This delightful cake would be perfect with a cuppa, and especially today, which is the Spring Equinox - so it’s officially the end of winter, hooray!
A classic Victoria Sandwich (sponge cake) is filled with lemon curd, topped with vanilla sugar with yet more lemon curd, before being decorated with edible spring flowers.
This cake is an easy “all in one” cake mixture, and a splash of vanilla adds warmth, which marries so well with the sharpness of the lemon curd.
Enjoy this served on elegant, beautifully made British made china, as I have here, with Burleigh Blue Asiatic Pheasant, Blue Arden and Blue Felicity.
(Serves 8)
Ingredients:
CAKE:
4 large eggs, weighed in their shells
Butter or soft margarine ~ same weight as the eggs
Caster sugar/super fine sugar ~ same weight as the eggs
Self-rising flour~ same weight as the eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
FILLING:
1 x 250g jar lemon curd (keep some back for the decoration)
DECORATION:
Vanilla sugar
A few spoons of lemon curd
Primulas, primroses, or edible flowers of your choice.
INSTRUCTIONS:
Cake: Pre-heat oven to Gas 4, 160C (fan oven), 180C or 350F: grease and base line the bottom of 2 x 8” (20cm) sandwich tins – cake tins.
Place all the cake ingredients into a large mixing bowl, and mix them together for 2 to 3 minutes with an electric hand mixer. You should have a creamy, light batter.
Divide equally between the 2 prepared tins and bake for 25 minutes in the middle of the oven. Remove and allow to cool for 1-2 minutes.
Assembling the cake: Remove from the tins and allow to cool completely on a wire rack.
Place the first cake layer on a cake stand or plate and spoon the lemon curd over the cake. Then place the other cake on top.
Sprinkle the vanilla sugar over the top cake, then add teaspoons of lemon curd around the edge, and decorate with the crystallised primroses or edible flowers of your choice, by sitting them on top of the lemon curd.
Recipe by Karen Burns-Booth
