Prue Leith’s Lemon Sandwich Cakes

Method

Step 1
Heat the oven to 180°C/160°C Fan/350°F/Gas 4. Lightly grease 4 holes of the mini-sandwich tin with butter.

Step 2
For the sponges, beat all of the ingredients together in a large bowl, using an electric hand whisk, until the ingredients are fully incorporated and the mixture is smooth.

Step 3
Divide the mixture between 4 of the sponge tin holes, being careful not to overfill. Bake for 18 – 20 minutes, until the sponges are golden, risen and a skewer inserted into the middle of each cake comes out clean. Leave to cool in the tin for 3 minutes, before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

Step 4
Meanwhile, make the lemon curd. Put the lemon zest and juice, sugar and butter in a heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water. Stir occasionally until the butter has melted, then whisk in the beaten egg.

Step 5
Gently whisk the mixture over the heat for about 10 minutes, until thickened and the curd coats the back of a spoon. Pour the cooked curd through a sieve into a clean bowl to remove the zest, then leave to cool and set. Spoon into a small piping bag.

Step 6
For the cream cheese icing, put all the ingredients into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, beat until smooth and holding soft peaks. Spoon the icing into a piping bag fitted with a ½ cm round nozzle.

Step 7
Slice each sponge in half horizontally. Pipe blobs of the cream cheese icing around the edge of the base sponges, then fill the centre with lemon curd. Sandwich with the remaining sponges.

Step 8
To decorate, pipe blobs of cream cheese icing around the edge of the top of each of the sponges. Pipe small dots of lemon curd in between each blob of icing. Lightly dust the centre of each of the sponges with a little icing sugar. Sit a few petals on top of the cream cheese icing to decorate.