Lemon curd mini sponge sandwiches

As I’ve mentioned before, the CCM (Caked Crusader’s Ma) is rather partial to anything lemony. These lemon curd mini sponge sandwiches were the perfect choice to make alongside her birthday cake. I took a recipe for lemon cupcakes and simply cut them in half, sandwiching with home-made lemon curd. Very simple and very cute.

The lemon curd is easy to make and worth the effort:


As soon as the sponges are out of the oven they are sprinkled with sugar and lemon juice; the juice sinks into the sponge leaving a crisp sugar topping:


I then cut them through and sandwiched with the lemon curd; here's the view before I put the top on:


As it’s the CCM’s birthday I pushed the boat out and ordered some icing toppers. To complement the David Tennant cake topper on her main birthday cake I bought some mini David Tennants and also the CCM’s other favourite TV hunk Richard Armitage (the rather smouldering Guy of Gisborne in BBC’s Robin Hood – or ‘Robin Who?’ as us Gisbornites often call it!). I was curious to see if the topper influenced the CCM’s choice of cake!


The lemon curd recipe came from the lemon layer cake I made for Mother’s Day earlier this year. Hard for me to say much about these as I don’t like lemon but the sponges looked very moist and the smell of lemon was strong.


Incidentally, for those of you wondering – she picked a David Tennant one first!

Ingredients:
For the cupcakes:
125g unsalted butter
125g caster sugar
125g self raising flour
2 eggs
2 tablespoons milk
Finely grated rind of 1 lemon

For the cupcake topping:
3-4 teaspoons caster sugar
Juice of 1 lemon

For the lemon curd:
Grated zest and juice of 1 lemon
75g caster sugar
2 eggs
50g unsalted butter

How to make:

- Preheat the oven to 190°C/fan oven 170°C/375°F/Gas mark 5.
- Line a muffin pan with 12 paper cases.
- Make the cakes by beating the butter and sugar together until pale and fluffy.
- Add the flour, eggs, milk and lemon rind and beat until smooth.
- Spoon the mixture into the paper cases and bake for 12-15 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean. Mine took 15 minutes.
- Place on a wire rack and immediately sprinkle the cupcakes with the sugar. Then spoon over the lemon juice. As the cupcakes cool, the lemon juice sinks into the cake leaving a crunchy sugar crust on top of the cupcake. Allow to cool.
- Now make the lemon curd. Whisk together the sugar, lemon zest, eggs and lemon juice.
- Cut the butter into small pieces and add to the mix.
- Cook over a pan of simmering water (make sure the bowl containing the curd does not touch the water) or in a bain marie pan for 10-20 minutes until thickened. The curd doesn’t require constant stirring but make sure you stir it every now and again.
- Remove from the heat and allow to cool.
- Cut the cooled sponges in half and sandwich with some of the lemon curd.
- David Tennant and Richard Armitage cake toppers are optional!
- Bask in glory at the wonderful thing you have made.
- Eat.