Layered almond and lemon cake with berries and mascarpone cream

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 175°C. Separate six of the eggs, popping the yolks into a mixing bowl with the two remaining eggs. Whisk the egg yolks and 100g of the sugar until they are smooth and creamy. Add the vanilla essence and lemon zest and combine those with the mixture. Next, add the ground almonds and the baking powder and mix them well to combine.

2. Using a food mixer or handheld electric mixer, whisk the six remaining egg whites until they are fluffy and form peaks when you remove the whisk. Now add the remaining 100g of sugar a tablespoon at a time while you whisk at high speed until you get stiff, shiny peaks as if you are making a meringue. Whisk in the vinegar; this will help make the meringue mix more stable when you add it to the batter.

3. ‪Add a third of the meringue mix to the batter, mixing it in well to loosen it up. Now carefully fold in another third using a metal spoon. When that is well combined, add in the final third, again folding carefully. This will make the sponge lovely and light.‬‬ Butter and line the base of two 20-23cm cake tins. Spoon half the batter into each. Bake for thirty minutes without opening the oven door. After thirty minutes, stick a skewer into the centre of one of the sponges, if it comes out clean, your sponges are ready. If it is a little sticky, give them another five minutes and check again. They should be perfectly cooked after thirty minutes, but it is worth checking just in case your oven temperature is a little off. When the sponges are done, remove from the oven and allow to cool a little before removing them from the tins.

4. When they are fully cooled, cut each sponge in half to make four layers for your cake. Do not torture yourself trying to get perfectly even halves here, I think they look great even if they are little uneven.

5. In a big bowl, whisk the cream, vanilla essence, and sugar until it is a little stiff. Add the Mascarpone cheese and whisk to a smooth, thick cream. Now slice about half of the strawberries, keeping some nice ones to decorate the top of the cake. Cut some of the blackberries in half now too, also keeping the remaining half for the top of the cake.

6. Start to assemble the cake. Spread some Mascarpone cream over one layer and add some of all the different berries. Add another layer of cake, cream & berries, and then repeat once more. Now add a final generous layer of cream to the top of your cake. Cut some of the bigger strawberries in half with the stalks still on and pile all the remaining berries high on top of your cake for a spectacular finish.