CAKE HEAVEN

Oh so fruity!

For the strawberry Pimm’s Showstopper, see page 30

Zesty lemon cake

SERVES 12-15

For the cake

300g (10½oz) unsalted butter
300g (10½oz) caster sugar
300g (10½oz) self raising flour
5 free-range eggs
2 tsp lemon extract grated zest and juice of
2 lemons
Sugar Flair Lemon colouring (optional)

For the buttercream

250g (9oz) unsalted butter
500g (1lb 1oz) icing sugar
2 tsp lemon extract
grated zest of 1 lemon
1-2 tbsp milk
lemon slices, to decorate

1 Preheat the oven to 160°C/Gas Mark 2. Begin by softening the butter in the microwave. I used block butter, but you could easily use a baking spread.

2 Add the butter to a mixer along with the sugar. Cream together on a high speed until light and creamy. Meanwhile, juice and zest the lemons and weigh out the flour.

3 Add 3 eggs to the mixer and half the flour, mixing until just combined, then add in the remaining eggs, flour, lemon juice and zest. Mix for 10-20 seconds on high until evenly combined. To give it a more lemony appearance, you could add in some yellow food colouring. I used Sugarflair Lemon.

4 Split the mixture evenly between 2 lined tins and bake for 40-45 minutes, or until a skewer comes out clean. Leave to cool in the tin, then remove and wrap in clingfilm. Chill in the fridge for a few hours before decorating.

5 Make the buttercream by mixing up softened butter on high for 3-4 minutes, then add the icing sugar and mix again for 3-4 minutes until light, fluffy and pale in colour. Add in the flavouring, zest and milk until it is at a piping consistency.

6 Split each cake in half, then decorate using some yellow buttercream piped in each layer and on top, finished off with lemon slices.

If you’d like to learn how to decorate this even more, take a look