Lemon curd raspberry cake

December 10, 2014 by Margaux 2 Comments

The other day my FIL came over with a massive bucket full of lemons, so naturally I had to find a way to make use of it all. Let me tell you, getting rid of 50+ lemons is no joke, BUT this was a good time to test out a lemon cake that I’d been musing over for a while. I’d heard of using polenta in cakes before, so I sat down and wrote out a random ingredient list and recipe and bashed together this cake. Imagine my surprise when it turned out delicious!

Man-thing made sure to tell me that if it wasn’t for my strict instructions not to eat it all at once he would have easily done so. It’s a very delicious cake, all the more so because of the soft tofu layer that just adds that bit of creaminess which works wonderfully with the slightly crumbly base. The lemon curd on top is optional, but honestly, what could be better?

Take note that there’s lemon curd in the ingredient list – if you plan to make the cake be sure to have that floating around your kitchen. It takes less than 10 minutes to make, so I’ve whipped up about four batches in the past two weeks alone – it’s that delicious!

Cake (serves 8):

1/2+ 1/3 cup polenta
1 cup almond flour
2 tsp baking powder
3/4 cup + 1 TBSP applesauce
2 TBSP non dairy milk
2 TBSP lemon juice
2 tsp lemon flavour
1 TBSP vanilla essence
1/4 cup xylitol
3 TBSP simple syrup
Cinnamon, nutmeg to taste
Pinch salt
1 tsp lemon zest

Creamy raspberry top:

1 cup tofu, pressed dry
2 TBSP vanilla essence
1 TBSP tahini
1/4 cup pre-made lemon curd (I doubled the starch and added 1 TBSP less sugar)
2 TBSP simple syrup/liquid sweetener
1 dropper NuNaturals Liquid Lemon NuStevia
Cinnamon
1 cup raspberries
2 tsp liquid sweetener

Serve with:

More lemon curd
Optional: ice-cream (I don’t know why but rum and raisin or mocha caramel would be spectacular)

How-to:

Line a loaf pan with parchment paper, with enough on the sides to create flaps you can grab, and preheat to 180C.
Toss your berries and the 2 tsp liquid sweetener, as well as spices you’d like in a big bowl, then scatter along the bottom of your loaf pan.
Blend your creamy top ingredients until smooth, adding more sweetener to taste. Remember the lemon curd sauce comes on top so it shouldn’t overwhelmingly sweet.
Spoon out the creamy top over the raspberries and smooth out with a spatula.
In the big bowl you used for the raspberries, quickly rinse it out then add your dry ingredients, mix, then add wet until combined. It will look kind of sloppy/not firm, but that’s fine.
Bake 35 – 40 minutes until the top is browned.
Let it cool for 10 minutes, then lift it by the flaps of the parchment paper and let it stand for another 10 minutes before flipping onto another plate carefully.
Best stored in the fridge and eaten within two days (though it can last longer).

Oh yes! Such a simple but delicious cake 🙂 The berries are totally optional, so you can easily leave them out and instead add some lemon zest or candied lemon slices into the creamy top.

The lemon curd on top is optional, but it really works so well together to just add another texture above the delightful cake base and creamy top. You can replace it with zesty date syrup or a berry syrup or sauce and have an equally magical effect. Since you’re making the lemon curd for the cake though, there’s no real harm in just drizzling the leftovers across the cake though. You can pre-drizzle and keep the cake in the fridge before serving as well.

Best of all with this cake is that it is done in less than an hour, from start to finish and including washing of dishes. If you have ten or so minutes to spare it really is a breeze to slap together the ingredients and into the oven and then go relax, because relaxation is 100% my mission for these holidays. Cutting back on stress, self-induced anxiety and moments of despair at a lack of order in the world. Luckily I can boss around the ingredients, which is why I like baking 🙂