John's lemon drizzle showstopper

John Whaite is back with another show-stopping spring bake - a lemon drizzle cake.

Serves 8 – 10

Ingredients:

For the candied lemon (optional, but beautiful)

2 lemons600ml water (in 200ml batches)100g caster sugar100ml water75g caster sugar, to coat

For the cake

225g unsalted butter225g caster sugarZest of 1 lemon4 large eggs225g self-raising flour

For the drizzle

Juice of 2 lemons100g caster sugar50ml water

For the filling

350g unsalted butter500g icing sugar, plus extra to dustZest of 2 lemons3 tbsp lemon juice400g lemon curd

Equipment

2 x 20cm loose-bottomed round cake tins (greased with the bases lined and greased)Piping bag fitted with 1cm plain nozzle

Method:

• The day before you want to present the cake, make the candied lemon. Use a potato peeler to pare thick strips of peel from the lemons – scrape off any white pitch with a knife. Chop the peel into very thin matchsticks, then place into a small saucepan with 200ml water. Bring to a boil, then drain the water and repeat twice. This may seem like a faff, but it removes the very bitter flavour from the lemon, and also removes the oil so that the lemon pieces can set hard.

• Set the drained lemon matchsticks to one side. Put the 100g sugar and 100ml water into the saucepan and bring to a boil until the sugar is dissolved, then add the lemon matchsticks and simmer for 5 minutes. Drain.

• Place the 75g caster sugar onto a baking sheet and add the drained lemon matchsticks. Toss together so the lemon pieces are very well coated in sugar, then allow to dry somewhere fairly warm overnight until fairly hard.

• Preheat the oven to 180C/160C fan/gas mark 4.

• For the cake beat together the butter, sugar and lemon zest until very well combined and fluffy – it’s important to let this beat together for a good 3 or 4 minutes. Add the eggs one at a time and beat after each addition, then add the flour and beat in just until you have a smooth batter.

• Divide between the two cake tins and bake for 20-25 minutes, until a skewer inserted into the centre of each cake comes out clean. Allow the cakes to cool for 5 minutes in their tins, then invert onto a wire rack until completely cool.

• For drizzle, simply bring the ingredients to a boil in a small saucepan, boil for a minute then remove from the heat and set aside until needed.

• Once the cakes are cool, slice each in half with a sharp serrated knife so you have 4 thin slices of cake.

• For the buttercream, beat the butter until extremely soft – about 5 minutes in a freestanding mixer fitted with paddle attachment. Add the icing sugar and zest and continue to beat for a good 5 minutes – this must be extremely soft and fluffy.

• Add the lemon juice and beat in, then scoop the buttercream into the piping bag.

• To assemble, place one slice of cake onto a cake stand or plate, and drizzle over a little syrup. Pipe the buttercream on the outer edge in small blobs, and repeat about halfway into the cake. Fill the gaps with a spread of curd.

• Repeat until you have 4 layers of cake sandwiched together with 3 layers of buttercream. Sift over a little icing sugar, and then top with the candied lemon zest.