Lusciously Local Lemon Cake

Love my alliteration, no?
Ok, I'll stop. It's Sugar High Friday time again, and September's theme was Locavore Delights, chosen by our host, Mmm Tasty. Perfect for this month really, when you consider that it's the middle of the harvest season for most things. You still have summer produce hanging around, threatening to leave again for the year (although not where I live), but the fall treats are coming around--pumpkins, squashes, and stone fruits. Citrus, too.
Where I live, and certainly most of the country now, you can get citrus anytime, although for some it's flown in from....well, where I live. My region is known for two things--strawberries and citrus. Drive around my town, you will see nothing but fields of berries and orchards of citrus trees. I decided that since I have done strawberries several times this season, I'd do domething lemony instead. My one regret is that I can't harvest my own right now. I had a wonderful lemon tree for the past two years, but it didn't survive the trip up here in my husband's pickup. I have a new one I need to get planted. I think we picked the only house in Oxnard without an existng lemon tree in the yard. We do have a mature orange tree, though.
This treat was actually meant to be a cupcake, and I was going to post on my cupcake blog, Not Another Cupcake Blog!. I wanted a light, feathery, ethereal lemon chiffon cupcake with a creamy filling and a light icing. I used an old recipe for a chiffon cake I'd made before, this one with all-purpose flour for a bit stronger crumb. But what have we learned about high-ratio and very light sponge cakes made with all-purpose flour? It shouldn't work. It should require the light, fine grind of a bleached cake flour.
It does work....but only in layer cake form, as I discovered. My cupcakes, so beautifully mounded in the oven, shrunk pitifully into their papers upon removal. The layer cake I made as an afterthought from leftover batter turned out just fine. Since I already had the components ready, I decided we'd just go with that. So we're calling this Lemon Chiffon Cake with Lemon Curd Cream. I'm not giving you the recipe for the cake, as I'm not sure it will always work. It is to date the only recipe I have found that uses all-purpose flour, and I think that's for the best. I encourage you to use your own favorite--the Cake Bible has one that is excellent, and here is a link to an Epicurious recipe.

Lemon Chiffon Cake, baked into 9" layers (you'll only need one layer)

Lemon Curd Cream
1/2 cup your favorite lemon curd
1/2 cup softly whipped cream

Lemon Cream Cheese Icing
2 tbsp butter, softened
4 oz cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup lemon curd
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1/2 tsp lemon zest

Process butter and cream cheese until smooth. Add remaining ingredients and process until smooth. Chill 30 minutes. It's meant to be light, and thin, so not to overpower the delicate chiffon. Don't add too much powdered sugar.

To assemble--split cake in half. Spread Cream over one layer, spreading evenly just to the inside edge. Top with other layer, and refrigerate at least one hour. Trim edges if desired. Spread icing over cake in two parts, chilling in between. This is a runny icing that will not set up completely.

It doesn't travel well, this cake, but it's so incredibly light and delicious. You're going to have to stop yourself from eating the whole thing!