CS Bakers- Triple Lemon Chiffon Cake

This month's Cake Slice Bakers' cake was Triple Lemon Chiffon Cake. Normally, I'm not a citrus-flavored dessert fan, especially in cakes and cookies. And as I was looking over this recipe, I thought it was a LOT of lemon- a lightly lemon flavored cake, filled with lemon curd, and frosted with a lemon whipped cream (I subbed Italian Meringue Buttercream flavored with a touch or lemon). Sidenote- Can someone please tell me what is up with frosting cakes with plain or lightly flavored whipped cream??!! We've done about 3 so far!! Whipped cream is not a good frosting!
I was VERY pleasantly surprised with the results! I thought this cake was so fabulous, as did my family and our guests. I did think the lemon curd was pretty strong, but my husband assured me that it was just my "pregnant tastebuds." This seemed to prove true when inspecting my 3 year old's slice- she ate the curd and frosting and left the cake. This rascal didn't even leave the cake behind.
Triple Lemon Chiffon Cake
Adapted from SKY HIGH IRRESISTIBLE TRIPLE LAYER CAKES By Alisa Huntmans and Peter Wynne

FOR THE CAKE:
MAKES A 9-INCH TRIPLE LAYER CAKE

• 8 eggs, separated
  
• 1/4 cup canola oil
• 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon of lemon zest
• 1/3 cup water
• 1/2 teaspoon of cream of tartar
• 1 and 1/2 cups of sugar
• 1 and 3/4 cups of cake flour
• 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon of salt

1. Preheat the oven to 350degrees F. Line the bottoms of three 9-inch pans with parchment paper but do not butter or grease the pans.
   
2. In a med-large bowl whisk together the egg yolks, oil, lemon juice, lemon zest, and water.
3. In the bowl of an electric mixer, whip the egg whites with the cream of tartar on medium speed until light and frothy. Slowly add 1/2 cup of sugar and continue to beat until soft peaks form.
4. Sift the flour, remaining sugar, baking soda , and salt into a large bowl. Whisk gently to combine. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients. Pour in the egg yolk mixture and mix to create a smooth paste. Add one-fourth of the egg whites and fold in to lighten the batter. Fold in the remaining egg whites and divide the batter among the three pans.
5. bake for about 16 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean. Transfer to wire racks to cool in the pans. Once cool run a knife around the cake to in order to un-mold the cakes. Carefully pull off the parchment paper from the bottoms of the cakes.
6. To assemble the cake, place one layer on a cake stand. Top with a heaping 1/4 cup of lemon curd and spread it evenly. Repeat with the remaining layers. Frost the top of the cake and the sides with the lemon cream frosting.
   

RICH LEMON CURD
MAKES 1 CUP

• 3 whole eggs
• 2 egg yolks
• 1/2 cup of sugar
• 1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon of freshly squeezed lemon juice (about 4 lemons)
• grated zest of three lemons
• 4 tablespoons of unsalted butter, at room temp.

1. Whisk together the whole eggs, yolks, sugar, lemon juice , and lemon zest together in a medium bowl. Transfer to a small non-reactive saucepan. Gently heat the mixture, whisking until it thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon. make sure not to boil the mixture. Pour the mixture through a sieve into a heatproof bowl. Stir in the butter and cover the curd with plastic making sure the plastic touches the curd. This should prevent a skin from forming on the curd. Refrigerate until cold. Then remove 3 tablespoons of curd and set it aside for the icing.

LEMON CREAM FROSTING
MAKES 3 AND 1/4 CUPS

• 1 and 1/2 cups of heavy cream
• 2 tablespoons of sugar
• 3 tablespoon of lemon curd

1. Whip the cream and sugar in a large chilled bowl until stiff peaks form. Fold in the lemon curd, forming a stiff frosting.