Strawberry and Lemon Curd Cake

Strawberry and Lemon Curd Cake

Jonathan Lovekin

Provided by: Taste Editors

2 hr 50 mins total 1 hr prep Full Screen

Servings

This dessert is also delicious as a cake without the fillings (halve the recipe and start checking after 30 minutes). You can make it in the autumn with ground hazelnuts.

Recipe from Plenty by Diana Henry/Mitchell Beazley, 2010.

Ingredients

• 2 cups self-rising flour
• 1 3/4 cups granulated sugar
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 cup almonds, ground
• 3 large eggs
• 3/4 cup plain low-fat yogurt
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 tsp almond extract
• 1 cup butter
• FOR THE TOPPING AND FILLING:
• 1 3/4 lb strawberries
• 5 tablespoons superfine sugar
• Finely grated zest and juice of 1/2 lemon
• 7 oz mascarpone
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 10 heaped tbsp lemon curd
• Confectioners’ sugar, to taste, plus more for dust.

Directions

• Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Sift the flour onto the granulated sugar and salt, then stir in the almonds. Whisk the eggs lightly with a third of the yogurt and the vanilla and almond extracts. Using a food processor, or hand-held electric beater, cream the butter until pale and fluffy. Gently beat in the remaining yogurt and, with the machine on a very low speed, add the dry ingredients alternately with the eggs. Beat on a medium speed for 1–2 minutes.
• Butter and line a 9 in springform cake pan (it should be 3 in deep) and spoon in the batter. Bake for 50 minutes; a skewer pushed into the centre should come out clean. Leave to cool slightly, then turn out onto a wire rack and leave to cool completely. The sponge is very delicate, so carefully, with a broad, sharp knife, cut it horizontally into three layers.
• Wash and hull the strawberries and cut into halves and quarters (reserve good-looking small berries for decoration). Sprinkle the cut strawberries with the superfine sugar, zest, and juice; stir and leave to macerate for 15 minutes. Beat the mascarpone to loosen it a bit. In a separate bowl, whip the cream until it holds its shape well. Combine the cream, mascarpone, lemon curd, and confectioners’ sugar to taste.
• Spread the bottom layer of cake with half the cream, then half the strawberries. Repeat with the next layer. Put the top layer on. Arrange a small pile of perfect strawberries in the middle and sift over a light dusting of confectioners’ sugar. Keep in the refrigerator until 20 to 30 minutes before serving. It’s best eaten on the day it’s made.

• Filed under:
• Egg,
• Dairy,
• Nut,
• strawberry,
• Flour,
• American,
• Baking,
• Easy,
• Dessert,
• Cake,
• Summer

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