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Lavender and lemon cake

Light as air, this Genoise-style cake is perfumed intensely with lemon and lavender. Those refreshing flavours are just what is needed to cut through the rich, fluffy meringue frosting on the top. If you don’t have the sandwich tins specified, you can make the cake in a deep 18cm (7in) cake tin instead and slice it in half. Increase the cooking time to about 20 minutes – although the cake won’t rise as much as it would when cooked in separate tins.

Serves 8–10

25g (1oz) butter, melted and cooled, plus extra for greasing

3 large eggs

90g (3¼oz) caster sugar

zest of 2 lemons

½ tsp culinary lavender, plus extra for sprinkling

75g (2½oz) plain flour

For the candied lemons

1 small lemon, thinly sliced

150g (5½oz) caster sugar

For the meringue buttercream

2 large egg whites

120g (4¼oz) icing sugar

240g (8¾oz) unsalted butter, cut into large dice and left to soften a little

½ tsp vanilla extract

two 18cm (7in) sandwich tins

1. Make the candied lemons in advance, as they will keep for a while. Boil a pan of water and drop in the lemon slices. Blanch for 1 minute, then lift them out carefully with tongs and leave them to drain.

2. Heat 150ml (5fl oz) water in a saucepan over a medium-high heat and add the sugar. Stir until the sugar has dissolved. Drop in the lemon slices and leave them to simmer gently for 20 minutes or until the skin is softened and sweet. Remove from the syrup using tongs and leave to dry on a piece of baking parchment.

3. Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F) Gas mark 4. Grease the sides of the tins, and line the bases with baking parchment. Pour water into a saucepan to about 4cm (1½in) deep and bring it to the boil. Put the eggs and sugar in a large heatproof glass mixing bowl. Take the pan off the heat and put the mixing bowl over the pan, making sure the base of the bowl doesn’t touch the water.

4. Using an electric beater, whisk the mixture until light and frothy. This will take 4–5 minutes, and when you lift the beaters out of the mixture, the batter dripping off the beaters should leave an impression for 3 seconds. At this point, take the bowl off the hot pan and continue whisking until the mixture is completely cold.

5. Sprinkle in the lemon zest and lavender, then sift half the flour directly over the top of the mixture. Fold in, then add half the melted butter. Repeat to add the remaining flour, then butter, folding carefully so that you don’t knock too much air out of the mixture.

6. Divide the batter evenly between the two prepared tins. Bake for 12–13 minutes until the cakes are shrinking away from the sides of the tins and are golden and firm to the touch on top. Remove from the oven and put a clean tea towel over the tins. After 5 minutes, turn them out on a wire rack and leave them to cool completely. If you aren’t decorating them immediately, wrap them in cling film once they are cool – they will go stale quickly as they don’t have much fat in them.

7. To make the meringue buttercream, prepare a saucepan of hot water as before. Put the egg whites in a clean grease-free glass bowl and sift in the icing sugar. Whisk over the hot water until you have stiff peaks. Remove from the pan and whisk until completely cold. At this point, begin to add the butter, one piece at a time, whisking in before adding the next. This will take about 5 minutes. Once you have added all the butter, whisk in the vanilla extract.

8. Spread about a quarter of the buttercream on top of one cake and put the other cake, base-side up, on top. Spread the remaining buttercream around the sides and on top of the cake. Lay the candied lemon slices on top and sprinkle with a little lavender.