Pink lemonade cake

Fresh raspberries give a delicious fruity tang and beautiful pink tone to the buttercream icing on this cake, but don’t be tempted to add more raspberry purée to the mixture to get a stronger colour as the buttercream may curdle.

Ingredients

Serves: 10

Ready in: 50 mins

For the cake:

• 225g butter or margarine, softened, plus extra to grease
• 225g caster sugar
• 4 large eggs, beaten with a fork
• 225g self-raising flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 2 lemons, zested
• 3-4 tbsp lemon curd
• Hundreds and thousands or coloured sprinkles, to decorate

For the buttercream icing:

• 25g raspberries
• 200g icing sugar
• 100g butter, very soft

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 200°C/fan 180°C/gas 6. Grease 2 x 20cm round cake tins and line the bases with baking parchment.
2. For the sponges, put the butter or margarine and sugar in a big mixing bowl, and use an electric handheld whisk to beat together until pale and fluffy.
3. Add the eggs and beat again until everything is combined. Fold in the flour and baking powder with a big metal spoon or spatula, then fold through the lemon zest.
4. Divide the mixture between the tins, level the tops, and bake for 18-22 mins until risen and a skewer pushed into the centre comes out clean. Cool the sponges in the tins for 5 mins, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
5. To make the icing, blitz the raspberries to a puree then set aside until needed. Put the butter or margarine into a big mixing bowl. Mash half the icing sugar into the butter, and then beat with the electric whisk until pale and well blended. Add the pureed raspberries then beat again to combine. Add the remaining icing sugar and beat until smooth and completely blended.
6. Take the two cooled sponges and sandwich together with lemon curd. Spread the pink buttercream frosting over the top of the cake, then decorate with hundreds and thousands.