Lemon Queen Cakes – OH MY

Lemon Queen Cakes with Meringue Frosting, Vintage Cakes, pg 50. First of all, this is an amazing dessert if you like lemon curd, lemon cake, and marshmallowy meringue. And it’s a marvel of baking that the water bath allows for a curd to form on the bottom and the cake to appear at the top and it’s all from the same batter. It would be an amazing dinner party dessert and tasted even better on day 2 and day 3. But there are some things to note: I used 6 oz ramekins,  filled 4oz up and needed 8 of them. Speaking of 8, note that you need a total of 8 eggs for this – so take them out early to get them to room temp (not mentioned in book, both sets of whites will need to be whipped). When you are ready to distribute the batter into the cups you are using, it’s best to have the batter in a bowl with a spout or a large measuring cup as it’s a little messy otherwise. Note to self to make sure the roasting pan fits in the oven without removal of a shelf; removing the shelf while the oven is hot is always trickier and you lose your oven heat. My bake time was 38 minutes till I saw golden and cracks on top (it is possible my oven temp was closer to 335 than 350). Once you remove the pan from the oven, it’s a little tricky to get the cups out of the hot water without burning yourself or dropping a cup; I needed to use tongs and even then I was worried. For the topping, my whip time was 4-5 minutes (high speed, not medium high speed). Distribute all the topping so you make sure you have enough before shaping it, I found it easiest to distribute with a spatula vs a spoon.  The topping was the one thing I might change. It is super sweet and while yummy, I felt it detracted from the amazement of the curd plus the cake. I think next time I would choose a lighter, less heavy and less sweet meringue topping. Still an amazing dessert. YUM!!!! Vintage Cakes’ Lemon Queen Cakes with Meringue Frosting-Famous Fridays — Unwritten Recipes