A little something light

The first layer of lemon curd.

Lemon Curd. Rhubarb Cream. Lemon Curd.

Lemon Curd. Rhubarb Cream. Lemon Curd. Rhubard Cream.
Covered in whipped cream.

A little too much filling, perhaps

When I asked Christina what kind of cake she wanted for her birthday, she was sort of non-committal. "Something light," she said. Light can mean all sorts of things. I took it to mean, light as in fresh, not as in lite, low-calorie. So when I saw some rhubarb at Fairway, I was sure I could make something light and yummy and rhubarb-like. Except that when I mentioned this to Christina, she was worried that some people might not like rhubarb, since her mom hates it. First of all, I did not know that people could hate rhubarb. Cauliflower, yes, I could see. But rhubarb? Seriously, rhubarb is like the wonder vegetable. Everyone I know loves rhubarab. But I decided to try to make something that even rhubarb-haters would love.

Inspired by a batch of mini lemon curd tartlets that I saw in the window of Citeralla on Friday night, I decided to make mini lemon curd tartlets, alternating with mini rhubarb curd tartlets. I had never heard of rhubarb curd, but I figured it would be sort of similar in texture to the filling of a Dolly Madison Fruit Pie. Mmm, remember those?

So, I made the lemon curd on Friday night, while on a marathon phone call with Sheri. I doubled the recipe and then realized that I did not have enough sugar. So, right then was when the recipe veared off course. I used brown sugar in the lemon curd, and never looked back. The next morning, I decided that making all sorts of mini pies sounded like way too much work. I then thought about making an angel food cake with lemon and rhubard curd fillings. However, my rhubarb curd never thickened enough to match the consistency of the lemon counterpart, so I decided to make some whipped cream, and mix the rhubarb mixture into some whipped cream. This I alternated between layers of angel food cake, and then I had so much whipped cream left over, I frosted the entire cake with whipped cream. You know, light and airy.

At that point, I was feeling quite of proud of myself. You know, like, "Wow, I'm a cake baker." For once, my lack of recipe following did not lead me down the path of the other recipe detour disasters, such as the edemame hummus or the scary rum balls. Every so often, I kept checking in the fridge to make sure the cake did not go anywhere.

This is obviously turning out to be the year of birthday cakes, if you could not tell. So, happy, happy birthday Christina! I hope you have a light and lemon-y year.