Baking

Lemon Drizzle Sandwich Cake recipe

Name: Lemon Drizzle Sandwich Cake
Prep time: 45 min
Cook time: 25 min
Total time: 1 h 10 min
Yield: 10
Ingredients: 200g room temperature butter (or Stork with Butter. Include extra to grease the tins); 200g caster sugar; 4 medium, room temperature eggs (around 200g); 1 tsp baking powder; 200g self-raising flour; zest from 1 large unwaxed lemon; 2 tbsp fresh lemon juice; 200ml double cream; 1 tbsp icing sugar; 200g lemon curd; 2-3 tsp fresh lemon juice; 50g icing sugar; 2 x 20cm sandwich tins

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An intense lemon drizzle cake; lemon drizzle on steroids, if you will. I tend to make the loaf version more but this is great if you have the time and inclination to make something fancier.

Prep45m
Cook25m
Total1h 10m

cake

Sliced lemon drizzle sandwich loaf with lemon curd

I was thinking about Lemon Drizzle Cake in the shower, as you do, and it struck me that the ingredient quantities for a loaf cake are similar to the quantities for a Victoria Sponge. Then it hit me: Lemon Drizzle Sandwich Cake!

Two lemon sponge cakes sandwiched together with fresh cream and lemon curd, topped with lemon drizzle icing. Okay, it’s been done before but still, it’s a lovely, cheerful cake; perfect if you want something fancier than a lemon drizzle loaf or you want a cake with a more pronouced lemon flavour. You could definitely use buttercream but for me it has to be fresh cream.

Notes

Start by weighing your eggs (without their shells). The weight of the eggs will determine the weight of the other ingredients. My medium eggs weighed 191g so I used 191g each of butter, sugar and flour. You can use large eggs like I did for this Lemon Drizzle Loaf Cake but you’ll need to increase the baking time.

Any kind of lemon curd will do. I scoured the reviews on Ocado and settled on M&S Sicilian lemon curd; it has a lovely, thick texture, just right for sitting on top of the cream and sandwiching the cakes together. I used around ⅔ of a 325g jar - adjust to suit your palate.

Recipe

Lemon Drizzle Sandwich Cake

Prep45m
Cook25m
Total1h 10m

Serves: 10

Ingredients

Lemon drizzle cakes (see notes for quantities)

200g room temperature butter (or Stork with Butter. Include extra to grease the tins)
200g caster sugar
4 medium, room temperature eggs (around 200g)
1 tsp baking powder
200g self-raising flour
zest from 1 large unwaxed lemon
2 tbsp fresh lemon juice

Filling

200ml double cream
1 tbsp icing sugar
200g lemon curd

Lemon drizzle icing

2-3 tsp fresh lemon juice
50g icing sugar

You will need

2 x 20cm sandwich tins

Method

Cake: Weigh 4 eggs (shells removed) then weigh the same amount of butter, sugar and self-raising flour (roughly 200g each if your eggs are medium).
Preheat your oven to 190°C (170°C fan) and generously butter the sides of two 20cm non-springform sandwich tins. Line the bottoms with greaseproof paper.
In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar together until combined (I use an electric handheld mixer but a balloon whisk will work).
Add 1 egg at a time to the butter and sugar mixture, continually whisking. Don’t be alarmed if the mixture looks like it’s curdled.
Add 1 teaspoon of baking powder to the self-raising flour then sift a quarter of the flour into the egg mixture and whisk. Repeat until all the flour has been used up then add the zest of 1 large lemon and 2 tablespoons of lemon juice. Give the batter a final whisk and taste to check that it’s lemony enough.
Use a spatula to divide the batter between the prepared sandwich tins, level the tops and transfer to the oven to bake on the middle shelf. Set a timer for 20 minutes (I check and rotate the cakes after 15 minutes).
When the 20 minute timer sounds, test the cakes with a skewer. If the skewer doesn’t come out clean, bake for another 5 minutes or so until fully cooked. Allow the cakes to cool in their tins for 5 minutes then gently tip them out onto a wire rack to cool.
Filling: Once the cakes are completely cool, pour 200ml of double cream into a bowl and sift in 1 tablespoon of icing sugar. Whisk the cream (I use my electric handheld mixer) and when it starts to stiffen, slow down. It’s done once it retains stiff peaks (you can see in the photo that my cream is slightly over-whipped).
Lemon drizzle icing: Combine 2 teaspoons of fresh lemon juice with 50g of sifted icing sugar to make the lemon drizzle icing. Add another teaspoon of lemon juice (a few drops at a time) if the icing is too thick.
Assemble: Spoon or pipe the cream onto one of the cakes then spoon 200g of lemon curd on top of the cream. Place the second cake on top of the first then drizzle over the lemon icing. Serve immediately and store any leftover cake in the fridge for up to 2 days.