My daughter and her family recently holidayed in Italy near Sorrento. She brought back some beautiful lemons – Amalfi Lemons.

I simply had to make a lemon cake but wanted to make something new. I had been browsing through my copy of Eliza Acton’s Modern Cookery for Private Families cookbook first published in 1843 and found a recipe for Charlotte a la Parisienne which was also known as Vienna Cake and possibly Gateaux de Bordeaux.

This was basically a sponge cake layered with preserves and then covered with meringue and then baked in a very slow oven. She suggested either using different preserves for each layer or using the same preserve throughout – see below the original recipe.

For my version I layered my sponge cake with the same mixture that I normally use to fill a lemon meringue pie. You could however use a jar of lemon curd, or even better a homemade lemon curd – see my Lemon Curd Recipe. You could also use any sort of jam. The finished cake got the thumbs up from my family apart from my granddaughter who doesn’t like any form of lemon cake!

Original Eliza Acton Modern Cookery for Private Recipe

Here is the original text for ‘A Charlotte a la Parisienne’ recipe from Eliza Acton’s book that inspired me –

This dish is sometimes called in England a Vienna Cake; and it is known here also, we believe, as a Gateaux de Bordeaux. Cut horizontally into half-inch slices a Savoy or sponge cake, and cover each slice with a different kind of preserve; replace them in their original form, and spread equally over the cake an icing made with the whites of three eggs, and four ounces of the finest pounded sugar; sift more sugar over it in every part, and put it into a very gentle oven to dry. The eggs should be whisked to snow before they are used. One kind of preserve, instead of several, can be used for this dish; and a rice or a pound cake may supply the place of the Savoy or sponge biscuit.

Lemon Meringue Cake (Inspired by Eliza Acton)

Recipe by Scones Plus More

0.0 from 0 votes

Course: SnacksDifficulty: Medium

Servings

Adjust servings

+

–

10

servings

Prep time

30

minutes

Cooking time

1

hour 

30

minutes

Ingredients

• Sponge

• 4 large eggs

• 4 ounces caster sugar

• 2 tablespoons hot water

• 4 ounces plain flour

• Lemon filling

• 2 large Amalfi/Sorrento lemons or 3 smaller ones

• 1 large egg

• 3 large egg yolks

• 4 ounces caster sugar

• 1 tablespoon cornflour

• 2 tablespoons water

• 2 ounces butter

• Meringue

• 3 large egg whites

• 4 ounces caster sugar

Directions

• Sponge
• Preheat oven to 180°C / 160°C Fan / 350°F / Gas Mark 4.
• Grease and base line two 9 inch / 22.5 cm sponge tins with a layer of parchment or greaseproof paper.
• Put the eggs, sugar and hot water into a bowl and whisk until thick and creamy.
• Sieve the flour and fold into the egg mixture using a metal spoon – see next step for the best way of doing this.
• Do this using a figure of eight movement and try to keep the mixture as light as possible. There is no raising agent in the recipe so the rise is dependant on the amount of air incorporated into the cake mixture.
• Bake in the preheated oven for 20-25 minutes. While the cake layers are baking make the lemon filling.
• When well risen and golden brown remove from the tins and cool on a wire rack. DO NOT remove the lining papers as this is a very light sponge and will stick to the cooling rack without this protection.
• Lemon Filling
• Put all the ingredients except the butter into a bowl and whisk to combine.
• Pour into a saucepan and add the butter cut into small pieces.
• Whisk together over a medium heat, bringing up to boiling point. Continue whisking as it thickens. Taste and add more sugar if necessary.
• Pour into a bowl to cool.
• When the cakes and lemon filling have both cooled
• When the cakes and lemon filling have both cooled, remove the lining paper from the cakes and split each horizontally so you have 4 layers.
• Place one layer on your serving plate (it must be suitable for heating in a cool oven) and spread a little less than a third of the filling evenly over the sponge.
• Repeat with the other layers leaving about a tablespoon of the filling. Spread this all over the outside of the cake.
• Meringue
• Preheat your oven to 140°C / 120°C Fan / 275°F / Gas Mark 2.
• Whisk the egg white until very stiff.
• Continue whisking the egg white while gradually adding the sugar until it stands up in stiff peaks.
• Spread this meringue over the cake completely covering it. Sprinkle over a little extra sugar.
• Cook in the preheated oven for approximately one hour until the outside of the meringue feels crisp.
• Remove from the oven and allow it to become completely cold before cutting.

Nutrition Facts

• Serving Size: 1 serving
• Total number of serves: 10
• Calories: 151kcal
• Fat: 8.6g
• Saturated Fat: 4.2g
• Cholesterol: 161mg
• Sodium: 98mg
• Potassium: 101mg
• Carbohydrates: 46.5g
• Fiber: 0.9g
• Sugar: 1.1g
• Protein: 6.6g
• Vitamin A: 17.8mcg
• Vitamin C: 11.5mg
• Calcium: 31mg
• Iron: 1mg
• Vitamin D: 0.8mcg
• Vitamin E: 0.6mg
• Thiamin: 0.1mg
• Riboflavin: 0.3mg
• Niacin: 0.7mg
• Vitamin B6: 0.1mg
• Vitamin B12: 0.3mcg
• Folate: 43.4mcg
• Pantothenic Acid: 0.7mg
• Phosphorus: 89mg
• Magnesium: 9mg
• Zinc: 1mg
• Selenium: 16.6mcg
• Copper: 0.1mg
• Manganese: 0.1mg

Serving this Lemon Meringue Cake

This cake needs to be eaten within a day or two of making but it is so delicious you can be sure it will disappear very quickly.

It’s apple season in the UK now so I am now looking for new apple recipes as I have a big bag of windfalls to use up.

Until next time Happy Baking!

Tanya