LEMON CAKE - for Julia, the boys and some time ago, Elizabeth.

 We celebrated a 'big' birthday of Julia's a few weeks ago with a wonderful party at Napa.  During the planning stage we had talked about Iain and I providing a cake each, which would also be dessert.  This did not work out.  I was a little disappointed as I was planning to make this cake which I knew Julia would love. "You can make it for me some other time" she said.
LEMON LAYER CAKE WITH LEMON CURD AND MASCARPONE
The occasion arose yesterday, dinner at Julia's with Iain and Rick, who recently announced they are moving to London, very sad for us.  Anyway, seemed like the right time to make this, although only 5 of us I knew they would be an appreciative audience and it is the kind of cake that might even be better on the day after it is made.
Luckily we had the day off work on Friday and I could start it then as it is a labour of love, making this cake.  I did the cake layers on Friday and the lemon curd, then did the syrup and frosting on Saturday morning and put it all together in time to have it in the fridge by lunchtime as it has to refrigerate for at least 6 hours.
The fun coincidence was that it was Elizabeth's birthday yesterday, so 8 years to the day when I made this cake for her, the only other time I have made it!  At that point we used to do an Oscar party, which doubled as Elizabeth's birthday party.  It grew over the years, various people hosted and it was always a fun filled evening with great food.  It was a girls only affair (most men did not share our opinions on the frocks and we were not interested in hearing theirs!).  This particular year I was hosting and asked Elizabeth what she would like for dessert/birthday cake.  "The cake that is on the cover of the current Bon Appetit" she replied with no hesitation, perhaps she was waiting for me to ask?! To be honest it was probably the most ambitious cake I had attempted at the time, but I enjoyed making it and it was delicious, as it was last night.