Pink lemonade ombré cake
Serves: 12
Prep time: 45 minsTotal time: 
Recipe photograph by Ant Duncan
Pink lemonade ombré cake
Delicate cream cheese icing hides a pretty-in-pink layer cake that’s essentially a posh lemon drizzle cake in disguise. Perfect for parties and celebrations
Serves: 12
Prep time: 45 minsTotal time: 
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Nutritional information (per serving)
Calories
713Kcal
Fat
36gr
Saturates
22gr
Carbs
88gr
Sugars
66gr
Fibre
2gr
Protein
9gr
Salt
1.3gr
Tamsin Burnett-Hall
Tamsin learned the tricks of the trade from cookery legend Delia Smith. A trusted recipe writer for the magazine for over 25 years, she is now our Senior Food Producer, overseeing testing and editing to ensure that every recipe tastes great, is straightforward to follow and works without fail. In her home kitchen, Tamsin creates fuss-free flavour-packed food for friends and family, with baking being her ultimate form of comfort cooking
See more of Tamsin Burnett-Hall’s recipes
Tamsin Burnett-Hall
Tamsin learned the tricks of the trade from cookery legend Delia Smith. A trusted recipe writer for the magazine for over 25 years, she is now our Senior Food Producer, overseeing testing and editing to ensure that every recipe tastes great, is straightforward to follow and works without fail. In her home kitchen, Tamsin creates fuss-free flavour-packed food for friends and family, with baking being her ultimate form of comfort cooking
See more of Tamsin Burnett-Hall’s recipes
Ingredients
For the cakes
- 300g soft salted butter
- 300g caster sugar
- 350g self-raising flour, sifted
- 1 tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp fine sea salt
- zest of 2 lemons
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 6 medium eggs, at room temperature
- 150ml buttermilk or 100ml milk, at room temperature
- 1 x 15g tube Dr Oetker pink food colouring gel*
To finish
- juice of 2 lemons
- 60g caster sugar
- 100g soft unsalted butter
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 350g icing sugar, sifted
- 1 x 280g tub full-fat cream cheese, at room temperature
- 75g seedless raspberry jam, stirred to loosen
- 225g fresh raspberries
Step by step
- Grease and line three 18cm-diameter sponge tins, then preheat the oven to 180°C, fan 160°C, gas 4.
- Whisk together all the cake ingredients, apart from the buttermilk or milk and colouring, for 3-4 minutes until pale and fluffy. Beat in the buttermilk or milk until you have a soft batter that drops quite easily from the beaters.
- Divide into three equal portions (about 450g each); keep one plain, then add ½ teaspoon food colouring to the second portion and 1½-2 tsp of colouring to the third, mixing in thoroughly (the tones will deepen during baking). Spoon each mixture into a prepared tin and bake for 25-30 minutes or until springy and starting to come away from the edge of the tin.
- Cool the cakes in their tins for 15 minutes. Turn out on to a wire rack, level the tops if domed and leave to cool for another 15 minutes. Meanwhile, put the lemon juice and 60g caster sugar in a small pan, heat until the sugar has dissolved then bubble for about 3 minutes or until syrupy. Brush over the sponge tops and leave to cool completely.
- For the icing, first beat the butter on its own until very soft and creamy, then add the vanilla and gradually beat in the icing sugar in batches, followed by the cream cheese until smooth. Measure out 200g into a separate bowl and mix in the seedless jam. Chill both until needed.
- To assemble, place the deepest-pink sponge on a plate or board and spread with half of the raspberry icing (leaving a 2cm border towards the edge, to allow for the icing to spread when sandwiched), followed by the lighter pink sponge and the rest of the raspberry icing. Add the plain sponge on top, flat base uppermost.
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Secure the layers together with a couple of long skewers so that they don’t slip, the nice the sides of the cake with the plainicing, and smooth the last of the icing over the top, after removing the skewers. Decorate with the raspberries to serve.
*Use vegetarian food colouring if required.To storeLeftover cake keeps for up to 4 days in an airtight container.
