My daughter really improved her grades this year so I promised her a cake as a reward. She wants a lemon cake but I can't figure out what filling would pair nicely with it. I made a lemon cake for a friend a couple years ago and I picked up a jar of lemon curd to use for the filling (that was actually the first time I'd even heard of the stuff) and it was so yummy but really expensive and I never saw it again anywhere.

I googled some recipes for lemon curd and I just tried one but it tasted awful (when she tasted it she said, "get that away from me and don't put it in my cake") and has a brownish color, nothing like I remembered.

Can someone please share a good lemon curd recipe that has been tried and tested or maybe suggest some other filling that would taste good with lemon cake. Thanks in advance.

I made a lemon cake and used raspberry buttercream as the filling- you can also use strawberry buttercream. Just mix some puree in with your butter cream - delicious.

When my son got married, he requested a lemon cake with raspberry filling. I used a seedless, all fruit raspberry preserve, right out of the jar. Everyone loved it.

I don't know where you are located, but we have a product at the grocery store called "Lemon Pie Filling", near the pie filling in the isle where you would find flour, sugar and other baking products.

HTH

I like the idea of raspberry paired with lemon as well, it would be delicious.

If you really want to go with lemon curd, Alton Brown has a good recipe that I don't think is too difficult. The trick is to make sure you cook it until it is the right thickness - sometimes you need to add a couple of minutes to his stated cooking time. Don't stop cooking until it coats the spoon. Good luck!

Lemon Curd - Alton Brown

Ingredients

5 egg yolks
1 cup sugar
4 lemons, zested and juiced
1 stick butter, cut into pats and chilled

Directions

Add enough water to a medium saucepan to come about 1-inch up the side. Bring to a simmer over medium-high heat. Meanwhile, combine egg yolks and sugar in a medium size metal bowl and whisk until smooth, about 1 minute. Measure citrus juice and if needed, add enough cold water to reach 1/3 cup. Add juice and zest to egg mixture and whisk smooth. Once water reaches a simmer, reduce heat to low and place bowl on top of saucepan. (Bowl should be large enough to fit on top of saucepan without touching the water.) Whisk until thickened, approximately 8 minutes, or until mixture is light yellow and coats the back of a spoon. Remove promptly from heat and stir in butter a piece at a time, allowing each addition to melt before adding the next. Remove to a clean container and cover by laying a layer of plastic wrap directly on the surface of the curd. Refrigerate for up to 2 weeks.

I did a lemon wedding cake with raspberry preserve filling. Wonderful!!

I agree with everyone on the raspberry filling. I think raspberry complements lemon very well.

Thank everyone, raspberry it is then!

i love raspberry or blueberry filling in lemon cake, yum!

I use the raspberry sleeve filling with lemon and it is wonderful, I have also used the strawberry sleeve filling and called it strawberry lemonade.

This is the raspberry filling I make and it is yummmmm! http://cakecentral.com/recipes/2503/raspberry-filling I had some left over from a cake order, so I blended it into buttercream and it was delightful that way too Blueberries also go great with lemon. My husband's favorite cake is a lemon cake with blueberries folded (not blended) into the buttercream for the filling, frosted with buttercream, wrapped in white chocolate and blueberries put on the top, drizzled with more white chocolate.

Just an FYI...you find lemon curd in the jelly section of the grocery store...not the pie filling area where you'd think it would be!