Recipe: Lemon And Lime Sandwich Cake

Since I was a kid I’ve always loved the flavours lemon and lime combined. From squash to marmalade I had it all in lemon and lime. And even now as I’ve “grown up” I still love the combination. Last year I shared my recipe for lemon and lime cupcakes which my friend Debs still talks about to this day but I was still on the lookout for adding another lemon and lime recipe to my repertoire. A loaf cake was out straight away as mine have a horrible tendency to sink in the middle and it wouldn’t suit a shortbread or cookie recipe. So I decided to take a classic and give it a slight twist. So today I bring you my Lemon And Lime Sandwich Cake which consists of two light lemon flavoured sponges, sandwiched together and decorated with lime buttercream, with lemon and lime zest sprinkled over top.

Ingredients
For The Sponges
- 200g Caster Sugar
- 200g Self Raising Flour
- 200g Stork
- 4 Eggs
- Zest Of 2 Lemons

For The Buttercream
- 200g Butter, softened
- 320g Icing Sugar
- Zest Of 2 Limes
- A Splash Of Milk
- 1Tsp Lime Juice (optional)
- Extra Zest To Decorate (Lemon & Lime)

Method
1- Pre heat your oven to 180C. Grease and line two 19cm sandwich tins with greaseproof paper.
2- Into your bowl place the stork and caster sugar. Cream together until pale and fluffy in texture.
3- Add one egg and a tablespoon of flour. Beat until fully combined.
4- Repeat with your remaining eggs, adding a tablespoon of flour after each egg. Beat each time until every thing is incorporated, remembering to scrape the sides of the bowl as well.
5- Fold in the rest of your flour and lemon zest. Slow and steady is the best way at this part. You don’t want to beat the hell out of the mixture as it’ll knock out all the air you’ve already created and you’ll end up with a dense cake that is hard to chew and is more likely to sink when cooling.
6- Split the mixture evenly between your two prepared tins and cook for 18-20 minutes or until golden brown and springy to the touch. Leave to cool in the tins for five minutes, then gently remove them from the tins and leave to cool completely on a wire cooling rack.
7- Now it’s onto the buttercream. Place your softened butter into a clean bowl and beat until soft and pale in colour. A hand mixer or a stand mixer are the best for this as it takes a while and will give you horrific arm ache if you attempt it by hand.
8- Sieve in half of your icing sugar and beat until fully incorporated.
9- Sieve in the remainder of your icing sugar and beat again until combined. Take your time to scrape the sides of your bowl down so there are no pockets of icing sugar or butter sat on the sides.
10- If your buttercream is a little stiff add your splash of milk and lime zest now. Beat until it’s a pipable consistency, adding a little more milk if necessary.
11- Now this next step is optional but I added a little bit of lime juice to my buttercream to give it more of a kick. You don’t have to add it if you don’t want to but it’s a good way of adding a bit of punch if you like that stronger flavour.
12- Spoon your buttercream into a piping bag fitted with a nozzle of your choice and decorate however you choose. I used my trusty 2D Nozzle to create this mini flower-esque pattern both to sandwich them together and to decorate the top. It’s a nice way to give the middle, sandwich section a prettier look, especially from the sides.
13- Once you’ve decorated your cake sprinkle over your remaining lemon and lime zest. Leave to one side to set or cut a nice big slice straight away. It smells heavenly, looks divine and tastes scrumptious so it’s guaranteed to be a hit with family, friends and work colleagues.