John Whaite shares his recipe for this zesty treat
Serves 8 – 10
Ingredients
For the cake
225g unsalted butter, softened
225g caster sugar
Zest 2 lemons
4 eggs
225g self-raising flour
For the drizzle
Juice of two lemons
50g caster sugar
For the meringue and filling
2 egg whites
115g caster sugar
2tbsp lime or lemon curd
Method
Preheat the oven to 180C/160C fan/gas mark 4. Grease and line with baking paper 2 x 20cm sandwich tins.
Beat together the butter, sugar and lemon zest until pale and fluffy – I do this in my KitchenAid with paddle, but it can be done in a mixing bowl with handheld electric mixer. Beat in the eggs – don’t worry if the mixture splits. When the eggs are fully incorporated, sift over the flour and beat in just until you have a smooth batter. Divide equally between the cake tins and bake for 20-25 minutes, until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Allow the cakes to cool completely in the tins.
While the cakes bake, make the drizzle. Stir together the lemon juice and sugar until the sugar is more or less dissolved. As soon as the cakes come out of the oven, pour the drizzle over them.
For the meringue, put the egg white and caster sugar into a heatproof bowl and set over a pan of simmering water. With a handheld electric mixer, whisk until the sugar dissolves into the egg white and the mixture feels slightly hot on the finger. Remove the bowl from the heat and continue whisking until you have a very stiff, glossy meringue.
To assemble, place one cake onto a cake stand and pipe blobs of meringue around the edge, and a large blob in the centre (if you don’t have a piping bag, just spread half of the meringue over the cake, topping that with the curd). Spread the curd over the uncovered cake then top with the second cake. Spread the remaining meringue over the top. If you have a chef’s blowtorch, char the top of the cake, although this will look just as beautiful without the charring.
