Sunny surprise

Relish the fusion of sweet, sour and spice in this lemon drizzle cake with poppy seeds, where each bite is a celebration of sunshine gold . . .

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, which also serves to echo the slight bitterness of lemon, offsetting the sweetness, whilst a generously juicy drizzle brings intense tang. The idea for the lemon mascarpone centre came from Tonia George in a magazine cutting I have held on to for 15 years. I will be forever grateful to her, as this might just be my favourite cake.

Golden lemon drizzle cake with poppy seeds

INGREDIENTS

For the cake:

200g unsalted butter, at room temperature, plus more for greasing

Finely grated zest of 2 lemons

200g caster sugar

4 eggs, at room temperature

2 teaspoons baking powder

¾ teaspoon ground turmeric

¼ teaspoon fine sea salt

2 tablespoons poppy seeds (optional)

200g (1⅓ cups) plain flour

For the drizzle:

100ml (scant ½ cup) lemon juice (from about 4 lemons)

75g (⅓ cup) granulated sugar

For the filling

125g  mascarpone

125g tangy lemon curd

METHOD

Grease and line two 20cm sandwich tins. Heat the oven to 190°C/170°C fan.

In a large bowl or stand mixer, beat the butter with the lemon zest and sugar until softened. Beat in all the remaining cake ingredients except the flour. Once smooth, gently fold in the flour.

Divide between the two tins and level the surfaces. Bake for 20 minutes, or until the tops are browned and springy.

Leaving the cakes in their tins, prick the surfaces all over with a cocktail stick. Mix the lemon juice and sugar together briefly then drizzle the liquid slowly over the two cakes, saving all the undissolved sugar to spoon over the top cake. Once the liquid has sunk in, remove the cakes from their tins and cool on a rack.

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.

This cake is best eaten on the day it is made, but if keeping it for longer then store in the fridge.

SPICE SWITCH

Cardamom, lemon and ginger drizzle: substitute the turmeric and poppy seeds in the sponge with the ground seeds of 5 green cardamom pods. Sandwich the cakes with a slick of ginger marmalade and a larger quantity of lightly sweetened whipped cream.

Images and text from A Whisper

of Cardamom by Eleanor Ford,

photography by Ola O. Smit. Murdoch Books RRP $55.00.