Gather round lemon cake fans for I have a baked a seriously punchy, sharp and sweet cake. It's not for the faint-hearted.
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My Dad is a big fan of lemon bakes so I decided to pack in as much lemon flavour as possible into his birthday cake this year. Taking inspiration from my Peggy Porschen baking book I soaked the sponges in a lemon syrup once they came out the oven which produced the juiciest sponge sandwich cake I've probably ever made. I then filled and iced it with lemon curd and a lemon cream cheese icing. The tang and creaminess of the cream cheese icing helped to balance some of the sharp flavour.
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My Dad is a big fan of lemon bakes so I decided to pack in as much lemon flavour as possible into his birthday cake this year. Taking inspiration from my Peggy Porschen baking book I soaked the sponges in a lemon syrup once they came out the oven which produced the juiciest sponge sandwich cake I've probably ever made. I then filled and iced it with lemon curd and a lemon cream cheese icing. The tang and creaminess of the cream cheese icing helped to balance some of the sharp flavour.
In typical fashion I was baking this very late at night and hadn't really considered that soaking the sponges in hot syrup would slow down the cooling time. Needless to say by the time they had cooled I had no desire to faff about with fancy decoration. Cake sprinkles came to the rescue!
In other news you've probably noticed I've been fiddling around with my blog layout. It took me the best part of Sunday evening to figure out how to make small changes. If anyone else would like to know the html coding for centralising tabs or removing the annoying border around your Blogger images then I highly recommend visiting the techie tips section of Carrie Loves.
I also tried moving the date header below my post titles. It took me ages to find, move and/or delete the relevant bits of coding and when I finally managed it I didn't like it. Typical! To be honest I'm still unsure whether I like my date and post titles in the centre, but I'm going to roll with it for a while.
I also tried moving the date header below my post titles. It took me ages to find, move and/or delete the relevant bits of coding and when I finally managed it I didn't like it. Typical! To be honest I'm still unsure whether I like my date and post titles in the centre, but I'm going to roll with it for a while.
A very lemon-y lemon cake
sponges:
8oz/ 225g caster sugar
8oz/ 225g softened butter
zest of 2 lemons
4 eggs (large)
8oz/ 225g caster sugar
8oz/ 225g softened butter
zest of 2 lemons
4 eggs (large)
8oz/ 225g self raising flour
lemon syrup:
juice of 2 lemons
100g caster sugar
filling and icing:
300g icing sugar
zest of 1 lemon
50g softened butter
125g cream cheese
lemon curd - good quality shop bought or this recipe
lemon syrup:
juice of 2 lemons
100g caster sugar
filling and icing:
300g icing sugar
zest of 1 lemon
50g softened butter
125g cream cheese
lemon curd - good quality shop bought or this recipe
Preheat the oven to 180C/Gas 4 and grease and line two 8 inch round cake tins. Beat together the sugar, butter and lemon zest for 5 minutes until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well between each addition, and add a tablespoon of the flour mixture with the last egg to prevent the cake mix from curdling. Tip in the rest of the flour and mix until fully combined. Divide the mixture between the two cake tins and bake on the middle shelf of the oven for roughly 25-30 minutes until golden, risen and firm to touch.
For the syrup, bring the lemon juice and sugar to a boil in a saucepan and simmer for a minute until all the sugar has dissolved. Brush this hot syrup mixture over the sponges 10 minutes after they've come out the oven. Leave the sponges until they're barely warm before turning them out their tins to finish cooling.
Beat together the icing sugar, cream cheese and lemon zest for a couple of minutes until fluffy and smooth. Spread half of the icing onto one cake along with a generous layer of lemon curd and sandwich it togther with the other sponge. Ice the top with the remaining icing and decorate with sprinkles.
For the syrup, bring the lemon juice and sugar to a boil in a saucepan and simmer for a minute until all the sugar has dissolved. Brush this hot syrup mixture over the sponges 10 minutes after they've come out the oven. Leave the sponges until they're barely warm before turning them out their tins to finish cooling.
Beat together the icing sugar, cream cheese and lemon zest for a couple of minutes until fluffy and smooth. Spread half of the icing onto one cake along with a generous layer of lemon curd and sandwich it togther with the other sponge. Ice the top with the remaining icing and decorate with sprinkles.