A great cake for an afternoon tea celebration, or use as a dessert. If you would like to make your own lemon curd, try Jo Elwin's favourite one. It comes from Nigel Slater.
Cake
| 225 g | Unsalted butter, softened |
| 1 cup | Caster sugar |
| 3 | Eggs |
| 250 g | Creme fraiche |
| 2 Tbsp | Marmalade, thin-shred lemon |
| 1 | Lemon, finely grated zest of (Main) |
| 1 ¾ cups | Flour |
| 1 tsp | Baking powder |
| 1 tsp | Bicarbonate soda |
Lemon syrup
| ¼ cup | Caster sugar |
| ¼ cup | Water |
| 1 | Lemon, finely grated zest and juice of (Main) |
Lemon filling and decoration
| 300 ml | Cream, double cream is good here |
| 1 cup | Lemon curd, bought or homemade (see link above for a recipe) (Main) |
| 200 g | Ricotta cheese, good quality (Main) |
| 1 | Lemon, for lemon shreds |
| 125 g | Kiwiberries, (baby kiwifruit) sliced, optional |
| 1 small handful | Mint leaves, shredded, optional |
Directions
- Heat the oven to 170C. Line the base of a 22cm springform cake tin with baking paper. Lightly grease the sides and dust with flour, tapping to remove excess.
- Place the butter and caster sugar in an electric mixer and beat until light and fluffy.
- Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Reduce electric mixer to low speed, add the creme fraiche, marmalade and lemon zest and beat until just combined.
- Sift the flour, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda into the mixture, then carefully fold in until combined.
- Spoon mixture into the prepared tin, smoothing the top. Bake for 45-50 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the centre of the cake comes out clean.
- Remove from the oven and leave for 10 minutes before removing from the tin to a wire rack. Leave to cool.
- Meanwhile, make the lemon syrup. Place the sugar and water in a small saucepan. Add the lemon zest and juice. Heat gently until the sugar has dissolved, then bring to the boil and simmer for about 1 minute to make a light syrup. Leave to cool.
- To make lemon shreds, peel the rind from the lemon and cut into fine shreds. Quickly blanch in a little boiling water, drain and refresh under cold water. Place on kitchen paper to drain, cover and set aside for the decoration.
- To make the lemon filling, whip the cream until thick. In a separate bowl, mix together one quarter of the lemon curd with the ricotta. Add one quarter of the whipped cream and mix to combine.
- To assemble, cut the cake in half horizontally and place the bottom half on a cake plate. Spoon over half of the lemon syrup. Spoon the remaining syrup over the top of the cake.
- Spread the lemon ricotta mix over the bottom half of the cake and carefully place on the top half. Swirl the remaining lemon curd through the remaining cream and spread evenly over the top of the cake. Decorate with the lemon shreds and if using, the sliced kiwiberries and mint.