Lemon Snowflake Cake

INGREDIENTS

INSTRUCTIONS

White-chocolate snowflakes balance gracefully on a delicate, lemony
three-layer white cake filled with zesty lemon custard and covered
with a white-chocolate frosting.  Several hours or day before serving,
prepare Lemon Filling: In 2-quart  saucepan, combine sugar, cornstarch,
and salt until well mixed.  Gradually add water, stirring until smooth.
Heat mixture to boiling  over medium heat, stirring constantly with
wire whisk; boil 1 minute  (or until mixture thickens). In small bowl,
quickly stir some of hot  mixture into egg yolks, then stir egg-yolk
mixture into remaining hot  mixture in saucepan until well blended.
Reduce heat to low; add  butter and cook mixture for 5 minutes,
stirring occasionally. Remove  from heat; stir in lemon juice and rind.
Cool to room temperature;  cover surface of filling with plastic wrap
and refrigerate until  filling is completely cold-at least 2 hours.
Prepare Cake Layers:  Heat oven to 375'F. Grease three 9-inch-round
baking pans. Line  bottoms of pans with parchment or, waxed paper;
grease and flour  paper. In medium-size bowl, combine flour, baking
powder, and salt.  In large bowl, with electric mixer at medium speed,
beat 1 3/4 C  sugar and very light and fluffy; beat in lemon juice,
lemon rind, and  vanilla. Add flour mixture alternately with milk to
butter mixture,  beginning and ending with flour mixture, beating until
smooth batter  forms. In another bowl, with clean beaters and mixer at
high speed,  beat egg whites and remaining 1/4 C sugar until stiff
peaks form.  With rubber spatula, gently fold egg whites into batter.
Divide  evenly among prepared pans. Bake 25 minutes, or until cake
tester  inserted in center comes out clean. Cool cake layers in pans on
wire  racks 10 minutes; invert layers onto wire racks, remove parchment
paper and cool layers completely. Meanwhile, prepare White-Chocolate
Snowflakes: In double boiler, over hot, not boiling, water, or in
microwave, melt 1 1/2 bars white chocolate. Cover a baking sheet with
aluminum foil. Spoon melted white chocolate into pastry bag fitted
with writing tip. Reserve pan in which white chocolate was melted.
Onto foil-lined sheet, pipe twenty-eight 2-inch snowflakes. Decorate
with silver dragees, if desired. Place sheet of snowflakes in freezer
until cake is completely frosted. Prepare White-Chocolate Frosting:
Melt remaining 2 1/2 bars white chocolate in the same pan; set aside
to cool to room temperature. In large bowl, with electric mixer at
medium speed, beat cream cheese until smooth. Gradually beat in white
chocolate, butter, and lemon juice until frosting is smooth. To
assemble cake, with sharp knife, trim tops of cake layers to make
level. Place one cake layer on serving plate; spread with half of
lemon filling; repeat with second cake layer and filling. Place last
cake layer, upside down, on top of filling to complete 3-layer cake.
Frost cake smoothly with White-Chocolate Frosting. Remove snowflakes
from freezer; gently peel snowflakes from foil. Press a few  snowflakes
into side of cake; pile remaining on top of cake. Serve  immediately or
store in refrigerator.  Country Living/December/92 Scanned & fixed by
Di Pahl & <gg>  From Gemini's MASSIVE MealMaster collection at
www.synapse.com/~gemini

A Message from our Provider:

“Awesome: you don’t know the meaning of the word until you meet Jesus”