My birthday turned out sour this year because that’s when Covid hit two of us.
This is my first lemon cake. The original recipe by Preppy Kitchen pairs the cake with mascarpone filling and lemon Swiss buttercream. Instead, I filled my cake with lemon curd, and covered it with a simple American buttercream. Unfortunately, the lemon curd sunk into the cake layers. Although it tasted great, this left tunnels in the finished cake.
While my curd might not have worked perfectly, I still swear by the technique of using acetate to create a cake collar. I also did this in October with Shep’s funfetti cake with Oreo filling. (I know that it isn’t the most pleasing looking combination, but the birthday boy loved it.)
This technique enables me to build my cake quickly. Once the layers and fillings are combined, I wrap the entire thing in plastic wrap and foil, and store it in the freezer for several weeks.
The morning of my birthday, all I had to do was remove it from the freezer and a few hours later add the American buttercream around the sides and top.
You can find instructions for this technique on the Wicked Goodies web site.