Raspberry Lemon Cake

Vegetarian

Serves 10 people

25mins Prep

60mins Cook

Spongey, lemon cake covered in decadent buttercream and topped with fresh raspberries.

By Barker's

Baking,

Celebration,

Entertaining

Preheat oven to 180°C; line a 23cm diameter spring form tin with baking paper and grease the sides.
Cream together butter and sugar until light and pale. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. The mix should be an off white at this stage depending on the colour of your egg yolks.
Add sifted flour and baking powder to mix along with salt and milk. Mix these in gently. Finally, add the zest/juice of the lemon and the raspberries.
Put mixture into baking tin. Flatten out the top with spatula and place in the middle of preheated oven. Bake for 50-60 mins.
Once a knife inserted into the middle of cake comes out clean, it is done. Allow to cool for at least 10mins in the tin and then remove and place on a cooling rack.

To make the buttercream, an electric mixer is a must (unless you have amazing arm muscles!). Beat butter with icing sugar for 10 minutes starting at a low speed and slowly increasing to close to full speed. When finished, it should be smooth and velvety.
If you want to increase the amount of icing just double both ingredients as it is a 1:2 ratio. Once finished, add zest and a tablespoon or so of Lemon Curd until it has a nice lemony tang.
Place a good dollop of icing on base layer and spread out evenly over base. Next, add about half a jar of Lemon Curd, spread this out as evenly as you can. Add the top layer of cake and add majority of remaining icing on top. A palette knife is best for the part as you will need to smooth this out, so it is nice and flat. Take leftover icing in the bowl and spread it sparingly over the sides of the cake.
Add dollops of Lemon Curd around the edges of the top of the cake and some gorgeous flowers from your garden (make sure they are well rinsed and dried off so there are no bugs).

You can ice the cake the same day, but cake is easier to cut the next day. Either way, take a serrated knife and level off the cake to create a flat top to decorate with extra curd and beautiful flowers. Next, cut cake in two even halves. Place bottom half onto a cake stand or cake board and make icing.
Garnish away to your hearts content: meringue and macarons, white chocolate shards with edible glitter, or freeze-dried raspberry powder can look absolutely stunning.