GET BAKING WITH AEG
LEMON & RASPBERRY DRIP CAKE
By Matt Adlard
Ingredients
-
Lemon Cake
- 6 Large Eggs
- The weight of the eggs* in Unsalted Butter Room Temperature
- The weight of the eggs* in Caster/Superfine Sugar
- The weight of the eggs* in Self Raising Flour
- 1 Tsp Vanilla Bean Paste or 1 Fresh Vanilla Pod
- 2 Tsp Lemon Extract
- 3-4 Tbsp Boiling Water*Weigh the eggs in their shell
-
Vanilla Sugar Syrup
- 100g Sugar
- 100g Water
- 1 Tsp Vanilla Bean Paste -
Swiss Meringue Buttercream
- 200g Egg Whites
- 375g Caster Sugar
- 6g Salt
- Beans from 1 Fresh Vanilla Pod
- 495g Unsalted Butter, Room Temperature -
White Chocolate Drip
- 100g Good Quality White Chocolate
- 5g Cocoa Butter
- ¼ Tsp Titanium Dioxide/Superwhite PowderRaspberry Jam to Fill
Flowers To Decorate
Method
Lemon Cake
1. Pre-heat your oven to 180C non-fan assisted.
2. Onto a digital scale, add your 6 large eggs, in their shells, and read the weight - this is the weight we will use for all the remaining ingredients (it will be roughly around 340-370g)
3. In a large bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer, add the room temperature butter, sugar, vanilla & lemon extract. Beat with a wooden spoon or the paddle attachment of your mixer (on a medium speed) until the mixture is light and fluffy. This should take 3-5 minutes.
• The weight of the eggs in Soft Unsalted Butter
• The weight of the eggs in Caster Sugar
• 1 Vanilla Pod
• 2 Tsp Lemon Extract
4. Next, add in the eggs, one at a time, scraping down the bowl in between the addition of each egg to ensure they are completely mixed in.
• 6 Large Eggs
5. Sift in the self-raising flour and gently mix this in until you see no more dry ingredients and everything is evenly combined. Be careful not to overbeat this.
• The weight of the eggs in Self Raising Flour
6. Finally, stir in 3-4 Tbsp of boiling water, just enough to smooth the batter so that when you lift the mixture with a spatula it falls in a slow dropping motion.
• 3-4 Tbsp Boiling Water
7. Lightly grease three 7” cake tins with soft butter, and then place a circle of parchment paper in the bottom. Finally, add a tbsp of flour to each tin and shake it around so that it covers the side. Tip out any excess flour.
8. Split the batter evenly between the cake tins - if you can, weigh each tin so that you are adding the exact same amount of batter to each one (it should be roughly 465g per tin). This will ensure your cakes are perfectly even. Use a spatula or a spoon and spread the mixture to the edges of the cake tin. Try to ensure the batter doesn’t spill up the side of the tin.
9. Place the cakes in the oven and bake for 25-30 minutes, at which time the cake should be golden and a skewer should come out clean.
10. While the cakes are baking - make a quick sugar syrup, add the sugar, water and vanilla to a saucepan. Place it on a medium heat until the sugar has completely dissolved. Remove it from the heat and allow to cool.
• 100g Water
• 100g Sugar
• 1 Tsp Vanilla Bean Paste
11. Once the cakes have baked, allow them to cool for 5m in the tin before flipping them onto a wire cooling rack.
12. Skewer a few holes into the bottom of the cake and spread a thin layer of the sugar syrup on the cake. Allow them to cool completely.
Swiss Meringue Buttercream
1. Into a large metal bowl, or the bowl of a stand mixer, add the egg whites, sugar, vanilla and salt.
• 200g Egg Whites
• 375g Caster Sugar
• 6g Salt
• Beans from 1 Fresh Vanilla Pod
2. Place the bowl of a pan of gently simmering water. Whisk the mixture constantly until the sugar has dissolved and it reached a temperature of around 65C/149F on a digital thermometer.
3. Once at temperature, remove it from the heat and place it onto a stand mixer. Attach the whisk and whisk for 5-7 minutes, or until the bowl feels completely cool to the touch.
4. With the mixer still on a medium speed, slowly add in the soft butter, one piece at a time. As long as the butter is soft, you should be able to add it in relatively quickly. Wait about 10s in between each addition.
• 495g Unsalted Butter, Soft & Room Temperature
5. Initially it will look quite soupy, then it may begin to look curdled, but don’t panic - this is normal.
6. Once you have added all the butter, keep whisking for a further 3-4 minutes until the buttercream is completely smooth.
White Chocolate Drip
1. Take a medium bowl and add the white chocolate, cocoa butter & titanium dioxide (sift the titanium dioxide in to prevent any lumps). Place it over a pan of gently simmering water and stir together until completely melted.
• 100g Good Quality White Chocolate
• 5g Cocoa Butter
• ¼ Tsp Titanium Dioxide
2. Once melted, pour the mixture into a piping bag and remove your cake from the fridge. The chocolate drip mixture needs to be at around 48C-50C (118-122f) to pour on the cake. And colder and it won’t drip, any hotter and it will drip too much!
3. Cut a small hole off the end of the piping bag and working quickly, pipe drips along the side of the cake and then allow them to set.
4. Finish the cake by carefully pressing your wrapped flowers into the top of the cake in your preferred design.
5. Allow the cake to come to room temperature for 1 hour before serving.
Assembly
1. Start by levelling your cooled cake layers. With your cake on a rotating cake stand, take a very sharp knife and hold it completely horizontal against the side of the cake, just at the point of the cake where it has domed ever so slightly. Keeping your hand and knife steady, slowly rotate the cake, gently sawing into the edge of the cake. Keep rotating the cake layer, sawing deeper as you go until you have cut all the way through and have a level cake layer. Repeat this with the remaining 2 layers.
2. Place a cake board onto your rotating cake stand and add a small dollop of buttercream to the centre. Place your first cake layer down.
3. Add the buttercream to a piping bag, and pipe an even layer of buttercream over the cake layer. Use an offset spatula to spread the buttercream to the edges.
4. Next, add the raspberry jam to a piping bag, and drizzle this over the buttercream.
5. Add your next cake layer and repeat the process of adding buttercream and jam.
6. Once you get to the third layer of cake, flip this over so the smooth side (the side that was on the bottom of the cake tin) is on top of the cake (this will ensure you have a nice smooth top to the cake).
7. Take the remaining buttercream and apply a thick layer around the entire cake. Use a spatula or a cake scraper and carefully smooth the outside of the cake. Repeat the smoothing process around the outside as many times as needed until you are happy with it. Finally, use an offset spatula to smooth the top of the cake.
8. Place the entire cake in the fridge for 30m.
9. While the cake is chilling, start to assemble your flowers. Pick the flowers you wish to decorate with, and cut the stems down so they are about 2” in length.
10. Take your floristry tape (this stops the flowers from leaking into the cake), and stretch it slightly to activate the glue. In a swift motion, wrap the tape tightly around the entire stem of the flower, ensuring to cover the bottom too.
11. Repeat this process with the remaining flowers.
12. Remove the chilled cake from the fridge, and finish the cake by carefully pressing your wrapped flowers into the top of the cake in your preferred design.
13. Allow the cake to come to room temperature for 1 hour before serving.