CITRUS MASCARPONE LAYER CAKE

serves / 12

This cake is suitable for any event that involves the popping of someone’s cork. Dress it up with an asymmetric arrangement of garden flowers. Sprinkle some citrus zest over the top cream layer. Forget about the top cream layer. Really, you can dress this cake up or down to suit your purposes. The basic elements are buttery sponge and zingy mascarpone cream; no one is ever going to complain once those two are on board.

225g unsalted butter, softened 150g caster sugar 50g soft brown sugar 4 large eggs Finely grated zest of 2 citrus fruit (lemon and/or orange) 225g (1½ cups) self-raising flour 1 tsp baking powder Pinch of salt 50ml citrus syrup (I use the syrup from tinned mandarins) or reduced sweetened orange juice — optional

LEMON MASCARPONE FILLING

150-200ml thickened (whipping) cream 1 tbsp icing sugar 150g mascarpone 2 tbsp lemon curd, plus 2-3 tbsp extra for spreading 1_ Preheat the oven to 180C (160C fan). Grease and line two 20cm cake tins. 2_ Using an electric mixer, cream the butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one by one, beating well each time, then mix in the citrus zest. Sift in the flour, baking powder and salt, then fold into the batter until thoroughly incorporated. 3_ Divide the batter evenly between the two tins (not usually one for precision, I do use an electronic scale here to help me get the same amount in each tin). Smooth the surface and bake for 20-25 minutes, until the cakes have a golden hue and a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean. 4_ When the cakes are cool enough to handle, carefully turn them out onto a wire rack to cool. As this is a slightly sticky sponge, be careful that the cakes don’t stick to the rack: the trick is to move them once or twice on the rack before they are completely cool. (If you are splitting the work of making the sponges and constructing the cake, you can wrap and refrigerate or freeze them at this point: they’ll keep for a few days in the fridge and up to a month in the freezer.) 5_ A sponge cake that has been refrigerated will be much easier to cut than one that is straight out of the oven, so this is a good time to decide whether you want to cut each sponge in half horizontally for a four-layer cake, or stick with two layers. 6_ To make the lemon mascarpone filling, whip 150ml of the cream with the icing sugar until it has thickened slightly, stopping well short of soft peaks. Then fold in the mascarpone and the 2 tbsp of lemon curd until smooth — thin out with a little extra cream if it seems too stiff — you’re after an easily spreadable consistency so you won’t plough up the surface of the cakes. 7_ To assemble the cake, use a pastry brush to dab some of the citrus syrup on the first layer of cake, concentrating on the edges (which may have dried out if you made the sponge in advance). Next use a spatula or offset palette knife to spread a very thin layer of the extra lemon curd over the sponge, followed by a generous layer of the lemon mascarpone cream, making sure to get it all the way to the cake edges. Gently sit the next layer of cake on top and spread it with syrup, curd and lemon mascarpone cream. Keep going until all your layers of cake are used up. 8_ Spread a final layer of lemon mascarpone cream over the top of the cake and decorate. Or don’t decorate. It’s your party.