Robert E. Lee Cake - A Southern Favorite for Serious Citrus Lovers!

 

I made a Robert E. Lee cake many years ago, and it was one of the best cakes ever. It is a lemon-orange cake with optional coconut - I omitted the coconut, as my husband is a passionate hater of all things coconut, but I think you would just coat the sides of the cake with sweetened coconut flakes if you would care to include it.

Historical notes say that this cake was actually served to guests at the Lee home. It is a Southern classic, and rightly so. 

The original recipe that I found is no longer on the recipe website I used, so here is the recipe that I developed. Because I am a passionate citrus lover, I have included as much zest as humanly possible. When we served it, it was a big hit. However, it made only 16 small servings, so if you are baking for a crowd, double the recipe and use three pans instead of two.

For the frosting, I used a lemon ermine frosting - ermine frosting being a recent passion of mine. It is a less-common form of buttercream frosting that allows one to vary the amount of sugar in the frosting without negatively affecting the texture (as often happens with other frostings).

I have severely abbreviated the directions so that the recipe will fit on one page - let me know if you have any questions. You can highlight and print, or click on the page below to get a printable version from Google Drive.

Let me know what you think!

Robert E. Lee Cake

Day 1: (1) Make lemon curd, (2) make frosting base, (3) bake, slice, and freeze cake
Day 2: (1) Finish frosting, (2) ice cake

Lemon Curd

            ¾ cup lemon juice
            1 T. lemon zest (I use 2 T.)
            ¾ cup sugar
            3 eggs
            ½ cup unsalted butter, cubed

Heat all ingredients over medium heat until first bubbles appear and curd passes the spoon test, about 6 minutes. Cool, chill.

Lemon-Orange Ermine Frosting

            ¾ cup lemon juice + 2 T. lemon zest
            ¾ cup orange juice + 2 T. orange zest
            1 cup sugar
            6 T. flour
            1 ½ tsp. salt
            ½ tsp. vanilla
            3 sticks unsalted butter, room temp

Bring all but butter to boil; boil 1 minute while whisking. Remove from heat; add vanilla. Cool. Chill. To make frosting, this base must be either chilled or at least room temperature. When cooled, whip butter, then whip in base in several batches. Whip 3 minutes more.

Robert E. Lee Cake

            2 cups flour
            1 ½ tsp. baking powder
            1/8 tsp. salt
            8 eggs, separated
            1 cup sugar
            2 T. lemon zest + ¼ cup lemon juice
            ½ tsp. cream of tartar

Butter, flour/sugar, and line with waxed paper two 8” pans. (Double recipe for three 8” pans.) Mix flour, baking powder, salt. In another bowl beat yolks until frothy, about 2 minutes. Add sugar in three stages, beating til eggs are pale and smooth. Add juice, zest.

In another bowl, beat whites and cream of tartar to stiff peaks. Into yolk mixture fold: half flour mix, half whites, half flour mix, half whites. Pour into pans; bake 22-30 minutes. Cool. Slice layers into two layers each; wrap each in plastic wrap and freeze.

Each of the first three layers gets a frosting dam, then lemon curd. After adding the fourth layer, frost cake (either one step, or a crumb coat and final layer). Finish with shells/stars and lemon curd on top.