Simon’s Limoncello cake

The third and final place-getting recipe from last year’s office bake-off comes from Simon, one of our senior engineers. A real foodie; Simon has previously shared with us his Schiacciata con l’uva, a traditional autumn bread made in Tuscany. For the bake-off he made this incredible Limoncello cake, which he topped with lemon curd and fresh strawberries. It is too cold for strawberries here now, so we candied some finely shredded lemon peel to decorate the top – which I don’t mind saying looked pretty fancy! Below is the recipe for the cake, syrup and candied peel. For the lemon curd, check out Sara’s little lemon meringue tarts. Anyway, over to Simon:

“The majority of Fisher & Paykel’s cooking products are made in Italy. This means that a few of us are fortunate enough to spend time there working. As well as loving the food, I have also developed a taste for the Italian liquor Limoncello. Fisher & Paykel’s factory is north of Venice near Bassano del Grappa, the home of Grappa. The local tourist brochure mentions that Grappa was first used in the mid 16th century as a medical disinfectant. My co-workers staunchly support Grappa and dismiss Limoncello as not a ‘manly’ drink. Despite their derision, it has not stopped me having a bottle at home. When the office ‘bake off’ was announced I looked for an alcoholic cake to bribe the judges. Hence this Limoncello cake, being a combination of a number of recipes. A remarkably easy recipe too!”

Ingredients

• Cake
• 1 cup plain, unsweetened yoghurt
• 2 eggs
• 1/3 cup canola oil
• Zest and juice of two lemons
• 1 tsp vanilla paste or 1 vanilla pod, split and scraped
• 1 cup caster sugar
• ½ cup Limoncello
• 2 cups flour
• 1 ½ tsp baking power
• ½ tsp baking soda

• Syrup
• ¼ cup Limoncello
• ½ cup icing sugar

• Candied peel
• Washed and finely sliced peel of 2 lemons
• 1½ cups water
• 1½ cups sugar

• --
• Lemon curd to serve

Method

• Cake
• Preheat oven to 180ºC on Bake
• 1. Grease a 24cm bunt or ring tin
• 2. In a large bowl whisk together the yoghurt, eggs, canola oil, lemon zest and juice. Add vanilla, sugar and Limoncello and mix well.
• 3. Combine flour, baking powder and baking soda and stir into the yoghurt mixture. Do not over mix. Pour into prepared tin.
• 4. Bake for 25 -30 minutes, until golden, and a skewer inserted into centre of cake comes out clean.

• Syrup
• Combine syrup ingredients and pour over warm cake.

• Candied peel
• Bring water to the boil in a small saucepan.
• Add lemon peel and continue to boil for 5 minutes until tender.
• Add sugar, stir to combine and boil until the peel becomes transparent. Drain well.

• To serve
• Smear cake with lemon curd, and top with candied peel.