Ingredients:
For the Lemon Sponge:
- 225g butter
- 225g sugar
- 225g self raising flour
- One lemon, zested and juiced
- Drop of shop bought lemon juice
For the Curd:
- 4 large lemons zested and juiced
- 115g caster sugar
- 2 tablespoons cornflour
- 71g butter
For the Italian Meringue:
- 100g caster sugar
- 25ml water
- 50g of egg white
Method:
- Cream the butter and sugar together in a large mixing bowl. Add in the eggs and mix. Sift in the flour and mix until you have a smooth batter.
- Add in the lemon zest and both the types of lemon juice, mix.
- Pour into 3 separate cake tins and cook for at least 30 minutes.
- You can check if each layer is cooked by sticking a skewer into the centre of the sponge, if it comes out clean then the layer if cooked.
- Once cooked fulling leave to cool in the fridge.
For the curd:
- Place the lemon juice, zest and sugar into a medium sized saucepan and let simmer. Use a small amount of the hot lemon juice and mix it in to the cornflour before adding it back into the saucepan.
- Reduce the heat and add the whole egg and egg yolks along with the butter. Cook for around 3 minutes or until the mixture is thick. Whisk well.
- Pass the mixture through a sieve (this is done to remove any lumps such as cooked egg or zest). Pour into a clean bowl and cover it with buttered cling film. Set aside to cool.
Italian Meringue:
- Put the sugar and water in to a small saucepan. Heat over a medium heat using a sugar thermometer to check the temperature.
- Slowly start to whisk the egg whites using an electric hand mixer until they start to foam. Heat the sugar and water until it eventually reaches 121 C.
- Slowly pour the heated sugar into the egg whites whilst still whisking. Increase the whisk speed to full and whisk until the mixture is at room temperature.
Assembling the cake:
- Seal the crumbs of the sponge layers by brushing a small amount of the curd over each layer and leave in the fridge for at least 10 minutes.
- Using a cake board, spread a little curd in the centre and place the first cake layer on top.
- Spread and even layer of the curd on top this layer, making sure to only use around half of the curd. Place the second layer on top of the first and spread the remaining curd onto it. Finally, placed the last remaining cake layer on top of this.
- Now carefully spread the meringue over and around the whole cake.
- Finally use a kitchen blowtorch to complete the look of the cake and slowly crisp up the outer shell of your meringue.
- Your cake in now ready to enjoy.