Lemon Layer Cake Recipe | Laura Sivers

I love baking and have been loving BBC2 showing Great British Bake Off 2012 repeats during the day the past couple of weeks. John the winner said in one of the episodes "Bakers are quite controlling people who want to be told they're loved" and oh my goodness this is too true - in my case anyway!

It was my Mum's birthday on Wednesday so I wanted to make her a cake which was more of a celebration cake. I decided to go with a lemon layer cake. I had a look online and didn't find a recipe I liked so I picked bits and pieces from various recipes and this is what I came up with. Every body seemed to love it so I thought I'd share it with you.

Ingredients

Sponge: 

125g butter (at room temperature)

175g caster sugar

2 medium eggs

zest of 1 lemon

175g self-raising flour

pinch salt

3 tbsp milk

Lemon Curd:

70g diced butter

125g caster sugar

zest of 3 lemons

100ml lemon juice

2 medium eggs plus 2 yolks

Frosting:

135g butter at room temperature

200g cream cheese at room temperature

120g icing sugar

4 tbsp lemon curd

Candied peel:

1 lemon

20g caster sugar

3 tbsp water

Method

To make the sponge:

• Pre-heat oven to 180C and grease and base line 2 round sandwich tins
• Cream the butter and sugar together in a large bowl until light and fluffy.
• Beat the eggs in a small bowl and add to the mixture a little at a time, then add the lemon zest and mix well.
• Fold in the flour and salt slowly then add the milk 1 tbsp at a time.
• Divide the mixture equally between the 2 sandwich tins making sure the mixture is level and spread evenly.
• Bake for 20-25 mins until the cakes look golden brown and feel springy to touch.
• Remove the cakes and set on a wire rack to cool for 5 minutes before removing from tins then remove the sponge from the tins and leave them on the wire rack to cool completely before assembling.

To make the lemon curd:

• Put the butter, sugar, lemon zest and juice into a bowl and set over a pan of simmering water and stir until the sugar has dissolved. Then take the bowl off the pan and set aside.
• Beat the whole eggs and egg yolks in a small bowl and add to the lemon mixture and stir well.
• Put the bowl back on the simmering pan and continue to stir until the mixture becomes thick (this takes quite a long time - don't be tempted to turn the heat up otherwise the eggs will scramble!)
• When thick and opaque, spoon half of the lemon curd into a bowl which will be used for the layer cake and leave to cool.
• Spoon the other half into a sterilised jar or container and leave to cool before storing for up to two weeks in the fridge.

To make the frosting:

• Put the butter into a large bowl and beat thoroughly, then add the cream cheese and continue to beat until evenly combined.
• Sift in the icing sugar on a low speed (otherwise you end up with an icing sugar cloud and a big mess!)
• Stir in the lemon curd and allow to chill in the fridge until spreadable.

To make the candied lemon peel:

• Using a vegetable peeler, shave strips of the yellow peel from the lemon then cut the strips into thin shred and put them in a pan and add enough water to completely cover them.
• Bring to the boil then simmer gently for 12 minutes then drain the water leaving the peel in the pan.
• Add the sugar and 3 tbsp of water and heat gently until the sugar dissolves and the mixture becomes syrupy then pour onto a plate and leave to cool completely.

To assemble the cake:

• Take one sponge and spread a thick even layer of the frosting over the top, then a thick even layer of lemon curd on top of that.
• Carefully place the other sponge on top of that to make a sandwich and gently press down so it doesn't slide off.
• Spread a thick layer of frosting on the top of the sandwich and try to make it as neat and smooth as possible then once you're happy with how that looks decorate with the candied lemon peel how you like.
• Finally transfer the cake onto a cake stand or serving dish and enjoy!

It was quite time consuming to make this cake as I did it all in one morning but you could easily make the lemon curd, frosting and candied peel ahead of time which would make things much quicker. My mum and family loved the cake though so that's all that matters.

Let me know if you try this out and send me a photo. You can find me on twitter @laurasivers or Instagram @laurasivers_

Laura x x x