Birthday Cake
Ingredients
- 8 oz self-raising flour (sieved)
- 8 oz caster sugar
- 8 oz butter (softened)
- 2 oz ground almonds
- 4 large eggs
- 2 tsp (lemon extract)
- rind of 2 lemons
- for the filling:
- 8 oz unsalted butter (softened)
- 4 oz lemon curd
- 12 oz icing sugar (sieved)
- to decorate:
- 2 x 500 grams readymade roll out icing
- 1 packet of royal icing
- food colouring
Method
- For the cake:
- Pre-heat oven to 185°C.
- Line two 9” round cake tins with baking parchment.
- Whisk butter and sugar together until pale
- Add in the eggs, lemon rind and extract.
- Fold in the flour and ground almonds.
- Divide the mixture between cake tins.
- Bake for 20 to25 mins until golden brown.
- Allow to cool in tin the turn the cakes out into a wire rack.
- For the filling:
- Place all ingredients into a large bowl and whisk until mixture is soft and fluffy.
- To assemble the cake:
- Cut the sponge in half.
- Spread filling on each layer and sandwich together. Spread remaining filling on top and sides of the cake.
- Knead the readymade
icing and sprinkle a little icing sugar on work surface. Then roll out
icing just enough so it covers the whole cake.
- To make the royal icing, just follow the instructions on the packet and add a drop of food colouring of choice.
- To make a homemade
piping bag, cut a triangle piece of baking parchment or greaseproof
paper and make a cone shape and fill with royal icing. If a larger
piping bag is required, get a freezer bag, fill with the royal icing and
just cut out a corner. Just pipe strips up and down the sides of the
cake to decorate.
- Tips for the birthday cake:
- To make a chocolate cake, omit 1oz of flour and the lemon and add 1oz of sieved coco powder.
- To save time for the filling, it can be made a week in advance and kept in the fridge.
- If you don't like lemon filling, you can use a shop bought chocolate spread.
- When lining the cake tin if you don't have greaseproof paper or baking parchment, it can be lined with cling film
