KP+: Lemon Meringue Cake
A cake you already know you're going to love
Ranking my recipes always feels a bit icky, like picking a favourite child. But the reality is, there are certain ones that make an impact.
Today, I’m very happy to share my new favourite child. I don’t know how I pick my favourites - sometimes it’s because of the journey I took whilst developing it, other times it's because of the technique used, and sometimes it just takes you by surprise, with no rhyme or reason. Though, I think I have an inkling about this one.
This cake was originally conceived in honour of my friend Laura Woods’ lovely mum Lynn. Lynn sadly passed, far too early, in December. As part of her remembrance service and celebration of her life, I created a cake for all of her loved ones to enjoy. Lynn was a bright sunshine, go-getting woman who loved spending time with her friends and family, eating and drinking well and making the most out of everything. She loved lemon and zingy flavours.
So, along with a classic lemon drizzle (because Lynn was a classic, and you don’t mess with a classic. I did adorn it with some crystallised flowers though, for a bit of Lynn glam!) I developed this special sheet cake, layering up soft, tender cake, bright lemon, tangy but grounding whipped cream cheese, finished with dramatic swoops of torched meringue.
Not only are sheet cakes ideal to share (which is very much in the spirit of friend-to-all-Lynn), they are super stable for transport and perfect for parties. I know we’ve all favoured height for such a long time when it comes to celebratory baking, but the era of the layered sheet cake is here to stay. Wide is the new tall, everyone.
What’s inside?
The cake itself is a rich chiffon, bolstered with more fat and flour than the average airy sponge, making it somewhere in between a more classic butter cake and a typical light sponge. A touch denser than, letsay, a genoise, but not as heavy as a pound cake. The lemon curd, based on my classic recipe, is ultra zippy and lays on a bed of barely sweet, tangy whipped cream cheese. The second time I made this recipe, I used a mixture of lemon and yuzu curd which worked beautifully.
To bring it all together, I’ve used a vanilla syrup, but you could definitely mix and match this depending on your mood – you could double down on the citrus, or head in a more spiced direction (peppercorn syrup might be fun), or go more herby or tea-y (I bet shiso would be divine, as would chamomile!), or boozy (gin / lemon is classic).
The final flourish is a coating of Swiss meringue, torched to perfection. I’m not sure why I haven’t covered my cakes in torched meringue before – seems like an obvious win-win?! Though it might be the first, it certainly won’t be the last. I also like putting a few swirly blobs of curd, following the swoops of the torched meringue, to finish. My original version also had some tart blackberries for a bit of visual drama (who doesn’t love a dark/light moment?) though it’s not essential.
The result is a balanced cake that you can endlessly riff off, with the perfect tangy-sweet-squishy balance that you want from a cake. Plus once you go rectangular & wide, you won’t want to go back to making round cakes.
Alright, let’s make it.