She takes the cake for me! The harmony between sweet and sour is perfect and the cake layers balance all the flavours out, whilst adding more texture. I will definitely be baking this cake again very soon!
INGREDIENTS
CAKE 6 Large eggs 2 Cups Sugar 1/3 Cup Oil 1 ½ Cup Water 1 Tbsp Vanilla essence 3 Cups cake flour 4 ½ Tsp Baking powder ¼ Tsp Salt LEMON CURD (Tip 1) Juice of 2 lemons (±120g) 150g Castor sugar 90g Butter 3 Eggs 3 Egg Yolks (use egg whites for meringue) 2 Tbsp Corn flour LEMON SYRUP ½ cup lemon juice 100g sugar SWISS MERINGUE 6 egg whites 250g Castor sugar Pinch of salt
METHOD
CAKE 1. Preheat the oven to 180ºC and place the oven rack in the middle of the oven. 2. Prepare two round cake tins (21-23cm) with baking paper and non-stick spray. 3. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the eggs and sugar until light and pale with an electric mixer (±10 min.) 4. In a jug, mix the oil, water and vanilla and add half of the mixture to the egg mixture and whisk until well combined. 5. Sift the dry ingredients over the egg mixture and whisk until well combined. 6. Add the second half of the water mixture to the batter and mix. 7. Divide the cake batter between the prepared cake tins and bake for 30-40 minutes. 8. Allow the cakes to stand for 10 minutes before loosening the sides and demoulding onto cooling racks. 9. Once the cakes are cooled completely, you can cut each layer into 2 or 3 individual layers, using a sharp bread knife. 10. Pour the syrup onto the first layer, followed by the lemon curd. Repeat with each layer, except the last layer on top of the cake. LEMON CURD 1. Place the lemon juice, half the sugar and the butter in a saucepan and bring to the boil. 2. In a medium bowl, mix the second half of sugar, with the eggs and corn flour to create a smooth paste. 3. Temper the hot lemon juice into the egg mixture and strain through a sieve into a medium glass bowl (Tip 2). 4. Place the glass bowl over a small saucepan filled with boiling water to create a Bain Marie (double boiler). 5. Cook the liquid until thick and smooth, while stirring regularly (8-10 minutes). The lemon curd must be piping consistency. 6. Cover the lemon curd with plastic wrap, directly onto the curd, and allow to cool down and set further in the fridge. LEMON SYRUP 1. In a small saucepan, bring the lemon juice and sugar to the boil and allow to reduce to a syrup consistency (5-8 minutes). The sugar should dissolve before the mixture starts to boil. 2. Remove the syrup from the heat and allow to cool down completely before dripping onto the cake layers. SWISS MERINGUE 1. You will use your double boiler from the lemon curd again. 2. Add the egg whites, sugar and salt to the clean bowl of an electric stand mixer and place over the small pot of simmering water, but don’t allow the bowl to touch the water. 3. Continuously whisk the mixture with a hand whisk until the egg white mixture is hot and the sugar has dissolved (Tip 3). 4. Remove the bowl from the heat and place into your stand mixer, fitted with the balloon whisk. Start whisking the mixture on high speed until the meringue becomes thick and glossy (5-10 minutes). 5. Allow the meringue to cool down completely before decorating your cake on the outside. You can lightly brown the meringue with a blow torch or in a hot oven of 220ºC for 2-3 minutes (Tip 4).
TIPS 1. You can also buy lemon curd from a supermarket, but I can’t guarantee that the taste will be the same than the homemade version. 2. To temper a mixture, you slowly add the hot liquid to the cold mixture while whisking continuously to prevent the eggs from scrambling. You then strain the mixture to get rid of any lumps. 3. Rub the mixture between your fingers to feel if the sugar has dissolved. 4. Make sure that your oven is preheated so that the cake only spends 2-3 minutes in the hot oven.