Lemon Cake with Strawberries and Mint 'Berries and Cream'
For the cake:
- 55 g caster sugar
- 4 tbs chopped leaves of Mint Berries and Cream
- 170 g butter
- 225 g caster sugar
- 3 eggs
- 225 g self raising flour
- 120 ml of whipping cream
- 1 large lemon (or 2 smaller ones)
Preheat the oven to 350°F, Gas 4, 180°C (170°C fan). Grease and line a loaf pan approx 20 x 12 cm.
Process together the 55 g of sugar with the roughly chopped mint leaves and set aside.
Beat the butter until soft and then add 2 tbs of the mint mixture and the sugar
and continue to beat until the mixture is soft and creamy.
Add the eggs one at a time beating all the time,
if the mixture starts to separate then add a couple of tablespoons of flour and carry on.
Fold in half of the flour, then the cream and then the final half of flour.
Stir in the zest from the lemon and the juice and add the mixture to the prepared loaf pan.
Bake for 40 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean.
Cool in the tin for 15 minutes before removing and transferring to a cooling rack.
For the garnish of strawberries and lemon mint cream:
- 200 g lemon curd
- 500 ml whipping cream
- 60 g icing sugar
- large punnet of strawberries
Beat together the cream, 30 g of the icing sugar and 1 tbs of processed mint mixture.
When the cream forms stiff peaks then fold in the lemon curd.
Slice or halve the strawberries into a bowl, depending on how large they are,
and add the remaining mint mixture and the final 30 g of icing sugar.
Serve the lemon cake with the lemon mint cream and the minty strawberries