Lemon and Chocolate Truffle Wedding Cakes

This post is about the process of baking and transporting a wedding cake, with recipes converted down for home cooks. The recipes are for are 9-inch versions of the original lemon and chocolate truffle wedding cakes, both flavors, including recipes for the fillings and the frosting! 

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For the big day, I gave my niece and her husband their wedding cake, seven layers, and two different flavors. Tricia’s cake had a smooth light green fondant finish, but the cakes in this post are frosted with buttercream instead of fondant. If you are interested in fondant finishing cakes, check out this basic fondant technique video.

Six months before the wedding, Tricia and I went back and forth on cake details. She sent a photo of a wedding cake they liked. She sent paper mockups that showed just how they wanted the tiers displayed. Wedding guests would have two choices (or both), either lemon or chocolate truffle wedding cakes. The lemon cake would have fresh raspberries in the filling.

At the store shopping for cake ingredients, someone asked why I was buying so many raspberries. When I told her they were for the filling of my niece’s wedding cake, she said, “That’s a nice gift.” Yes it was—a gift of love, a wish for many years of wedded bliss.

The recipes below are for the 9-inch lemon raspberry cake and/or the 9-inch chocolate truffle cake, the ingredients and instructions to make the cakes, the fillings, the syrup, the meringue buttercream and for their assembly and finish. There is enough for a buttercream to crumb-coat and finish both the lemon and chocolate cakes. You absolutely need a heavy duty stand mixer.

Here are the details about how I went about making lemon and chocolate truffle wedding cakes:

• To complete these cakes from start to finish, I used a heavy-duty stand mixer. I hauled my Kitchenaid to California to whip the frosting on the wedding day itself. If you are making the 9-inch lemon raspberry cake or chocolate truffle cake, a heavy-duty stand mixer is essential.
• For the seven layers, two flavors, I divided the work into stages, over three days. I baked the lemon cakes, just the cakes, three weeks before the wedding and froze them in the walk-in freezer at Deer Valley.
• The chocolate cakes I baked a week out. While they were in the oven, I made coffee syrup, truffle filling, and a batch of vanilla-flavored meringue buttercream. The next day I filled and crumb-coated the chocolate cakes, then triple-wrapped them in plastic wrap so they wouldn’t risk freezer burn.

• When I put the chocolate cakes in the freezer, I brought the frozen lemon cakes home to thaw overnight.  I prepared the lemon cream and lemon simple syrup so they’d be ready. The next day I assembled and crumb-coated the lemon cakes, and wrapped them really well for freezer storage.

• At that point the cake was 85% complete and ready to transport and finish in California.

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Transporting and finishing the 7-tier 2 flavor cakes.

• On Thursday of wedding week I brought all the partially completed cakes home. 10 pounds of dry ice and our biggest picnic cooler became the new freezer. So the cakes couldn’t wiggle in the ice chest, Robbie stuffed Styrofoam “popcorn” into the spaces between the cakes and dry ice.
• Along with the ice chest, we packed a large box with my stand mixer, cake turntable, a pastry bag with assorted tips, frosting spatulas, apron, non-stick rolling pin and fondant rolling mat. We became a bakery on wheels, and headed south into a heat wave.
• It was 103 degrees Farenheight at 9pm in Mesquite Nevada, our sleeping stopover for Thursday night. No problem for these cakes though. The next morning we opened the cooler for a look, and declared the wonders of dry ice.
• When we unpacked the cooler at about 11am on Saturday, the cakes were still cold.

• The largest lemon one was even a bit frozen in the middle. But since Tricia and JP weren’t cutting the cake for 8 more hours, the cakes could continue to thaw.
• There at the Malibu hilltop house where the wedding was to be, we commandeered the huge kitchen island, a 6 x 6 foot square butcher-block table. Robbie was an able assistant, ready at every step, including cleanup.
• Both of us kept our noses to the grindstone, stopping here and there for a sip of beer or to hug early arriving cousins and aunts and nieces and nephews and brothers and sisters and in-laws.  We became entertainment for everyone who walked through the kitchen.
• Tricia wanted a soft, light celery green rolled fondant.  Seven tiers of cake, fondant-wrapped and stacked, for hours I  rolled, wrapped, and smoothed fondant onto the cakes.

• To finish, I whipped up royal icing in my trusty Kitchenaid mixer and piped a bottom border imitating the tucks in Tricia’s Vera Wang dress. I drew a continuous “ccccc” filigree around the side of the chocolate cakes and a continuous “lllll” around the side of the lemon cakes. For the bride and groom’s 6-inch cake I wrote “JPJPJP”, similar to their invitation. Voluptuous yellow-green and white orchid blossoms crowned the tiers.

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Print Recipe

5 from 1 vote

Lemon and Chocolate Cakes

Make this cake in steps. Bake the cakes and prep the filling the first day. You can fill and finish the cakes in the same day, but I like to spread the work out, filling on day 2 and finishing on day 3. Makes two (9-inch round) cakes. Each 9-inch cake serves 12 to 20 people, depending on how small you cut the slices. 

Prep Time5 hours hrs

Cook Time49 minutes mins

Total Time5 hours hrs 49 minutes mins

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American, French

Keyword: chocolate cake, lemon cake

Servings: 24 servings

Author: Letty | @lettyskitchen

Ingredients

Lemon cakes:

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• ½ teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 6 ounces cream cheese
• 8 ounces unsalted butter , room temperature (70 degrees F.)
• 3 cups granulated sugar
• 1 tablespoon grated lemon zest
• 8 eggs , room temperature
• ¼ cup fresh-squeezed lemon juice
• 1 ½ teaspoons lemon oil , optional

Lemon Syrup:

• ⅔ cup sugar
• ⅔ cup water
• 3 to 4 tablespoons fresh-squeezed lemon juice

Lemon Curd:

• 6 egg yolks
• 2 teaspoons grated lemon zest
• ½ cup fresh-squeezed lemon juice
• ⅔ cup sugar
• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter , cut into pieces

Lemon Mousse:

• 1 ½ cups lemon curd , room temperature
• 3 tablespoons orange-flavored liqueur
• 2 ½ teaspoons (about 1 envelope) powdered gelatin
• 1 cup heavy cream

Chocolate Cake:

• 3 ½ cups all-purpose flour (14 ounces)
• 1 ¾ cups organic cane sugar
• ½ cup cocoa powder
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
• 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
• ⅔ cup avocado oil or grapeseed oil
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 cups cold water

Chocolate Truffle Filling:

• ½ cup heavy cream
• 4 ounces good-quality semisweet or bittersweet chocolate , chopped in 1/2 inch pieces
• 1 cup heavy cream

Coffee Simple Syrup:

• ½ cup hot strong coffee
• ½ cup sugar

Meringue Buttercream:

• 1 ⅓ cups plus 2/3 cups sugar
• 1 cup water
• 2 tablespoons corn syrup
• 6 egg whites (2/3 cup)
• 1 pound (4 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
• 2 to 4 tablespoons liqueur or 1 teaspoon extract flavoring , optional

Instructions

The lemon cake:

• Preheat the oven to 350°F. Brush two 9-inch round pans with melted butter and dust lightly with flour, or spray generously with cooking spray. Line the bottoms with circles of parchment or waxed paper.
• Whisk flour, baking powder and salt together. Set aside.
• With an electric mixer, beat the cream cheese and butter together until very pale and little tails form as the beater goes around.
• Add the sugar and lemon zest and beat well, until mixture is fluffy.
• Scrape bowl well. Add eggs one at a time, beating to blend before adding the next one.
• On low speed, add the dry ingredients, lemon juice and lemon oil, if using. Mix just until incorporated, being careful not to over mix.
• Divide into prepared pans. Bake 45 to 50 minutes, until light golden in color and a toothpick inserted into the centers comes out with just a few crumbs on it.

The lemon syrup:

• Heat the sugar and water in a small saucepan, gently swirling the pan until the sugar dissolves. Cook just until the syrup is clear, do not boil. Cool. Flavor with lemon juice.

The lemon curd:

• Put the egg yolks, lemon zest, lemon juice, sugar and butter in the top of a double boiler. Place over gently boiling water; upper pan should not touch water. Cook, whisking often, until the curd thickens, 10 to 15 minutes. Transfer to a clean container. Cover the surface with plastic wrap, so it touches the hot curd, to prevent a skin from forming. Refrigerate. You can keep lemon curd, refrigerated, up to a week. It also freezes very well.

Lemon Mousse:

• Put the lemon curd in a large bowl and whisk until smooth. If the lemon curd is very cold, let it sit at room temperature for about a 1/2 hour, so the warmed gelatin will incorporate easily into the curd, without seizing.
• Pour the liqueur into a small bowl, sprinkle the gelatin over it, and allow to soften, about 5 minutes. Meanwhile, whip the cream until it comes to soft peaks that hold their shape. Set aside.
• Place the bowl of softened gelatin over barely simmering water and stir until the gelatin melts, about a minute.
• Whisk the liquid gelatin into the lemon curd. Immediately whisk in 1/3 of the whipped cream; then fold in the rest.

To assemble the lemon cake:

• You will need about 2 1/3 cups meringue buttercream flavored with 1 tablespoon orange-flavored liqueur and 1 tablespoon fresh-squeezed lemon juice. Have the cakes, lemon syrup, lemon cream and one pint of fresh raspberries at the ready.
• With a serrated knife, trim any dome from both cakes so they are flat, not rounded. Trim the sides of the cake if they seem dry. Keeping the knife level and parallel to the bottom of the cake, split each cake in 2 equal and even layers.
• Put one of the cake layers on a cardboard circle or a flat serving plate. Moisten it with a quarter of the syrup. Spread on roughly 1/6 of the lemon cream. Press 1/3 of the raspberries into the cream, and then top with more cream—just so it covers the raspberries, using no more than 1/3 of the lemon cream in this layer. Gently flatten a second cake layer on top and brush it with another 1/4 of the syrup.
• Repeat the layering, ending with the last cake and syrup. Wrap the assembled cake and refrigerate for about 1 hour, to let the gelatin filling set.

To crumb-coat and frost the lemon cake:

• Beat room temperature buttercream until it is very smooth. Add more liqueur and/or lemon juice, to your taste. Remove the cake from the refrigerator and place it on a cake turntable. With a sharp serrated knife, trim the sides of the cake, just enough to even any sharp angles, brushing off any loose crumbs.
• With an icing spatula, frost the sides and the top of the cake with the buttercream (less than 1/4-inch thick) to seal in the crumbs and lemon filling. Refrigerate (ideally) overnight to let the buttercream get hard.
• Finish the cold cake with another thin coat of buttercream, or rolled fondant. Decorate with a buttercream or royal icing border and optional design.

Make the chocolate cake:

• Preheat the oven to 350°F. Brush two 9-inch round pans with butter and dust lightly with flour, or spray generously with cooking spray. Line the bottoms with a circle of parchment or waxed paper.
• Sift the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, salt, and baking soda into a mixing bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk the vinegar, oil, vanilla, and water; then add to the dry ingredients. Mix for 2 minutes–with a hand whisk or with an electric mixer on low speed. Divide into the prepared pans. Bake 30 to 35 minutes, until the centers of the cakes spring back when touched with a finger. Cool completely.

Chocolate Truffle Filling:

• Heat the 1/2 cup of cream on medium-low until it is very hot (do not boil). Pour the hot cream over the chopped chocolate and allow to sit for a few minutes. With a spatula, stir gently until all of the chocolate has melted and the “ganache” is smooth and glossy. Set aside to cool.
• When the ganache is cool to touch but not cold, gently whisk in one quarter of the remaining 1 cup of cream. Add the remaining cream and whisk by hand until the chocolate cream holds a soft shape. (Be careful; if the ganache is too warm or if you over-whip the ganache and cream, the chocolate cream will curdle.) Refrigerate the chocolate cream until it is very cold and you are ready to assemble the cake.

Coffee Syrup:

• Mix the sugar into the hot coffee, stirring until the heat of the coffee melts the sugar. Cool.

Chocolate cake assembly:

• You will need about 2 1/3 cups meringue buttercream flavored with 1 to 2 tablespoons of vanilla extract. Have the cakes, coffee syrup, and the chocolate truffle filling at the ready.
• With a serrated knife, trim any dome from both cakes so they are flat, not rounded. Trim the sides of the cakes if they seem dry. Keeping the knife level and parallel to the bottom of the cake, split each cake in 2 equal and even layers.
• Put one of the cake layers on a cardboard circle or a flat serving plate. Moisten it with a quarter of the syrup. Carefully whisk the cold truffle filling, a few strokes at a time, until you can pull your finger through the filling and it holds good shape. Spread a third of filling on the moistened cake. Gently flatten another cake layer on top and brush it with another quarter of the syrup. Repeat the layering, ending with the last cake and syrup. Wrap the assembled cake and refrigerate for about 1 hour, to let the filling set.

To crumb-coat and frost the chocolate cake:

• Beat room temperature buttercream until it is very smooth. Add more vanilla extract if you wish, to your taste.
• Remove the cake from the refrigerator. Place it on a cake turntable. With a sharp serrated knife, trim the sides of the cake, just enough to even any sharp angles, brushing off any loose crumbs.
• With an icing spatula, frost the sides and the top of the cake with the buttercream (less than 1/4-inch thick) to seal in the crumbs and truffle filling. Refrigerate (ideally) overnight to let the buttercream get hard.
• Finish the cake with another thin coat of buttercream, or rolled fondant. Decorate with a buttercream or royal icing border and optional design.

To make the meringue buttercream:

• In a saucepan, mix the 1 1/3 cups of sugar with the water and corn syrup. Place over low heat and gently swirl the pan until the sugar dissolves into a clear syrup. Raise the heat to medium-high and cook until the syrup reaches the soft-ball stage (240°F on a candy thermometer.) Do not stir after the syrup begins boiling.
• As the syrup boils, whip the egg whites with an electric mixer until they are foamy. Gradually add the remaining 2/3 cup of sugar and whip until they form soft peaks. You want the syrup to reach soft-ball at the same time the egg whites form soft peaks, so begin whipping the whites when the surface of the boiling syrup is thick with bubbles.
• When the syrup reaches soft-ball stage, with the mixer running, pour the syrup in a thin stream over the whites. Aim the syrup between the bowl and the whisk, taking care not to let it run onto the whisk, which spatters the syrup onto the sides of the bowl. Continue beating about 10 minutes, until the egg white and syrup mixture–the Italian meringue–is cool.
• With the mixer running, beat the softened butter into the meringue, a little at a time. Scrape the sides of the bowl and continue beating until the mixture becomes a very smooth, spreadable buttercream. Beat in desired flavorings.

Nutrition

Serving: 12g | Calories: 803kcal | Carbohydrates: 89g | Protein: 9g | Fat: 47g | Saturated Fat: 26g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 3g | Monounsaturated Fat: 15g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 201mg | Sodium: 427mg | Potassium: 187mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 69g | Vitamin A: 1311IU | Vitamin C: 3mg | Calcium: 78mg | Iron: 2mg

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