Lemon Sponge Cake

Most of the time when I am baking I do not want an elaborate cake, I want something for the family to sit around and munch at mid-afternoon when everyone congregates in the kitchen waiting for me to prepare dinner, and lemon sponge cake is perfect.
I have been eating lemon sponge cake since I was a child, my mother was not a great cook, she was not a bad one, but not that brilliant, but she could bake. Everyday she made fresh bread and scones for when we came in from school hot out of the oven. At weekend she made lemon sponge cake every Saturday morning. This Lemon sponge cake is a retro recipe because it is how she made it in the fifties, but if you want to add lemon curd you can. You can also make it more elegant by adding a lemon sponge icing, but for me because it is what I am used to I just love the plain lemon Sponge cake. My mother made lemon sponge cake the old fashoined way, she weighed the eggs without their shells and added the same weight of vanilla sugar, butter and self raising flour. T o weigh the weight of your eggs, weight the empty bowl, add the eggs and whisk

Mummy Mishaps: Zesty Lemon Sponge Cake
Zesty Lemon Sponge Cake. With Mothering Sunday just around the corner I have been thinking about what gift to get for my mum. I think it’s nice to show my her how much she is thought of and how thankful I am to have her in …
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Lemon Sponge Cake recipe

2 large organic eggs, beaten and weighted
Same weight of butter, at room temperature
Same weight of vanilla caster sugar
Same weight of self raising flour
Zest of 1 lemon
2 teaspoons lemon juice
self raising flour
Pinch of salt
Preheat the oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6

Method for lemon sponge cake

Line your baking tray with parchment.
In a bowl beat together the butter and caster sugar until they are light, fluffy and a lot paler. Gradually add the eggs, to the mixture, adding a little of the flour to help prevent curdling. Gently fold in the remaining flour until fully combined. Add the Lemon Zest and Lemon Juice.Put it in your baking tin. Cover the tins with baking parchment to stop the lemon sponge from drying out whilst it bakes. Bake in the oven for twenty minutes until a toothpick comes out clean.

Variations on lemon sponge cake

If the idea of lemon sponge cake does not appeal, it can be made with any other citrus fruit, such as blood orange, which gives the cake a wonderful colour, or orange, lime, or grapefruit. Some of my family like it with an alcoholic lemon cheese icing sandwiching the two layers together. if I am going to do that I increase the eggs to three and then cut the layers and add the alcoholic lemon ricotta icing.

Alcoholic Lemon Ricotta Icing.
125g Butter at room temperature
250g cold Cream Cheese
250g cold Ricotta Cheese
75g Sifted vanilla Icing sugar
Zest of 2 Lemons
1 tablespoon of Limoncello

Beat the softened butter until perfectly smooth in your food processor, if you skip this step you get an unpleasant goo of butter in it later.The whole icing is a bit grainy, because of the texture of the ricotta. Add the Cream cheese until combined and then the Ricotta cheese, then add the sugar. if it is too grainy then sieve it. Add the Lemon Zest, Limoncello and mix. leave it in the fridge for a couple of hours to thicken up and then either cut the lemon sponge cake, or layer two sponges with the icing. If lemon sponge is not your bag try this Normandy Apple Cake.