Lemon and meringue surprise birthday cake

When your daughter's birthday was coming up, and she asked me for her favorite lemon cake, I thought of making this one. lemon and meringue surprise birthday cake. As easy as making the cake with two molds and in one of them make a hole to hide your surprise birthday gift. Then put the other part on top so that it is not visible and then decorate the cake to your liking.

You can't imagine her face of illusion when she found a secret message when she broke the cake with the knife! And how happy she was when she read it and discovered what her gift was... you can also put a little box with something inside, or a small gift, sweets, chocolates .....

INGREDIENTS:

For the biscuits:

• 240 gr pastry flour
• 250 gr sugar
• 4 eggs
• The skin of a lemon
• 1 sachet of baking powder
• 20 gr lemon juice
• 125 gr Greek yogurt
• 80 gr sunflower oil

For the lemon curd:

• 110 gr sugar
• The skin of a lemon
• 70 gr lemon juice
• 80 gr of butter
• 3 egg yolks
• 1 egg

For Swiss meringue:

• 3 egg whites
• 140 gr sugar
• 50 ml of water
• 1 pinch of salt

STEP BY STEP RECIPE:

1. In a food processor put the sugar and the lemon peel (I cut it very finely with a potato peeler, being careful to only cut the yellow part, because if it has too much white it will make the taste bitter) and grind well until pulverized.
2. Add the eggs and beat until the mixture is foamy and creamy.
3. Add the juice, the yogurt and the oil and beat, then add the flour and the yeast and beat again until everything is blended.
4. Line two 20 cm circular springform pans, line them with baking paper and grease them with a little oil. Divide the mixture, half and half, in each mold and bake in a preheated oven at 180ºc for 20 minutes.
5. In the meantime, we make the lemon curd. To do this, in a saucepan, beat the eggs with the sugar and the pinch of salt, add the lemon zest and the strained juice.
6. Place the saucepan in a bain-marie and stir constantly with the whisks until the mixture thickens. Then add the butter in pieces and continue stirring for about 5 minutes.
7. Remove and let cool. I recommend placing a piece of plastic wrap over the cream so that it does not form a crust and store in the refrigerator when it is not too hot, until ready to use.
8. The only thing left is the Swiss meringue. It is a very good meringue to use raw, that is, to use it directly in the decoration of cakes and then be able to eat it without baking. In addition, it is brighter and more consistent. This is how it is done: we begin to whip the egg whites, with 30 gr. of sugar, with the rods or with a food processor. Meanwhile, in a bowl, pour the rest of the sugar and water and let it cook over medium heat until it becomes thick, and if you have a thermometer, until it reaches 150ºc. Add a few drops of lemon juice to the semi-whipped egg whites and add the syrup in a trickle, that is to say, little by little, so that the egg whites are “cooked” and do not remain raw. Whip for about 5 more minutes until the base of the bowl has cooled a little and finally add the powdered sugar to give it more shine. We will know it is ready when the whisk is lifted and it makes a shape called ”duck's beak” which is like an elongated beak downwards, which does not fall into the bowl.
9. And how do we assemble the cake to make it a surprise? As simple as putting a sponge cake base on the plate we choose to present it. With the help of a cooking ring of about 10 cm in diameter we make a hole in the center and from that piece of cake we cut a thin layer. We put the surprise we want, a secret message, a gift, a box, candy, lacasitos,,,,, and cover with a lid of the cake that we have cut.
10. Cover everything with lemon curd and place the other cake base on top. Now it's time to put the meringue as you like. With the help of a piping bag you can make a spiral, or with the curly nozzle make drops. I, on this occasion, have chosen to make a kind of pyramid. It looks cool, doesn't it? I also put some meringue around the cake, I liked the way it looked.
11. Finally, brown with a blower, or with the grill, being very careful not to burn it in the oven.

How I would like you to try to make your lemon and meringue surprise birthday cake and, why not, take a picture of it and post it on instagram tagging me so I can see the wonders you do!

With all my love,

Mireia Alum

My instagram: @cocinayviajes