Lemon and Raspberry Naked Layer Cake

Lemon and Raspberry Naked Layer Cake recipe One Perfect Mess easy baking lemon cake raspberry cream cheese frosting raspberries from scratch fresh flowers rustic dessert 1

A flower-adorned Lemon and Raspberry Naked Layer Cake! I made this delightfully pretty tower for a recent pot-luck dinner, after dreaming about its creation for a few months. Layers of light and zesty lemon cake are enveloped in slatherings of raspberry cream cheese frosting; the combination of sweet and zingy flavours is so simple but absolutely foolproof. And yum. Very yum. I also love naked cakes. They’re so unassuming and modest, sitting delicately in their light coat of frosting, giving admiring passers-by a peek at the beauty of their concealed layers. They also lend themselves wonderfully to decoration, and I had such fun arranging these seasonal blooms from my local florist atop the cake’s surface!

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Vanilla Sponge Cake with Passionfruit Curd, Whipped Cream and Fresh Blueberries

Vanilla Sponge Cake with Passionfruit Curd, Vanilla Whipped Cream and Fresh Blueberries One Perfect Mess recipe easy layer cake Donna Hay spring pretty naked cake 7

This pretty little sponge cake is delicately light, delightfully fruity and quite frankly scrumptious. Don’t be afraid of attempting the ever-so daunting sponge and it’s poorly understood pal, the passionfruit curd. Both recipes may seem like technical challenges beyond your reach, but I’ve detailed a few key steps that should allow you to sail straight to baking bliss. And the result is worth it; the slight tartness of the passionfruit curd and fresh blueberries are a wonderful complement to the velvety whipped cream, which I’ve laced with vanilla bean. Served up with a cup of tea on a warm summer’s day, this cake couldn’t get any more… lovely.

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