Summer berry and lemon curd fudge cake

I love how some recipes are passed from friend to friend, or from one family member to another down the generations. Many times there’s a wonderful and poignant story behind the recipe and sometimes the story is lost but the memories of eating it still remains strong. It’s that connection to the recipe that counts.

I was staying with a good friend in London recently and she is a big food enthusiast like me, except that she doesn’t do desserts. She can be as creative as you like with anything savoury but when it comes to sweet dishes she fails, which is why she was so keen to tell me about an incredible, lemony fudge cake that her Aunt Anita had made for her.

She was convinced the recipe was an old family heirloom passed from mother to daughter and had fond memories of eating it as a child, although after a swift phone call to the lady herself it turned out to be an adaptation of a classic Mary Berry recipe – but I don’t think any of that really matters.

Of course the proof of the pudding is in the eating and I have to tell you this is a stunning pudding. It is like a cheesecake but fudgier; lemony, zesty and it has that perfect balance of sharp and sweet that I adore. Topped with summer berries it’s the perfect picnic pudding.

You can either make your own lemon curd – in fact you could make any kind of curd, I have a wonderful rhubarb curd recipe on my blog that would be amazing in this cake – or you could simply purchase a good quality one such as the awesome, zesty lemon curd from Waitrose.

METHOD
Preheat the oven to 180˚C and line the base of a 20cm round springform tin with baking parchment.

In a bowl mix the crushed biscuits with the melted butter and sugar. Stir until all the biscuit is coated and then press into the base of the prepared tin.

Make the filling by whisking the eggs and sugar together until blended. Pour in the cream, sift in the flour and whisk until blended.

Stir in the lemon juice, zest and curd and whisk again until combined.

Pour the whole lot into the tin on top of the biscuit base and bake in the preheated oven for about 35–40 minutes, until the filling has set and is pale golden brown on top. Remove from the oven and set aside till cool.

For the topping, mix the ingredients together and spread over the cold cake and then dump the top with fruit.

Eat and of course, enjoy!

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