The BEST Lemon Cake with Lemon Curd

• servings: 8 servings
• total time: 1 hour

Ingredients

240ml of dairy-free milk

1 teaspoons of apple cider vinegar

210g of self-raising flour

200g of caster sugar

1/2 teaspoon of baking powder

1/2 teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda

60g of vegetable oil

2 lemons (zest only)

Juice of 1/2 a lemon

3 tablespoons of corn flour + 2 tablespoons of water

100g of dairy-free butter/margarine

100g of caster sugar

170ml of lemon juice

3 small unwaxed lemons (zest)

100g of vegan condensed milk*

Pinch of turmeric

200g of dairy-free block butter*

200g of icing sugar

1/2 lemon juice

50ml of aquafaba (chickpea brine)*

1 Lemon (thinly sliced into segments)

Directions

Method (lemon curd)

In a small bowl, add in the corn flour and water. Stir together into thick paste.

Add the cornflour paste, dairy-free butter, sugar, lemon juice, lemon zest, condensed milk and a pinch of turmeric into a medium sized saucepan.

Place the saucepan on the hob and heat over low to medium, stirring constantly, preferably with a whisk. After around 5-8 minutes the lemon curd will thicken. If the curd isn’t thickening, turn up the heat and constantly whisk.

Pour curd into a heat proof jar or bowl, cover and place aside to cool down.

You can either put it in the fridge or keep it at room temperature to cool. Before you use it, give it a good stir as it will thicken.

Method (cakes)

Preheat your oven to 180 degrees c fan and line two, 6 inch loose base / push up cake tins with grease-proof paper.

In a bowl, combine the dairy-free milk with the apple cider vinegar and whisk until fully combined. Set aside for 10 minutes to curdle. This creates a vegan ‘buttermilk’.

In a large mixing bowl, sift the flour, sugar, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda. Mix well to combine. Stir in the lemon zest.

Add the oil and lemon juice into the ‘buttermilk’ and whisk to combine.

Add the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix.

Pour equal amounts of batter into the lined cake tins. Make sure to tap the tins on the worktop to remove any air bubbles.

Pop the cakes into the centre of the preheated oven and bake for around 25-30 minutes. You will know they are done when you put a knife or skewer in and it comes out clean and they are springy to the touch.

Place the cakes on a cooling rack and allow to cool fully. Once cool, pop them into a sealed container to keep them fresh before frosting.

Method (swiss meringue buttercream)

In a large mixing bowl, add in the dairy-free butter, whip until creamy. I use a stand mixer with a balloon whisk attachment, a hand mixer will work great too.

Sift in the icing sugar and pour in the lemon juice, whip on high speed for a couple of minutes to incorporate it.

Pour in the aquafaba and whip for 5 minutes until it turns light and creamy. Don’t over whip it or it can become too soft. If it does, just add in more icing sugar until it’s thick and creamy. The buttercream should be airy and light. You might need to add in some more butter to get it to the right consistency. If the buttercream ever looks like its splitting, add chunk more butter at a time while its still whipping on medium / high speed. It’ll come back together within a minute or two.

Place one of the cakes on a serving plate or cake stand. Dollop some of the buttercream on top and spread out until even using an off set spatula or pallet knife.

Make a well in the middle of the buttercream and fill with 2 heaped tablespoons of lemon curd.

Place the second cake layer on top. Press it down gently so it sticks. Coat the whole cake with the buttercream, swirling it around to create texture with the spatula.

Press lemon slices around the cake (as seen in the photos).