You will need
250 g butter, at room temperature
3 extra large eggs, at room temperature
1 x 600 g Ina Paarman’s Vanilla Cake Mix
1 cup (250 ml) sour cream or créme fraiche
250 g cream cheese (medium or full fat)
¼ cup (60 ml) castor sugar
1 T (15 ml) finely grated lemon rind
¼ cup (60 ml) lemon juice
¼ cup (60 ml) of above cake batter
¼ cup (60 ml) sugar
2 t (10 ml) finely grated lemon rind
½ cup (125 ml) flaked almonds
Store the cake, well covered, in the fridge. Delicious served at room temperature or chilled. Will stay fresh for 3 days. The baked cake can also be frozen.
Method
Adjust oven shelf to middle position. Preheat oven to 180°C.
Butter a 26 – 27 cm ring form cake tin.
Cream the butter until soft and then add 1 egg and 1 T of Cake Mix at a time, beating after each addition, until you have used all three eggs.
Add the sour cream and beat it in. Add all the remaining dry Cake Mix and gently fold it in by hand with a spatula until evenly mixed. Keep on one side.
To make the Cheese Filling use the same beaters and beat the cream cheese, castor sugar, lemon rind and juice until well mixed. Add ¼ cup of the reserved cake batter and beat it in.
Spoon half of the remaining cake batter into the prepared pan. Level it. Spoon all of the cream cheese filling over the batter, but keep it 1 cm from the sides. Level the filling. Spoon the rest of the cake batter evenly over the cream cheese. Use a sosatie stick or knife to gently marble the filling into the batter using a figure 8 motion.
Firmly tap the pan on the counter 4 times to level the mixture and drive out any air bubbles.
Mix together the ingredients for the Lemon Sugar Topping and sprinkle it over the cake. Gently press it onto the batter so that it will stay in place once the cake is turned out. Bake for ± 45 minutes. Leave the cake to rest in the pan until cool to the touch. Turn the cake out on a baking sheet and immediately turn it back onto a wire cooling rack, almond side up. Cool to room temperature.
