Healthy recipes coming soon I promise but first I must post this three tiered lemon cake that I made for my Mumma's birthday at the weekend. Perfect for this lovely Spring weather. It's filled with lemon curd and topped with lemon icing, my Mum's favourite. So easy to make too, you can always rely on a Delia recipe. Just don't be silly like me and say that you'll make two of these cakes at once {Ben's grandma's birthday is the same day}, your hand will ache from grating so many lemons, and you'll probably run out of ingredients half way through and have to drive to Spar in your apron... 

I used 9 inch sandwich tins instead of the 7inch in the recipe so scaled up the ingredients, this website is good if you want to change the ratios, just remember to add a bit of cooking time on. I also didn't cut the sandwiches in half, too risky! So made 6 sponges, yep that's a lot of whisking. You'll be sensible though and just make one cake at a time.

Grease and base line 2 x 7 inch sandwich tins. 

Ingredients

For the cake

- 1 lemon, zest only, grated

- 1 tbsp lemon juice

- 175g self raising flour, sifted

- 1 level tsp baking powder

- 175g butter, room temperature

- 175g caster sugar

- 3 eggs

For the lemon curd

- 1 large juicy lemon, grated zest and juice only

- 75g caster sugar

- 2 eggs

- 50g unsalted butter

For the icing 

- 1 large lemon, zest only

- 50g sifted icing sugar {or if you don't want your kitchen covered in white powder just put into a bowl and whisk round to get rid of any lumps}

- 2-3tsp lemon juice.

- Preheat the oven to 170c/Gas 3.

- Measure all the cake ingredients into a mixing bowl and beat until you have a smooth consistency. 

- Then divide the mixture evenly between the two tins and bake them on the centre shelf of the oven for about 35 minutes or until the centres feel springy to touch.

- While the cakes are cooking, make the lemon curd. Place the sugar and grated lemon zest in a bowl, whisk the lemon juice together with the eggs then pour over the sugar. Add the butter cut into little pieces and place the bowl over a pan of barely simmering water. Stir frequently until thickened, about 20 minutes.

- When the cakes are cooked, remove from the oven and after 30 seconds turn out onto a wire rack. When they are absolutely cold, carefully cut each one horizontally using a sharp knife. {I didn't want to risk this so just made an extra sponge}

- Then spread the curd to sandwich the sponges together. {Do this the night before if you want to get ahead}

- For the icing, sift icing sugar into a bowl and gradually stir in the lemon juice until you have a soft, runny consistency. Allow to stand for five minutes before spreading on top of the cake with a knife, almost to the edges and allow to run down the side of the cake. Then scatter zest on top if you wish to serve, leave for half an hour for the icing to firm up before serving.

- You could decorate it anyway you wish but I don't think it needs much. Just some candles and a few sprigs of cow parsley. {Ben was worried it was poisonous haha but it's actually edible!}

Cake round two at Ben's grandma's. 

Healthy recipes up as soon as I'm back from Mauritius. But everyone needs to eat cake once or twice in a while. 

Thanks Delia. 

R <3 xx