Ingredients
140 grams of butter
100 grams of icing sugar
2 Egg Yolks
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Zest of 1 Lemon
2 tablespoons of cold milk
250 grams of flour
Salt
6 Eggs
140 grams of sugar
4 lemons
175 ml of cream
300 grams of sugar
65 ml of water
25 grams of liquid glucose
4 Egg Whites
Preparation
We prepare the dough first. Put the butter at room temperature, the icing sugar, the egg yolks, the vanilla and the lemon zest in the mixer bowl. We beat it with the kneading paddle until all the ingredients are well mixed. Add the milk and continue mixing.
Gradually add the flour and a pinch of salt, until you get a homogeneous and smooth dough. We form a ball, cover it with transparent film and let it rest for ½ hour. Meanwhile we prepare the lemon cream. Beat the eggs with the sugar using a whisk and add the zest and juice of the lemons. Once well mixed, add the cream and continue mixing. We cover the container and reserve.
Preheat the oven to 180ºC. We stretch the dough that we had prepared, between two baking papers, with the help of a rolling pin. Grease a mold and line it with the dough, adjusting the edges well. We cover it with baking paper and fill with weights. Bake the cake blank for 20 minutes, remove the weights and paper, lower the temperature to 160ºC and bake another 20 minutes. Take it out of the oven and let it cool.
Return the cake to the oven and fill it with the lemon cream. It's easier to do it this way than to stuff it out of the oven and move it, since the mixture is very runny. We lower the temperature to 140ºC and cook for 30/35 minutes, until we notice that it is completely curdled. Then remove it from the oven and let it cool to room temperature.
To make the meringue, put the sugar, water and glucose in a saucepan over medium heat, until the sugar dissolves. Once it is dissolved, we bring it to a boil and control the temperature with a sugar thermometer. Remove with a spatula, preventing the sugar from crystallizing on the walls.
While we carry out this process we have prepared the egg whites in the bowl of the mixer. When the syrup reaches 110ºC we start the mixer rods, so that the egg whites begin to assemble.
When the syrup reaches 118ºC, we remove it from the heat and pour it over the whipped egg whites without stopping beating. We must continue beating about 20 minutes, until the meringue cools. When cool, transfer the meringue to a pastry bag fitted with a medium-sized smooth or star tip. This meringue as it has been heated, can be prepared in advance and stored in the refrigerator until use.
When the cake is cold, we can cover it with the meringue. We can spread the meringue over the entire cake or divide the cake into portions and decorate each piece. This is on taste. Once we have distributed the meringue, we burn it with the help of a kitchen torch, on all the peaks. The ideal accompaniment to this cake would be a glass of Limoncello, very cold.
