Raspberry lemonade sandwich
The idea to turn this iconic summery drink into a pastry comes from Ben Walsh, one of the owners of Hello Donuts, a donut shop in Philly I helped start. I was amazed by how vibrant and electric the flavor of raspberry becomes when paired with lemon, as punchy as the candy color pink.( the raspberry juice reacts with the acid in lemon to turn into an almost unnatural looking supercharged pink)
This cake is vegan, but see the note below if you want to use butter and eggs.
Syrup
The juice of 1 lemon (40 to 50 g)
Equal amounts sugar (in my case, 50g)
4 to 5 raspberries
Place everything in a measuring jug or large glass.
Use a muddler or small rolling pin to squeeze all the juice from the berries, then let macerate and dissolve. Strain when ready to use.
Any leftover can be mixed with sparkling water for a refreshing pink lemonade.
Lemon curd
45g lemon juice (1 lemon)
50g sugar (1/4 cup)
45g water
9g corn starch
Pinch turmeric or annato
30g coconut oil (refined)
Whisk the juice, sugar, water, turmeric and corn starch together in a saucepan, then bring to a boil, stiring continuously with a silicone spatula. Until thickened. Pour into a measuring jug or receptacle just big enough to fit immersion blender. Add coconut oil and blend until well emulsified. Chill to set fully in the fridge
Lemon cake (vegan)
50g sugar
Zest of 1 lemon
35 oil (neutral tasting)
50g water
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
70 g flour (1/2 cup)
Rub sugar and zest together in a mixing bowl. Put about a Teaspoon of this mixture aside for later.
Add remaining ingredients and stir until combined. Don’t overmix!
Line a 4 inch cake pan with parchment paper and pour in the batter.
Bake for about 40 minutes, or until knife comes out clean. This cake doesn’t get a lot of color.
Let it cool down fully.
To assemble
Fresh raspberries
Lemon curd
Cake
Syrup
Powdered sugar
Zesty sugar
Cut the cake in half with a bread knife. Brush some syrup on each half. Spread some lemon curd on bottom half of the cake, cover with berries, add a little more lemon curd and top with the other half of the cake.
To make the icing, mix a spoonful of the syrup with enough powdered sugar to make it just thick enough that it will mostly stay on top of the cake.
Sprinkle with a little lemon sugar.
