Cake with lemon cream and Italian meringue

Lemon meringue cake is a recipe for a delicate, airy, very tasty cake, the peculiarity of which is that the dough does not contain whole eggs, but only egg whites. The dough after baking is light. Italian meringue is more durable and is especially good for decorating cakes. And there are certain tricks in the preparation of Italian meringue. Lemon cake cream is prepared with gelatin, otherwise the cream can be made without gelatin.

Ingredients

• Butter, room temperature - 1 cup (about 200 g)
• Sifted flour, of the highest quality - 3 cups (400-450 g)
• Baking powder - 2 tsp
• Salt - 1 tsp
• Sugar - 1 ¾ cups
• Vanilla pod - 1 pc.
• Room temperature milk - 1 cup
• Egg whites - 8 pcs.
• Cream of tartar (optional, for the stability of whipped proteins) - ¼ tsp
• For lemon cream:
• Gelatin (you can not use it, but it is desirable in the cream for the cake) - ½ tsp.
• Cold water (needed if using gelatin) - 2 tbsp. l.
• Eggs - 4 pcs.
• Egg yolks - 6 pcs.
• Sugar - 1 cup
• Zest of 2 lemons, grated on a fine grater - 5 tsp
• Freshly squeezed lemon juice (3-4 lemons) - ¾ cup
• Butter, chilled, cut into small pieces - 6 tbsp. l. (about 90 g)
• For the Italian meringue:
• Sugar - 1 cup and 3 tbsp. l.
• Water - 1/3 cup
• Egg whites - 4 pcs.
• Cream of tartar (optional, to firm up whipped egg whites) - pinch
• Salt - a pinch
• Freshly squeezed lemon juice (optional, only for the cake) - 1 tbsp. l.
• or vanilla extract (also optional) - 1 tsp.

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 175 degrees. Place a rack in the middle of the oven. Grease two 20 cm diameter molds with oil. Cover the bottom with parchment. Also grease the paper with oil and sprinkle with flour (shake off the excess).
2. Mix flour, baking powder and salt.
3. Beat butter and 1 ¼ cups sugar well with a mixer (until light, fluffy). Add the vanilla seeds from the split pod.
4. While continuing to beat on low speed, add the dry ingredients mixture in three batches, alternating with two batches of milk (finish with flour).
5. Beat egg whites with a mixer. First, beat on low speed until fluffy. Then, after adding cream of tartar, increase the speed of the mixer. Beat until soft peaks form (the mass holds its shape slightly). Gradually add sugar (½ cup) and beat the protein mass until a dense, glossy state (however, be careful not to "kill" the proteins). Gently fold a third of the beaten egg whites into the batter. Then, add the rest. It is important to add the proteins in portions and mix very slowly and carefully so as not to lose the volume of the dough.
6. Divide the dough into two parts, put in the prepared molds and bake for 30-40 minutes (until the pastry begins to slightly “move away” from the walls of the mold).
7. Remove the molds from the oven, leave for 10 minutes. Put the finished pastries on the wire rack, remove the paper, cool completely.
8. Use a saw blade to cut a thin layer to level the surface. Cut two pies into four layers. Brush the cakes evenly with lemon cream (about ½ cup for each layer). Place the cake in the refrigerator for 2 hours.
9. Before serving, brush the entire cake with the prepared Italian meringue.
10. Lemon cream.
11. Pour gelatin into cold water and leave for 5-7 minutes.
12. Whisk the eggs and yolks in a small heavy-bottomed saucepan. Add sugar, lemon zest and lemon juice. Stirring constantly, cook over moderate heat for 8-10 minutes (egg mass should remain on the back of a wooden spoon).
13. Remove the saucepan from the heat and add the gelatin to the eggs. Stir for a couple of minutes to cool the mass a little. Gradually add the oil (a few pieces at a time) and beat the mass well each time until smooth. Strain through a fine sieve, cover with cling film and refrigerate for at least 2 hours (preferably overnight).
14. Italian meringue.
15. Bring water and sugar to a boil in a small saucepan, swirling but not stirring. Rinse the sugar off the sides of the saucepan with a wet brush to prevent crystals from forming. Boil the syrup to a temperature of 115 degrees (it is better to check with a special thermometer; but if you do not have a thermometer, you will have to do without it), this is important for a good meringue.
16. In the meantime, beat the whites with a mixer - first at low speed, then, after adding salt and cream of tartar, increase the speed of the mixer. Beat until soft peaks form (the mass holds its shape slightly). If the whites are almost ready, but there is no syrup yet, reduce the speed of the mixer, but do not stop beating the whites (by the way, you can “kill” them, which will also harm the quality of the meringue).
17. With the mixer running, slowly pour the hot sugar syrup down the side of the bowl, avoiding the rotating mixer attachments. Beat at medium-high speed for 5-7 minutes, until dense, persistent "peaks". Stir in lemon juice or vanilla.
18. Gently fold the beaten egg whites into the batter.
19. Lubricate the cakes with cream.