Baking Dessert

Golden lemon drizzle cake with poppy seeds

Name: Lemon drizzle layer cake recipe
Yield: 8
Ingredients: 200g unsalted butter, at room temperature, plus more for greasing; Finely grated zest of 2 lemons; 200g caster sugar; 4 large eggs, at room temperature; 2 tsp baking powder; 3/4 tsp ground turmeric; 30.00 ml poppy seeds (optional); 200g plain flour; 100ml lemon juice (from about 4 lemons); 75g white sugar; 125g mascarpone; 125g tangy lemon curd

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Golden lemon drizzle cake with poppy seeds

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by Eleanor Ford

Author

Apr 18, 2024

"A cake that has it all: sweet, sour, fluffy, sugar-crusted crunch and luxurious filling. And then the sponge! Sunshine gold to lift any mood. My secret is ground turmeric in the batter, offsetting the sweetness. The idea for the lemon mascarpone centre came from Tonia George in a magazine cutting I have held onto for 15 years. I will be forever grateful to her, as this might just be my favourite cake.” – Eleanor Ford

200g unsalted butter, at room temperature, plus more for greasing
Finely grated zest of 2 lemons
200g caster sugar
4 large eggs, at room temperature
2 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp ground turmeric
1 1/2 tbs poppy seeds (optional)
1 1/3 cups (200g) plain flour

Drizzle

100ml lemon juice (from about 4 lemons)
1/3 cup (75g) white sugar

Filling

1/2 cup (125g) mascarpone
125g tangy lemon curd

Method

1.

Grease 2 x 20cm round cake pans and line with baking paper. Preheat oven to 190°C/170°C fan-forced.
2.

In a large bowl or stand mixer, beat the butter, lemon zest and sugar until softened. Beat in eggs, baking powder, turmeric, poppy seeds (if using) and 1/4 tsp fine salt. Once smooth, fold in flour.
3.

Divide between the two pans and level the surfaces. Bake for 20 minutes, or until the tops are browned and springy. Leaving the cakes in their pans, prick the surfaces all over with a toothpick.
4.

To make the drizzle, mix the lemon juice and sugar together briefly, then drizzle slowly over the cakes, saving all undissolved sugar to spoon over the top cake. Once the liquid has sunk in, remove cakes from pans and cool on a wire rack.
5.

For the filling, swirl the mascarpone and lemon curd together. When the cakes are completely cool, sandwich them together with the lemony mixture, using the sugar-crusted cake on the top.

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Recipe Notes

"This cake is best eaten on the day it’s made, but if keeping longer, store in an airtight container in the fridge. You can also sandwich cakes with a slick of ginger marmalade and a larger quantity of lightly sweetened whipped cream. You’ll need 2 x 20cm round cake pans."