Luscious Lemon Cake Part 1

Luxury Lemon Cake

Today’s post is late in the making as I am creating a 70th Birthday cake for this weekend. It has been a lengthy process so I thought I’d take you along with me for the ride…a cake ride that is.

Today is all about the cake, a luscious rich lemon drizzle filled with lemon curd buttercream. Part 2 will be all about the finished article.

I’ve tried many recipes for a sturdy but moist lemon cake that can take the pressure when it comes to icing and filling. This is the best. The recipe is for a 6 inch cake. Double the quantities for an 8 inch and treble for a 10 inch. Which this beast surely is!

Ingredients

140 g self raising flour

140g plain flour

200g unsalted butter

200g golden caster sugar

4 medium eggs, beaten

Grated zest of one lemon and 2 tablespoons of juice

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Syrup glaze

100ml lemon juice

85g golden caster sugar

Method

Pre heat oven  to 140 C fan 160 C conventional, gas mark 3

Make sure all ingredients are room temperature. Grease and line your tin. Sift the flours together then beat together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, then add the beaten eggs a little at a time, beating after each addition. Stir in a few tablespoons of flour into the creamed mixture to stop it curdling.

Fold in the remaining flour, then stir in the lemon zest and juice and vanilla extract.

Spoon the mixture into the prepared tin and bake for 1 hour 25  (plus 15 minutes per 2 inch cake tin size)

Once cooked test with a skewer which should come out clean.

Make the syrup glaze whilst the cake is baking by gently heating the juice and sugar. Make holes in the cake and pour the glaze in making sure it soaks it up. Let it cool in the tin with the glaze. Then trim the top of the cake off so it is level.

I used a lemon curd butter cream filling to fill the cake, see below:

Ingredients Buttercream Filling

250 g unsalted butter

500g icing sugar sifted

1 tsp vanilla extract

275g lemon curd.

Beat the softened butter until  very soft then add the icing sugar, a kitchen aid is best for this process, then stir throush the buttercream, adding more if you like a particularly acidic twang! Slice the cake in two fill with the lemon curd buttercream.

Then make another batch of buttercream without the lemon curd and cover the cake with a layer, chill then repeat so you layer the cake with buttercream see below. This is a great substitute for marzipan and makes a good firm base for the fondant icing to go over.

Tune in for the next instalment, the dressing of the cake!