If you like lemon, you're going to love this week's recipe. Betty Schechter of Montgomery sent the recipe for Triple Layer Lemon Cake that she originally found in the Better Homes and Gardens Baking Cookbook. This tangy, dense cake is filled with lemon curd and covered with a rich cream cheese frosting. Every mouthful is brimming with the taste of lemon. Too bad each serving contains a whooping 33 grams of fat.

For this recipe, we:

• Reduced the amount of butter (or margarine) from 1 cup to 1/3 cup and added a 4-ounce jar of baby food pears.

• Used 1% buttermilk.

• Replaced the 1/4 cup butter in the filling with 3 tablespoons light (5 grams fat per tablespoon) butter-flavored margarine (such as I Can't Believe It's Not Butter Light).

• Lined the bottom of each pan with parchment paper (wax paper works equally well) before spraying with the vegetable oil spray. We did this to prevent the cake sticking to the pan.

• Used 1/3 less fat cream cheese in the frosting.

• Completely omitted the butter in the frosting.

Our results were excellent. We had to make this cake several times to duplicate the texture of the original, but it was worth the extra effort. Reduced to 10 grams of fat per serving, this citrus delight is the perfect ending to an early spring celebration.

Recipe Rehab Tip of the Week: Although we reduced the total fat and eliminated 184 calories in each serving, this cake is still high in calories. Serve it for special occasions. Also, a 13th of this cake is a large serving. Trimming the size will also trim the calories.

Triple-Layer Lemon Cake

CAKE

4 eggs, separated

2 1/3 cups flour

11/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/3 cup butter or margarine

1 jar (4 ounces) baby food pears

2 cups sugar

2 teaspoons finely shredded lemon peel

2 tablespoons lemon juice

1 cup 1% buttermilk

LEMON CURD

1/3 cup sugar

2 teaspoons cornstarch

2 teaspoons finely shredded lemon peel

1/4 cup lemon juice

3 tablespoons low fat (5 grams per tablespoon) margarine

2 eggs, beaten

FROSTING

6 ounces light cream cheese

1 teaspoon lemon juice

4 to 5 cups confectioners' sugar

1 teaspoon finely shredded lemon peel

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line three 9-inch round pans with wax paper and lightly spray with vegetable oil spray. Beat egg whites until stiff; set aside. In medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder, soda, and salt; set aside. In large mixing bowl, beat margarine and pears with mixer on high for 30 seconds. Add sugar, lemon peel, and lemon juice; beat until well combined. Add egg yolks, 1 at a time, beating well after each.

Add flour mixture alternately with buttermilk, beginning and ending with flour. Beat on low speed after each addition just until combined. Fold in beaten egg whites. Pour into prepared pans. Bake 25 to 30 minutes or until done. Cool cakes in pans on wire racks 10 minutes. Remove cakes from pans; cool thoroughly on wire racks.

To make lemon curd, combine sugar, cornstarch, peel, juice, and margarine in saucepan. Cook and stir until thickened and bubbly. Remove from heat. Whisk a little of warm lemon mixture into eggs, whisking constantly. Pour egg mixture back into pan, whisking until well blended. Return to heat; continue to cook and stir 2 minutes more. Remove from heat; cover with waxed paper until cooled.

To make frosting, in medium mixing bowl, combine cream cheese and lemon juice. Beat with electric mixer on medium until light and fluffy. Gradually beat in confectioners' sugar until spreading consistency. Stir in lemon peel.

To assemble cake: Put one cake layer on plate. Spread with 1/2 of lemon curd. Top with second layer; spread with remaining lemon curd. Top with third layer. Frost top and sides with frosting. Cover and store cake in refrigerator. Let stand at room temperature 30 minutes before serving. Makes 12 to 14 servings.

Before and after

Based on one serving ( 1/13 of recipe)

Triple-Layer Lemon Cake		Adapted
Calories	697	513
Fat	33 g	10 g
Carbohydrate	97 g	98 g
Sodium	451 mg	289 mg
Fiber	1 g	1 g
Cholesterol	182 mg	105 mg
Calories from fat
	41%	18%

Nutritionists recommend those on daily 2,000 calorie diet limit their fat consumption to 65 g or less, cholesterol to 300 mg or less and sodium to 2,400 mg or less per day.

Karen Weber, Pat Streicher and Ellen Illig are registered dieticians at Jewish Hospital's Cholesterol Center. Their Recipe Rehab Cookbook is available by mail. Send check or money order for $40 to RR Cookbook, P.O. Box 58100, Cincinnati 45258.