Lemon Macaron Layer Cake - Clandestine Cake Club - Norwich Club (May) - RECIPE

Unfortunately, I've had little time for blogging of late - so have a lot of catching up to do !

This is the cake I made for the May meet of Clandestine Cake Club (Norwich). I'll warn you now if you are thinking of making it - it WAS a labour of love.....

There are a lot of aspects to this cake - sponge, swiss meringue buttercream, macarons and homemade lemon curd. It contained 48 macaron shells as there were also macarons between the layers.

It was very time consuming so wouldn't be a cake that you would want to make on a regular basis. It was also very rich, so only snall slices required.

At a guess, this cake served around 36 portions. I brought a lot of it back and it got handed round several neighboring companies and staff at my work !

Sponge Cake Recipe 

200g of salted butter

375g caster sugar

3 eggs

3 egg yolks

2 tsp vanilla extract

275g plain flour

2 tsp baking powder

160ml milk

Cream butter and sugar. Add eggs one at a time and combine followed by egg yolks. Add dry ingredients and milk with canilla, alternating (1/3 of the amount at a time)

Bake in a 170deg C pre-heated oven for approx 50mins until a cake tester comes out clean

Allow to cool and then refrigerate until firm.

Tort (split) into three even layers.

Spread the bottom and middle layers generously with lemon curd, then top with a layer of macarons and a layer of Italian meringue buttercream.

LEMON CURD RECIPE (makes two jars)

200g sugar

3 eggs + 2 yolks

100g melted butter

250ml lemon juice (or 150ml lemon and 100ml lime)

zest 3 lemons

The lemons I bought looked sublime, but infact were very disappointing.... Loads of peel and very little juice.I used 5 lemons and still had to top up with 100ml of lime juice on this occasion as I ran out of lemons !

First of all, melt the butter and them add the lemon juice and lemon zest.

Whisk together the eggs, yolks and sugar in a pan, then whisk in the butter and lemon mix.

Stir continuously over a low heat until thick enough to coat the back of a wooden spoon. Put into sterilised jars and seal. 

This lemon curd recipe does not need a double boiler. Keep a sink full of cold water nearby. If it looks like it might split, plunge the pan bottom into the water and then whisk like fury. I've never had it split yet...(though I've water dunked it once or twice before).

For the macarons, please see the macaron recipe here : http://www.siliconemoulds.blogspot.co.uk/2012/02/seville-orange-curd-and-mallow-macarons.html

This time however, I made lemon macarons instead of orange. These are baked on the Revolutionary Double Sided Macaron Mat from SiliconeMoulds.com.

For applying buttercream and getting lovely straight sides on your cake, use a bench scraper (£6.99 from www.siliconemoulds.com).

These can be butted up to the cake and be flat on the cake board. It gives you a lovely smooth finish with very little effort and a professional finish.

Sarah-Jane Nash - www.siliconemoulds.com