From: Real Food
With delicate and sophisticated flavors and simple yet stunning decoration, this beautiful cake is made for special occasions, and is the perfect way to celebrate Tesco's 100th birthday. Inspired by our first own-brand product – tea! – the light sponges are infused with Assam tea and drizzled with a zesty lemon and tea syrup before being sandwiched with sharp blueberries and lemon buttercream. This showstopping bake is easy to master, and will definitely impress all of your party guests.
Prep Time
1 hr and 25 mins
Cook Time
35 mins
Yield
Serves 24
Ingredients
- 3 tsp Tesco Finest Assam loose-leaf tea
- 75ml vegetable oil
- 325g salted butter, plus extra for greasing
- 475g caster sugar
- 5 large eggs, at room temperature
- 400g self-raising flour
- 2 lemons, zested and juiced
For the buttercream, filling and decoration
- 350g unsalted butter, softened
- 700g icing sugar, sifted
- 1 lemon, zested, plus 2 tbsp juice
- 375g blueberries
- 70g gold crunch sprinkles
- 70g bronze crunch sprinkles
Method
- Preheat the oven to gas 4, 180°C, fan 160°C. Tip 2 tsp tea leaves into a saucepan and add the oil and 325g butter. Heat until the butter has melted, remove from the heat and set aside for 20 mins to infuse.
- Meanwhile, grease and line 3 x 20cm round baking tins with nonstick baking paper. Put the tea-infused butter in a large mixing bowl with 400g caster sugar, the eggs, flour, and lemon zest. Beat with an electric whisk or in a stand mixer for 3-4 mins until the batter is smooth and fluffy.
- Divide the batter equally between the tins and bake for 25-30 mins or until golden on top and a skewer inserted into the center of each cake comes out clean.
- Meanwhile, heat the juice of 2 lemons with the remaining tea leaves and caster sugar in a small saucepan over a medium-low heat until the sugar has dissolved. Bring to the boil, then remove from the heat. Set aside to infuse for 20-25 mins, then strain and discard the tea. Remove the cakes from the oven and, while they are still in their tins, make holes all over with a skewer or cocktail stick. Pour the syrup evenly over the cakes and leave to cool in the tins on a wire rack.
- To make the buttercream, put the butter in a large bowl or stand mixer and beat until soft and creamy. Add the icing sugar a spoonful at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the lemon zest and 2 tbsp lemon juice and beat until pale and fluffy.
- Spoon 100g buttercream onto 1 cake and spread evenly over the top with a palette knife. Layer over half of the blueberries. Place the second cake on top and repeat with another 100g buttercream and the remaining blueberries. Carefully place the third cake on top.
- Spoon a third of the remaining buttercream onto the top and sides of the three sponges and smooth with a palette knife, covering the cake very thinly (this is called a crumb coat). Chill the cake for 15 mins to harden a little, then coat all over with the remaining buttercream. Use the back of a small spoon to create a horizontal rippled effect around the cake.
- Top the cake with the sprinkles and carefully add some to the sides. You might need a little cooled boiled water to help you stick them to the side of the cake. The cake will keep, covered, at room temperature for up to 3 days.
Tip: To get even layers, stack the cooled sponges on top of each other and weigh them down gently with a book.
