Luscious lemon cake with berry cheesecake topping

Some gluten free cakes can be a little dry or crumbly, not this one! The lemon sponge has plenty of ground almonds and butter to keep it moist but the gluten free flour and a touch of baking powder keeps it light with a good texture. The cheesecake topping is so easy to make but super light, not too sweet and a delicious contrast to the moist lemon sponge, topped with the tangy berry compote and it's a complete winner

Cake

225g soft salted butter

225g caster sugar

Zest of 1 lemon

4 room temperature eggs

170g ground almonds

110g plain gluten free flour

½ tsp gf baking powder

150g berries (could be blueberries, raspberries, blackberries) cut in half

Cheesecake topping

200g cold cream cheese

200g double cream

3 tbs icing sugar

1 tsp vanilla paste

Berry compote

3 cups of frozen mixed berries

4 tablespoons of sugar

1 tbs cornflour, dissolved in 1 tbs cold water

1 tbs lemon juice

Cake

Set the oven to 160° and line the bottom of a 9 inch cake tin

In a large bowl whisk the butter, sugar and lemon zest together until really pale and fluffy, this usually takes me at least 5 minutes and makes a huge difference to the final cake and how light it will be.

Add the vanilla and 1 egg followed by a tablespoon of flour, repeat until you have used all the eggs then whisk on high until the mix has stopped curdling and is smooth. Mix the baking powder into the almond and fold into the cake batter.

Fold the berries into the batter then scoop into the cake tin, bake for 40-45 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean. Once baked leave in the tin to cool the turn out onto a cooling wrack.

Berry compote

Place the berries and a splash of water in a sauce pan, place on a medium heat until the berries have softened and started to turn to mush. Add the sugar and bring to a simmer, try the compote it may or may not need the lemon or it may even need a little more sugar . Add the cornflower mix and stir constantly on the heat for 3 minutes until the mixture is thick glossy. Pop into a bowl and allow to cool.

Cheesecake topping

In a bowl whisk all of the ingredients together until thick and spreadable.

When the cake is cool top with the cheesecake topping and dot with berry compote, use a spoon to swirl the compote into the cheesecake.