Lemon Meringue Cake

It’s starting to smell like summer and one of the scents inevitably linked to warm weather is lemon. Baking any cake that includes it, as is the case with this Lemon and Meringue Cake, leaves a wonderful aroma in the kitchen. And I assure you it’s hard not to give in to the temptation to try it before bringing it to the table.

With this lemon and meringue cake recipe, we’ll get a cake with a pronounced citrus aroma and flavor, since in addition to using the zest of a whole lemon, we also add the juice. And lemon lovers, pay attention!, if that weren’t enough, we’ll also brush it generously with a lemon syrup. Quite something!

This time we baked the cake in the De Buyer perforated retractable rectangular stainless steel pan and the result couldn’t be better. Both the baking and the unmolding are truly wonderful. The perforations help the hot air circulate and provide more even and faster baking. And the pivoting hinges allow you to fully open the pan in no time, making unmolding easier.

I highly encourage you to try this lemon cake with meringue recipe. It’s a very aromatic, moist cake, perfect for teatime. Also great for breakfast, to accompany coffee after a meal, or to go to bed with a wonderful aftertaste following dinner.

Ingredients

For the cake

• 160 g sugar
• Zest of 1 lemon
• 50 g mild oil (rapeseed or natural canola, sunflower, arbequina olive...)
• 3 eggs
• 210 g all-purpose flour
• 8 g baking powder
• 30 g cornstarch
• 100 g single cream (cooking cream)
• 90 g lemon juice

For the lemon syrup

• Zest of 1 lemon
• Juice of 1 lemon
• 3 tablespoons water
• 30 g sugar

For the Italian meringue

• 50 g egg white (approximately the white of 1½ eggs)
• 75 g icing sugar
• 25 ml water

Preparation

1. Preheat the oven to 160ºC and line the De Buyer retractable pan with parchment paper.
2. In the bowl of the KitchenAid or your food processor, put the sugar and lemon zest and mix with the flat beater.
3. Add the oil and eggs and mix.
4. Add the sifted flour together with the baking powder and cornstarch, and mix gently.
5. Add the cream, stir to combine and, finally, add the lemon juice.
6. Pour the cake batter into the pan and bake for 50 minutes.
7. Once it’s ready, unmold it carefully to avoid burning yourself, remove the parchment paper and let the cake cool on a wire rack.

1. Put all the syrup ingredients in a saucepan and heat until it boils. Let it boil for half a minute over low heat and remove from heat.
2. Brush the entire cake with the syrup using a pastry brush.
3. If you want a more intense flavor, you can make some holes in the cake by pricking it with a skewer before brushing. That way some of the syrup will penetrate the interior.

1. In a saucepan put the sugar and water and heat over low heat until it reaches 118ºC to make the meringue syrup.
2. Meanwhile, put the egg whites in the bowl of the KitchenAid and beat them with the whisk until soft peaks form.
3. At that point, add the syrup little by little in a thin stream and continue beating until it cools.

1. Put the meringue into a piping bag fitted with a round tip or into the De Buyer cream whipper.
2. Decorate the cake as you like, spreading the meringue gracefully.
3. With a kitchen torch, lightly brûlée the meringue before serving the cake.

Notes

• You may not like lemon or you may prefer to vary the cake’s flavor and aroma. If so, you can substitute it with orange, lime, yuzu, mandarin or bergamot, for example. Your choice!
• The De Buyer perforated retractable pan is fabulous, but you can use any pan, whether round, square or rectangular. You can even make it in individual muffin or financier molds.
• Although the recipe specifies a mild oil so as not to add a strong flavor, a great option to add a hint of flavor is to replace part of the mild oil with almond, cashew, walnut or pistachio oil. Find your favorite citrus and nut combination—you’ll see how delicious the result is!