For the candied thyme:
Fresh thyme (about 15 to 25 sprigs)
1 egg white (pasteurized, if you are concerned about eating raw eggs; save the yolk for the curd)
Sugar for sprinkling
For the sumac lemon curd:
4 large eggs
2 large egg yolks
1 cup sugar
1/3 cup lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons sumac
1/2 teaspoon lemon zest
1 cold stick of unsalted butter, cut into pieces (4 ounces, or 1/2 cup)
For the thyme cake layers:
Butter for greasing the cake tins
22 ounces cake flour *
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon lemon zest
1 1/2 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves (1 tablespoon chopped)
2 1/4 sticks softened unsalted butter, at cool room temperature (9 ounces)
2 1/2 cups sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 large eggs at room temperature
3 large egg yolks at room temperature (save the whites for making buttercream)
1 1/4 cup whole milk at room temperature
To assemble the cake:
3 layers of thyme cake, completely cooled to room temperature (above)
1 batch of sumac curd (above)
3 to 4 cups of your favorite unflavored, plain frosting, at room temperature ****
candied thyme (above)
* It’s fine to use all purpose flour, but the cake won’t be quite as tender. In either case, be careful not to over-mix once you add the flour to the wet ingredients.
** If you’re not using a convection oven, you may need to slightly increase the temperature and/or cook them just a minute or two longer.
*** You can use a 9-inch pan or another size. The cook time will be shorter with a wider pan and the finished cake will be shorter and wider (and you might need a touch more frosting, since most of it ends up on top).
**** If you’re going for home made, I suggest a half-recipe of Brave Tart’s Buttercream. It’s my go-to, it’s truly magical, and it’s pictured in this post. Just be sure not to add vanilla bean or any extracts for this recipe, and not to buy vanilla-flavored buttercream if you’re going the store-bought route—vanilla would be a very distracting flavor in this recipe. You can get away with 3 cups of frosting here, but more like 4 cups will give you a little more leeway. It’s nice to have extra for covering up crumbs on the top of the cake and filling in gaps on the sides. Plus, you can make cake pops out of any extra cake shavings and frosting.
Find it online: https://cardamomandtea.com/523/thyme-cake/