WEEKEND BAKE

Citrus zing offsets the rich and creamy soft cheese icing in this cake, while natural yogurt is the secret to its light sponge layers

Treat the family with our lemon layer cake

Lemon layer cake with soft cheese icing

SERVES 8 10 PREP 50 mins plus cooling and 1 hr setting COOK 35 mins EASY V

225g unsalted butter, softened

225g caster sugar

4 large eggs

225g self-raising lour

1 tsp baking powder

75g natural yogurt

1 tsp vanilla bean paste or extract

3 lemons, zested

For the drizzle

150g granulated sugar

3 lemons, zest of 2 pared into strips, juiced (you’ll need 60ml)

For the icing

150g unsalted butter, softened

150g icing sugar, sieved

1 tsp vanilla bean paste or extract

300g full-fat soft cheese

1 Heat the oven to 180C/160C fan/ gas 4 and line the base of two 20cm sandwich tins with baking parchment. Beat the butter and sugar together for 3 mins using an electric whisk until smooth and flu y. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well between each addition and scraping down the sides of the bowl. Fold in the flour and baking powder until well incorporated, then fold in the yogurt, vanilla and lemon zest. Divide between the tins and bake for 30-35 mins until golden and a skewer inserted into the middles comes out clean.

2 Meanwhile, make the drizzle. Tip the sugar, lemon juice and 100ml water into a small pan set over a medium heat and stir until dissolved. Add the pared lemon zest, bring to the boil and simmer for 2-3 mins until the zest has softened and the liquid is syrupy. Remove the zest using a slotted spoon and transfer it to a sheet of baking parchment, and remove the syrup from the heat.

3 Leave the sponges to cool for 10 mins in the tins, then pour over the warm drizzle. Leave to cool completely.

4 For the icing, beat the butter and icing sugar together using an electric whisk for 4-5 mins until smooth, scraping down the sides of the bowl as you go.

Add the vanilla and soft cheese and beat for 4 mins more until thick and creamy. Don’t worry if it doesn’t look thick at first – it will loosen, then thicken again as you beat it.

5 Remove the cooled sponges from the tins. Spoon the icing into a piping bag fitted with a star nozzle. Put one sponge on a cake stand or serving plate, and pipe just under half the icing around the edge using a circular motion for a wavy e ect. Pipe a little more icing over the empty middle (this doesn’t need to be neat) and smooth with the back of a spoon. Chill for 45 mins-1 hr until set. Top with the second sponge, then pipe eight blobs of icing around the edge at regular intervals, leaving a gap between each. Spoon the candied lemon zest into each gap, then serve.

PER SERVING (10) 690 kcals • fat 41g • saturates 25g • carbs 72g • sugars 55g • fibre 1g • protein 8g • salt 0.6g

tip

Chilling your sponges during the decorating process will give you a neater inish.

This impressive lemon layer cake is ideal for a birthday, or simply a fun weekend project