During the coronavirus lockdown some people found they had a lot of extra leisure time; for the rest it was the reverse, and I fell into the latter category.
It was the Chief Taster’s birthday, and I had five minutes to create a cake for him.
This looked, and tasted, fabulous: a unanimous success.
And it is a very good way of using up any limoncello you may have been given.
Recipe for simple, stunning, almost instant, lashings of limoncello cake
Serves 4-6
Ingredients
- 1 x ready made Madeira cake (about 350g/12 oz)
- 240 ml/1 cup lemon curd yoghurt (or make it with 180ml/¾ cup thick plain yoghurt and 60ml/¼ cup lemon curd)
- 1 tbsp raspberry jam
- zest of half a lemon
- about 120ml/half a cup of limoncello
- 1 x pack ready-made meringue bites (about 30g/2 oz)
- a sprinkling of dried lavender if you have any
Method
- Cut the cake horizontally in half, pour a couple of tablespoons of limoncello over the bottom layer, and then spread the raspberry jam over it.
- Spread some of the lemon curd yoghurt over the upper surface of the bottom layer, and then place the top layer on top.
- Prick the upper layer with a fork, and pour over another couple of tablespoons of limoncello.
- Spread the rest of the lemon curd yoghurt over the whole cake. Cover with meringue bites. Sprinkle over the lemon zest, and, if you have it, a little dried lavender. The meringues will slowly slide down, just before serving fill any holes with more meringue bites.
- Serve with the rest of the limoncello (or, even better, the whole bottle) for people to pour over, or, even, to enjoy drinking in a glass.
This post is dedicated to my brother-in-law, who died of the virus the previous day, but still managed to send a birthday card.
