.
Watch out
- Overwhipping the frosting is the one mistake here you cannot recover from. Firm peaks, then stop.
- Runny filling slides the layers apart under the frosting. If it isn't jam-thick cold, put it back on the heat and cook it down further.
Make ahead. Filling keeps 3 days in the fridge. Layers can be baked a day ahead, wrapped well at room temperature. Frost the day you serve it.
Storage. Refrigerated, 3 days. It cuts cleanest cold and tastes best 20 minutes out.