Our Family Favourite Lemon Spring / Easter Cake

Um Safia's Note:

This is a delicious cake which is perfect for celebrating spring or Easter!.The base is an Algerian sponge cake known as 'Meskucho'. For an easter feel decorate with chocolate mini eggs, easter chicks etc. The cake is very easy to make & decorate so don't be put off by the long list of instructions & ingredients! This is my husbands favoruite kind of cake as it is light, fluffy & moist. You can eat it with just the icing on for a less heavy cake but the addition of the filling makes it a perfect dessert!

• Total Time: 1 hrs
• Prep Time: 15 mins
• Cook Time: 45 mins

Ingredients:

Serves: 16-18

Yield: 1.0 cake

Cake

• 8 ounces margarine
• 6 ounces sugar
• 8 ounces self raising flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 2 lemons, zest of , grated
• 3 tablespoons water
• 4 eggs , beaten
• yellow food coloring (optional)

Filling

• 2 cups icing sugar (approx)
• ¾ cup margarine (or butter)
• 1 tablespoon orange flower water
• yellow food coloring (optional)

Icing

• 2 ½ cups icing sugar
• 2 lemons , juice of
• 1 tablespoon water (approx)
• yellow food coloring (optional)
• 16 miniature chocolate eggs (approx)

Directions:

1. Cream the margarine & sugar until it's light & creamy. Beat in the eggs & lemon zest. Slowly add the sifted flour & baking powder & mix well but gently. Add the water & mix.
2. Pour into a lined & greased baking tin. I use either a tall 5" round tin or a shallow 12" round tin (if having a plain- unfilled but iced cake) - both work very well & I've also seen others using square pans & bundt tins -- Bake in a preheated oven at 180C for 40-45 minutes; test to see if it is done - it may need a few extra minutes. If cooked, turn off oven & allow cake to rest in it for around 3 minutes.
3. Filling:.
4. Beat the margarine / butter until creamy. Slowly add enough icing sugar to reach a consistency you like. Tint yellow if desired. When the cake has cooled completely, use a bread knife to cut the cake into 3 layers. Divide the filling in half & spread onto bottom & middle layers using a pallet knife or similar.
5. Icing.
6. After filling the cake, put the top layer back in place. Trim off any edges or bumps etc. Mix the sifted icing sugar with the lemon juice & enough water to get a very thick but spoonable consistency. Tint with colouring if desired & carefully spoon over the top of the cake. The icing will slowly begin to drip down the sides of the cake - take a pallet knife & carefully run it around the sides of the cake to ensure & even covering.
7. When the icing is almost set, run a clean damp finger or knife handle around the rim of the plate (if serving on it) & top with chocolate mini eggs or other decorations of your choice.

Reviews

[Honeyofachef]

Everyone really liked this cake! I took it to our family's Easter dinner and there was only one piece left. It was a big hit! I don't have a deep cake pan, so I just cut it in half. The filling is nice and I made the icing yellow and decorated it with colorful chocolate eggs. It looked very spring like. Thanks for sharing.

[CanadianFarmgal]

This cake was excellent! I only had a regular cake pan, but I cut the cake very thinly and managed to get 3 layers out of it. The filling was a great consistency with softened butter (not too soft!), and the icing was runny but tasty. I used orange extract in the filling, and yellow paste food colouring throughout. I also used spray food colour on the top to attempt something, but wouldn't do it again. =) The final product was delicious and adorable, and went over really well at our Easter celebration.