Lemon Layer Cake

Name: Lemon Layer Cake
Yield: Serves 10 to 12
Ingredients: 1 cup, fresh lemon juice from about 6 lemons; 1 teaspoon, gelatin (powdered); 1 1/2 cups, granulated sugar (10 1/2 ounces; 298 grams); 1/8 teaspoon, table salt; 4 , large eggs; 6 , large egg yolks (reserve egg whites for cake); 8 tablespoons, unsalted butter (1 stick), cut into 1/2-inch cubes and frozen; 2 1/4 cups, cake flour (9 ounces; 255 grams), plus extra for pans; 1 cup, whole milk, room temperature; 6 , large egg whites, room temperature; 2 teaspoons, vanilla extract; 1 3/4 cups, granulated sugar (12 1/4 ounces; 347 grams); 4 teaspoons, baking powder; 1 teaspoon, table salt; 12 tablespoons, unsalted butter (1 1/2 sticks), cut into 12 pieces, softened but still cool; 2 , large egg whites; 1 cup, granulated sugar (7 ounces; 198 grams); 1/4 cup, water; 1 tablespoon, fresh lemon juice (from 1 lemon); 1 tablespoon, corn syrup

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Appears in Cook's Illustrated March/April 2007, America's Test Kitchen TV

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We carefully deconstructed this blue-ribbon recipe to create a light and lemony dessert.

SERVES10 to 12

TIME2 hours, plus 4 hours chilling and 1½ hours cooling

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WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS

Most layer cake recipes are made with hefty butter cake layers, but we suspected that the light, fresh flavor of lemon would be better served by something more ethereal. After trying recipes for sponge cake and classic yellow cake, we found...

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