food | lemon curd

A few weekends ago, we had our first guests in our new apartment - our dear friends Victoria and David. Victoria and David both love to cook (as do I, though I'm not as creative as they are) and Isaac loves to eat so we had a wonderful weekend with lots of delicious food. One thing I absolutely had to share was Victoria's lemon curd recipe (which we enjoyed with angel food cake and strawberries). I don't even usually like cake, I don't hate it, but if given the choice between cake and some other dessert I will almost always choose the non-cake option. In fact, growing up I never asked for cake on my birthday (unless it was an ice cream cake, those are great!), I would ask for pie or grandma's cherry delight. However, Victoria's angel food cake with lemon curd is what I will be requesting for every birthday from now on. Seriously, this cake is really that good.

It looked a lot like this but instead of spreading the lemon curd between the layers, we just drizzled it over each slice. Unfortunately, we don't have a picture of our actual dessert because we ate it up so fast.

Start with an angel food cake mix and prepare and bake according to directions.

While cake is baking, prepare the lemon curd.

Victoria's Lemon Curd:

3 TBLS. Grated lemon zest
3 lemons (to equal 1/3 cup of fresh lemon juice)
5 egg yolks
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, chilled.

Mix yolks, sugar, zest, and lemon juice. Put in double boiler or heavy bottomed saucepan. Slowly cook, stirring continually, until mixture thickens or to 170 degrees. Should be able to coat the back of a spoon well. Take off heat and stir in small pats of butter one at a time. Place in fridge.

Victoria says that it isn't that complicated but it does take patience because you have to stir and watch and stir and watch the whole time it is on the stove.

Enjoy with fresh fruit and the angel food cake!