This is my ideal cake. Lemony, soft-crumbed and streusel-topped. The idea for this recipe comes from baker Thalia Ho, who has a cake in her book Wild Sweetness that ripples lemon curd through it. This lemon cake is loaded with three types of lemon: lemon zest scudded through the cake batter, the curd on top and a hit in the streusel topping.
Makes a 23CM cake, serves 12
Ingredients:
- 250g plain flour, plus 80g for the streusel topping
- 20g porridge oats
- 250g plus 2 tablespoons golden caster sugar
- zest of 2 unwaxed lemons
- 200g unsalted butter at room
- temperature, plus 70g cold unsalted butter and a little extra for the tin
- 80g ground almonds
- 1½ teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
- 3 large organic or free-range eggs
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 250g natural yoghurt or oat yoghurt
- 100g good-quality lemon curd, plus extra to serve
- creme fraiche, to serve
Method:
Make the streusel topping
Put 80g plain flour, 20g porridge oats, 2 tablespoons caster sugar and a pinch of sea salt into a bowl and mix well. Add the zest of 1 unwaxed lemon, then add 70g of cold unsalted butter. Use your fingers to rub the butter into the flour like a crumble mixture until large sticky clumps have formed. This is your streusel.
Preheat the oven and line your tin
Preheat the oven to 180°C/160°C fan. Grease a 23cm cake tin with butter, then line with baking paper.
Mix the dry ingredients
Put 250g plain flour, 80g ground almonds, 1½ teaspoons baking powder and 1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda into a mixing bowl with ½ teaspoon sea salt and mix with a whisk until there are no lumps.
Cream the butter and sugar
In a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, or in another mixing bowl with an electric hand whisk or wooden spoon, cream 200g unsalted butter and 250g golden caster sugar until pale and fluffy. This will cake about 3-4 minutes in a stand mixer and longer by hand.
Add the eggs
Scrape down the bowl and add 3 large organic or free-range eggs one at a time, mixing on a low speed until each one is incorporated, then mix in 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract, the zest of another unwaxed lemon, and 250g natural yoghurt or oat yoghurt.
Add the dry ingredients
Add the dry ingredients to the batter in the mixing bowl and mix until just combined. This is a very forgiving cake, but minimal mixing will make it as light as possible.
Put the batter into the cake tin and add the lemon curd
Scrape the batter into the prepared tin and level it gently with a spatula, then spoon over 100g good-quality lemon curd in little patches and use your spoon to swirl it in a little. Scatter the streusel topping evenly to the very edges of the cake; don’t pile it into the middle or it will sink.
Bake the cake
Bake for 1 hour, or until a skewer inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean. Cover the top of the cake with foil if it looks like it’s browning coo fast. Allow to cool for 15 minutes in the tin, then remove from the tin and leave to cool completely on a wire rack. Serve with some creme fraiche rippled with a little lemon curd.
