There is something about baking with fruit and herbs together. The sweet, sharpness from the lemon combined with the woody herb flavours, makes an amazing flavour combination. Top with the vanilla frosting and you have a light and airy, flavour filled cake.
I know some people find the idea of baking with herbs a little strange, but trust me on this one, it is delicious! I added buttermilk into this recipe also, so it tastes even creamier than a normal sponge cake.
Ingredients:
- 250g Unsalted butter, room temperature
- 250g Golden Caster Sugar
- 4 Large Eggs
- 400g Self Raising Flour
- 1 heaped tsp Baking Powder
- 284ml Pot of Buttermilk
- Juice of 1 Lemon
- Zest of 2 Lemons
- 4 tblsp Thyme, finely chopped
Icing:
- 200g Unsalted Butter, room temperature
- 400g Icing Sugar
- 1 tblsp Warm Water
- 1 tsp Vanilla
Method:
- Pre-heat the oven to 170 Fan/190 Conventional
- Grease and line 2 x 7 inch round cake tins
- Place the flour and baking powder into a separate bowl, mix to combine and set aside
- Cream the butter and sugar together until pale and creamy
- Add the eggs and mix well
- Add half of the buttermilk and half of the flour and baking powder mix.
- Mix until combined
- Add the remaining buttermilk and flour/baking powder mix and combine
- Stir through the lemon juice, zest and thyme.
- Divide the mix between the two tins
- Bake for 30-32 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean.
- Leave to cool in the tin and then transfer to a wire cooling rack.
- To make the buttercream, cream together the butter and icing sugar, add in the water and vanilla during mixing. Use a handheld or an electric mixer for ease. Beat together until smooth and creamy.
- Now to ice the cake; place one of the sponges onto the plate or cake stand, spread half of the icing over the sponge. Place the second sponge on top and top with the remaining icing.
- Decorate with lemon slices and sprigs of thyme.
- Enjoy!
I hope you like this recipe, I’d love to see how you get on by tagging me on Instagram @blearyeyedbaker
