Loving all things lemon lately and this cake is no exception! Get ready for a delicious combination of flavors with my new Lemon Biscoff Cake, made with lemon ricotta cake layers baked on a Biscoff cookie crust and filled with lemon curd and lemon buttercream.
Lemon Biscoff Cake
Last week in cake class at Orson Gygi we made my Lemon Bar Cake. It has the most delicious lemon cake layers baked on a shortbread crust and is filled with lemon curd. Between classes, Heather (who runs the classes and is basically family!) grabbed a Biscoff cookie from the pantry and encouraged me to dip it in the lemon curd.
What a combination! Like, wow!
I immediately was thinking of how to make a cake with these two flavors and the texture of the Biscoff cookie.
I originally thought of using my Biscoff cake layers, but Heather convinced me to go with my lemon ricotta cake layers from my Olive Oil Ricotta Cake, and I am so happy I listened.
This Lemon Biscoff Cake is beyond delicious and each flavor and texture really stand out and compliment one another.
Lemon Ricotta Cake
These cake layers are my favorite. I have used them in several cakes because the texture and flavor is so versatile. Here are just a few of my faves:
Cakes with Ricotta Cake Layers
You’ll notice the weight of the cake is heavier than most of my other cakes. We can thank the two cups of ricotta for that! The ricotta helps to create a moist and tender texture. While I’d call this a dense cake, it’s not a small, tight crumb (like a pound cake). Rather, it’s a bigger, slightly loose crumb with some denseness to it.
NOTE: you can swap the grapeseed oil for a light olive oil.
How to Make Lemon Curd
Lemon curd was a must for this cake since it was the combination of the Biscoff cookie and the lemon curd that inspired this one. If you’ve never made lemon curd before, you’re in for a treat! Once you make homemade lemon curd, you’ll never go back to store-bought. Homemade is easy to make and tastes 100x better than anything you’ll get at a store.
You will only need a handful of simple ingredients to make the lemon curd:
- Granulated sugar
- Lemon zest, from one large lemon
- Lemon juice
- Eggs
- Egg yolks
- Unsalted butter
You’ll need 3 large lemons for the amount of lemon juice needed for this recipe. And the unsalted butter should be cold and cut into small pieces when adding it to your lemon mixture. Other than that, the recipe is pretty straightforward!
- First, whisk the sugar, lemon zest, and lemon juice in a medium saucepan. In a separate bowl, whisk together your eggs and egg yolks, and then whisk them into the lemon mixture.
- Cook the mixture over medium-low heat, whisking constantly until it’s thick like pudding. This usually takes 6 to 8 minutes. Remove the saucepan from the heat and then whisk in the butter, a few pieces at a time, until it is all incorporated.
- Once everything is all mixed in together nicely, strain the mixture through a fine-mesh sieve into a small bowl. It helps to push it through with a rubber spatula. Lastly, press plastic wrap directly onto the surface of the lemon curd to prevent a skin from forming. Refrigerate it until it is completely set. I recommend at least 4 hours. But it can be stored for up to 5 days!
How to Schedule Baking the Lemon Biscoff Cake
Beyond that, this cake is actually quite simple to make:
- Biscoff cookie crust
- Lemon ricotta cake layers
- Lemon curd
- Lemon buttercream
Tip for Scheduling Baking
Because this cake has quite a few elements, I suggest spreading the baking and prep out over the course of a few days.
Day 1: lemon curd
Day 2: cookie crust and cake layers
Day 3: buttercream and assembly
Remember, the curd can be stored in the fridge and the cake layers can be wrapped and stored in the freezer. Just be sure to take the cake layers out about an hour before you start assembly.
ENJOY!
Lemon Biscoff Cake
Ingredients
FOR THE BISCOFF COOKIE CRUST
- 25 Biscoff cookies, finely ground
- 1/2 cup (113 g) unsalted butter, melted
- 1/3 cup (66.7 g) granulated sugar
FOR THE LEMON RICOTTA CAKE
- 3 cups (360 g) all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon (12 g) baking powder
- 1 teaspoon (6 g) salt
- 1 cup (218 g) grapeseed oil
- 1 3/4 cups (350 g) granulated sugar
- 3 eggs, room temperature
- 1 tablespoon lemon zest
- 2 cups (480 g) ricotta cheese
FOR THE LEMON CURD
- 1 cup (200 g) granulated sugar
- 1 tablespoon lemon zest
- 1/2 cup (55 g) lemon juice, about 3 lemons
- 3 large eggs
- 4 egg yolks
- 4 tablespoons (56.5 g) cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
FOR THE LEMON BUTTERCREAM
- 2 cups (452g) unsalted butter, slightly cold
- 6 cups (750 g) powdered sugar, measured then sifted
- 2 teaspoons (8.4 g) lemon extract
- 4 tablespoons (60 g) heavy whipping cream
- Pinch of salt
- Yellow food coloring, optional
- *This buttercream recipe makes enough to fill and cover your cake. If you want to add additional piping you’ll want to make an extra ½ batch.
Instructions
FOR THE BISCOFF COOKIE CRUST
- Preheat your oven to 375 degrees F. Spray three 8-inch round cake pans with non-stick spray, line with parchment, and then spray again. Set aside.
- In a medium size mixing bowl, combine the Biscoff cookie crumbs, melted butter, and sugar. Stir until all the crumbs are damped by the melted butter. Alternatively, you can add the melted butter and sugar to your food processor after you've pulverized the cookies.
- Divide evenly between the three pans (about 5 ounces in each pan) and press down firmly with your hand or the back of a measuring cup to form the crust.
- Bake for 5 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool while you make the cake batter.
FOR THE LEMON RICOTTA CAKE
- Preheat your oven to 325 degrees F.
- In a medium size mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the grapeseed oil and sugar on medium speed for about 2 minutes. Stir in the lemon zest.
- Add the eggs, one at a time, until incorporated. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and continue to beat the minxture for an additional 2 to 3 minutes. The mixture should be smooth and look lighter in color.
- With the mixer on low, alternately add the flour mixture and the ricotta, starting and finishing with the flour. Stir until incorporated.
- Evenly distribute the batter among the three cake pans on top of the crusts (about 16 ounces of batter in each pan) and bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out with just a few moist crumbs.
- Remove from oven, and let the cakes cool in pans for 15 minutes before inverting the layers onto a wire rack to cool completely. Once cooled, you can cover with plastic wrap and store in your refrigerator overnight or freezer for longer.
FOR THE LEMON CURD
- Whisk the sugar, lemon zest, and lemon juice in a medium saucepan. Whisk in the whole eggs and yolks in a small bowl and then whisk them into the lemon mixture.
- Cook the mixture over medium-low heat, whisking constantly, until it’s thick like pudding, about 6 to 8 minutes. Remove from the heat and whisk in the butter, a few pieces at a time until incorporated.
- Strain the mixture through a fine-mesh sieve into a small bowl, pushing it through with a rubber spatula. Press plastic wrap directly onto the surface to prevent a skin from forming. Refrigerate until completely set, at least 4 hours and up to 5 days.
FOR THE BUTTERCREAM
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes.
- Turn the mixer to low and gradually add the powdered sugar, followed by the cream, salt and lemon extract. Mix until combined. Add yellow food coloring, if using. Mix until incorporated completely. Turn the mixer to medium-high and beat the frosting for about 5 minutes.
- Use a spatula to beat the buttercream by hand to push out any air pockets.
ASSEMBLY
- Spread a small dollop of buttercream onto a cake board. Place the first cake layer, top side up, on the board.
- Spread a thin layer of buttercream (only about a half cup) over the cake layer and pipe a rim of buttercream around the edge of the cake to create a barrier to the filling. Spread about ¼ cup of the curd in the center of the cake, carefully spreading it to the edge of the piping.
- Place a second cake layer on top of the piped buttercream and filling and repeat step 2. Place the final cake layer, top side up, on the second layer of filling.
- Lightly coat the cake with a thin layer of buttercream to lock in the crumbs. Freeze the cake for about 15 minutes to set the buttercream.
- Remove the cake from the freezer and contiue decorating the cake with the remaining buttercream. Serve a spoonful of the remaining lemon curd with each slice of cake, or add it to the top of the cake as pictured.
I got to taste this cake and it was AMAZING!
Might be a silly question… but can I freeze this cake after it’s totally put together in frosted?
Can I convert this into a 9×13” pan cake? How would you recommend using the lemon curd? Just spreading it on top?
Might be a silly question… but can I freeze this cake after it’s totally put together and frosted?
Can I convert this into a Bundt recipe for tomorrow?
Yes!
Is this cake recipe too dense for cupcakes?
I don’t think so!
You never mention the cookie crust during the assembly
It’s the first step. You bake it first.
Can the ricotta cheese be substituted with a different type of cheese?
No, unfortunately not. It would change the texture and flavor quite a bit. The ricotta offers moisture and flavor.
Help. 1/2c lemon juice is way more than 55g (lemon curd). Which is correct?
Love all your cakes
Thanks for sharing the recipes
I’m planning to make this for Easter. Can’t wait, it sounds fantastic!
The photo looks like it has biscoff in the layers, not just the bottom crust.
Is that correct? It would certainly be yummy that way!
Just checking on how to assemble the cake.
The biscoff layers are on the bottom of each cake layer!
Made this for Easter and everyone loved it! I’m not really a big lemon person but the biscoff made a really interesting combination and the ricotta cake layers were tender textured. Everyone loved it and raved, amazing!
Yes yes yes!!!!!! Make it guys!!! This cake is nuts!!!! I liked your idea of making the cake by breaking it into steps through a few days. Worth all the effort! This is the moist cake I’ve ever tasted/made! The ricotta and oil made me super nervous to try and now it’s my fav! I added a package of cream cheese to the buttercream recipe to make it a little creamier. Girl you crush it with your recipes thank you!!!
Thank you so so much!!!
This is the 1st recipe from Courtney that I have tried making. I was a bit intimidated with the process of making a cake with so many components and I have never really been a big cake lover. Let me just tell you that this recipe is DIVINE! I was completely shocked with how beautiful it turned out and how absolutely delish it was! I was so excited to share it with friends and family! Now I just have to decide which recipe I’ll try next! Thanks so much Courtney, for showing me how delicious cake can be when done right!
Thank you so so so much!!
Help. 1/2c lemon juice is way more than 55g (lemon curd). Which is correct?
Lemon curd should read 115g lemon juice (per her cookbook).
This cake is amazing. My fave so far and I’ve made A LOT of Pinterest cakes. I did make lemon cream cheese icing instead of the buttercream but the taste and the moisture content, etc of the cake was delicious. I’ll prob use the main ingredients to make all of my cakes from now on and just change the flavors.
I made this cake last weekend for a family birthday. I was curious how it would taste with the ricotta cheese and grape seed oil–I’ve never baked with either before. The cake was delicious!! It was moist and light and wonderful. It was a hit at the party, too!
This was so good. My sister said it was the best cake I’ve made. And I’ve made a lot of really good cakes. The crunch of the biscoff adds so much.
Thank you so much!