Lemon Meringue Cake Recipe

Who doesn't love lemon meringue pie? Mr. Perfect that's who! He's a strange boy and since I can't or rather really shouldn't eat a whole pie to myself, I haven't made one in forever.  In an effort to persuade Mr. Perfect that lemon meringue pie is definitely the way forward, I decided to try Nigella's Lemon Meringue Cake recipe. 

 The recipe is from Nigella's Feast, a massive book that I love but hardly ever use.  Continuing with my aim to rediscover forgotten cookbooks I flipped through to find a tempting recipe, I was torn between making this and the homemade custard creams but this cake won as it just looked and sounded so perfectly yummy.  

As requested I have added this fantastic recipe to both Real Sustenance Seasonal Sunday and Sweet as Sugar Cookies Sweets for Saturday.

This cake is everything I had hoped it would be, it tastes just like lemon meringue pie, the meringue is heavenly and despite the cake batter being unusually thick the cake was great.  Use good quality lemon curd or indeed make your own, Nigella also suggests using passion fruit curd in place of the lemon, yum!

I will be trying all sorts of variations of this gorgeous cake, I really love it and if Mr. Perfect doesn't then I'm going to have him sectioned.

Lemon Meringue Cake

 Recipe From Feast Food that Celebrates Life by Nigella Lawson

Ingredients

125g very soft unsalted butter

4 eggs, separated

300g plus 1 teaspoon caster sugar

100g plain flour

25g cornflour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

Zest of 1 lemon

4 teaspoons lemon juice

2 teaspoons milk

1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar

150ml double or whipping cream

150g good quality lemon curd

Method

Preheat the oven to gas mark 6/200°C. Line and butter two 21cm sandwich tins.

Mix the egg yolks, 100g of the sugar, the butter, flour, cornflour, baking powder, bicarb, and lemon zest in a processor. Add the lemon juice and milk and process again.

Divide the mixture between the prepared tins. You will think you don't even have enough to cover the bottom of the tins, but don't panic. Spread calmly with a rubber spatula until smooth.

Whisk the egg whites and cream of tartar until peaks form and then slowly whisk in 200g of sugar. Divide the whisked whites between the two sponge-filled tins, pouring or, more accurately, spreading the meringue straight on top of the cake batter.

Smooth one flat with a metal spatula, and with the back of a spoon, peak the other and sprinkle 1 teaspoon sugar over the peaks. Put the tins into the oven for 20-25 minutes.

With a cake-tester, pierce the cake that has the flat meringue topping to check it's cooked all through. (It will have risen now but will fall back flattish later.) No sponge mixture should stick to the tester. Remove both cakes to a wire rack and let cool completely in the tins.

Unmould the flat-topped one on to a cake stand or plate, meringue side down.

Whisk the double cream until thick but not stiff and set aside. Spread the flat sponge surface of the first, waiting, cake with the lemon curd and than spatula over the cream and top with the remaining cake, bronze-peaked meringue uppermost.

Serves: Makes 8 Slices

I decided to give my cake a light dusting of icing sugar at the last minute, my meringue browned just a little more than I would have liked but with a cake this delicious I can't really quibble.  The gorgeous Nigella has done it again.

 

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Lemon Meringue Cake Recipe