London Fog Layer Cake
It's London fog time, friends! Are you familiar with a London fog? If not, I'm thrilled to introduce you to it via this London fog layer cake. London fog is the loveliest tea latte around. I'm not a coffee drinker - I tried to become one in college a few times, but ended up feeling jittery and horrible and gave up quickly - but I LOVE visiting coffee shops, so I'm always on the lookout for a fun tea option. At its most basic, a London fog is a latte made with earl grey tea, milk, and vanilla. When it's dressed up, it might include lavender! For this London fog layer cake, I of course included lavender. In addition to gorgeously-soft cake layers flavored with earl grey and lavender, this cake is filled with sunny mixed-citrus curd and frosted with a silky salted vanilla-bergamot buttercream. It's magical! This magical cake recipe must be purchased in order to gain access. You can Purchase Content!
The citrus curd in this recipe caught my eye! I had my heart on a mimosa cake for my sister’s bridal shower so I paired this citrus curd with a champagne cake and mimosa buttercream. The citrus curd was quite easy and really rounded out the cake. I am excited to try out this cake recipe as soon as I can order some bergamot flavor 🙂
So glad you loved the citrus curd! I’m hooked on making it with multiple citruses to give it more complexity than with lemon alone. Thanks for trying it!
Baking is my love language so I shared this masterpiece at work.
3 of my coworkers had second slices, one took a piece home for her husband, and one wants a bucket of curd (I used lemon, lime, and orange).
This recipe is in my top 3 of all time and will be made again and again.
This makes me SO HAPPY to hear! I’m so so glad that it was enjoyed by all 🙂 Isn’t citrus curd with a mix of fruits so much nicer than plain lemon??
This cake is so good! It’s a citrus dream cake. I served this for my birthday, and my sister described it as a grown up Unicorn cake. I love this cake!
That makes me so happy to hear, that you so much for the sweet comment!
Definitely in my top list of cakes I’ve made! Everyone who tried it loved it, and it was a fun project. The flavors work beautifully together and each component is super tasty. Did a lemon-orange curd and found that bergamot essential oil (a drop or two) worked well in the buttercream if you can’t find extract.
I’m so glad that this was a success for you! Great idea on the bergamot essential oil, although I would caution to check out the label and make sure it’s safe for human consumption. Essential oils used for fragrance are often made according to a more lax set of safety standards than food-grade oils (although it’s very unlikely that 1-2 drops in a big batch of buttercream would hurt anybody!).
Hi, I am interested in this recipe, but I am wondering where you get the bergamot extract?
Hi Mary, the extract I use is linked in the post. It’s this one: https://www.olivenation.com/bergamot-flavor-extract-pg-free-natural.html
I made this cake and loved it in concept but need to add less bergamot oil to the icing next time. I purchased the bergamot oil that you recommended, but found that 1/2 tsp was too strong for my tastes. Next time I think I’ll add a drop at a time and taste as I go as to not go overboard. I think the salted aspect of this is hugely flavor enhancing like you said! The citrus curd and cake turned out great though.
Eager to try again!
Thank you so much for your comment, Amanda! I’m glad the cake was an overall success for you, and a great note to reduce the bergamot flavor to your tastes.
I tripled the cake and frosting recipes (and doubled the curd) for a 9” triple layer cake + small smash cake. The cake is perfect— just the right amount of Earl grey and lavender flavor and a moist and surprisingly light crumb. Typically I find layer cakes dry and disappointing— this cake was everything I want in a layer cake! For the curd, the process was smooth although next time I would take the tip of another baker and add the zest or half the zest only at the end— my curd came out a bit bitter which I’m told can happen when zest gets cooked. For the buttercream I ordered the recommended bergamot extract and used it lightly— I had done a crumb coat on both cakes while waiting for it to arrive, so I estimated how much frosting I had left when I whipped it in and would guess I used more like 1/4 tsp extract per recipe? That amount felt just right to me and I will go back to this buttercream recipe again and again. Thank you for a wonderful recipe!
So glad you enjoyed the cake, Elizabeth!