Lemon Layer Cake

Lemon layer cake for mum's birthday. Easy, delicious and not too sweet, just the way she likes it. The lemon flavour wasn't as strong as I had anticipated, so I recommend adding more lemon rind to the cake if your after a stronger lemony hit. This cake tastes best the next day, served at room temperature. The iced cake can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge.

Lemon Layer Cake

Lemon butter cake recipe by Margaret Fulton  in Margaret Fulton Baking which can be purchased here.

Lemon icing recipe by Julie Goodwin as seen in Our Family Table which can be purchased here.

Lemon butter cake

160g unsalted butter, softened

3/4 cup (165g) caster sugar

Grated rind of 1 lemon

2 teaspoons lemon juice

3 eggs

1 2/3 cups (250g) self-raising flour

a pinch of salt

1/2 cup of milk

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius or 160 if you have a fan-forced oven.

Grease and line two 20cm sandwich tins.

Using an electric mixer, cream the butter and gradually beat in the sugar with the rind until light and fluffy.

Add the eggs beating well after each.

Add the lemon juice and beat until it is just mixed in. Don't worry if the mixture appears curdled.

Sift the flour and salt and fold into the creamed mixture alternating with the milk, beginning and ending with the flour. Take care not to over beat the mixture.

Add a little more milk if necessary so that the mixture drops easily from the spoon.

Spoon the mixture into the prepared tins and gently smooth the top.

Bake for 25-30 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Leave in the tins for 5 minutes before turning onto a wire rack to cool.

Lemon butter icing

125g unsalted butter, softened

2 cups (300g) icing sugar mixture

11/2 Tbs lemon juice

Using electric beaters, beat the butter until light and creamy.

Gradually add the icing sugar, beating constantly.

Add half the lemon juice and beat until well combined.

Add the remaining lemon juice a little at a time until you achieve a spreadable consistency.

When the butter cakes have cooled to room temperature the cakes are ready to be iced. assembled and decorated.

Enjoy!

Grandma's Shortbread

These biscuits were made for a friend who LOVES shortbread. I'm no expert on shortbread; I dont bake it and I hardly ever eat it. The closest I come to shortbread, is the 'shortbread' in the Arnott's Family Assorted packets, that our Nonna buys by the truck load when they go on special. So I thought surely a recipe past down the generations would be pretty trustworthy. It was.

This recipe features in Julie Goodwin's first book; Our Family Table. It's a recipe passed down to her from her Grandmother and it was delicious. It may have a lot more ingredients than standard shortbread but when the outcome was a delicate, soft, buttery, melt in your mouth yumminess I'm sold.

Shortbread
Recipe: Grandma's Shortbread- Our Family Table by Julie Goodwin

makes ~40

250g unsalted butter
3/4 cup (110g) icing sugar mixture, sifted
1 tsp vanilla essence
1/2 cup (70g) cornflour
2 cups (200g) self-raising flour
good pinch of salt
caster sugar, extra, for dipping

Preheat the oven to 180°C (160°C fan-forced) and line grease two large baking trays.

Using electric beaters, beat the butter and icing sugar until light and creamy, then beat in the vanilla essence.

Sift the cornflour, self-raising flour and salt into a bowl. Add this dry mix into the butter mixture and gently mix using a butter knife. Keep mixing until the mixture comes together.

Gently roll the dough into small balls about the size of a walnut. Dip the tops in the sugar and put them on the prepared tray, ~5cm apart. Flatten slightly with a fork.

Bake for 8-10 minutes, or until just starting to colour underneath. The biscuits will still be soft to the touch so leave them on their trays for 10 minutes to become firm, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Store in an airtight container.

NB* When you take the shortbread out of the oven sprinkle each cookie with more caster sugar.

I rolled my shortbread into balls, however other bloggers have had success rolling it out and cutting it out into shapes.