It’s Justin’s birthday in less than a week. Unsurprisingly, when I asked what kind of cake he’d like, he said, “Lemon”. I turned to Delia, one of my favourites, and she didn’t let me down. I tweaked a recipe from her book, Delia’s Cakes to make him a lemon birthday layer cake.
It’s based on her all-in-one sponge cake recipe where you sift the flour and baking powder together into a bowl before simply stirring in all the other ingredients.
The recipe calls for two, 18cm diameter tins – a particular size that I don’t have. I do have one 20cm diameter tin which I used to bake the cakes in two batches. The extra 2cm meant my cakes were wider and shorter, but I still managed to slice them in half.
I usually make my own lemon curd, but we’d been gifted a jar of Tiptree’s, so I used about ¾ of the jar. I covered the cake with whipped double cream flavoured with a little lemon extract and zest. If you prefer, you could add a bit of sugar to the cream mix, but I think the rest of the cake is sweet enough.
I would have also topped it with some birthday candles… but there wasn’t enough room for all of them!
Click here to save the lemon birthday layer cake recipe to Pinterest
Lemon birthday layer cake
Ingredients
For the cake
- 175 g self-raising flour
- 1 level tsp baking powder
- 175 g spreadable butter
- 175 g golden caster sugar
- 3 large eggs
- ½ tsp lemon extract
- 250 g lemon curd
For the topping
- 150 ml double cream
- ½ tsp lemon extract
- zest of 1 lemon
To serve
- zest of 1 lemon
Instructions
For the cake
- Pre-heat the oven to 170ºC/ 325ºF / Gas mark 3
- Grease and line a pair of 18cm/7" round loose-bottom cake tins
- Sieve the self-raising flour and baking powder into a large mixing bowl
- Add all the other ingredients and combine well
- Divide the cake mixture equally between the prepared tins
- Bake for 25 minutes
- Remove from the oven and after about 30 seconds loosen the edges by sliding a palette knife all round then turn them out onto a wire cooling rack
- Carefully peel away the liners. Lightly place another cooling rack on top of the cakes and flip them over so that their tops are facing upwards (this prevents them sticking to the cooling rack)
- Allow to cool completely before slicing each cake in half horizontally using a sharp serrated knife
- Put one slice on to a cake plate or cake stand base. Spread generously with ⅓ of the lemon curd. Put another slice on top and spread this one with another ⅓ of the lemon curd. Put the third slice on top and spread with the last of the lemon curd. Put the final slice on top
For the topping
- In a large mixing bowl whisk together the double cream, lemon extract and zest of 1 lemon until stiff. Spread the mixture evenly over the top of the layer cake
- Sprinkle over the zest of the other lemon
- Slice and enjoy!
