Name: Croatian Lemon Cake
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 40 min
Ingredients: 65g cold, unsalted butter; 240g plain/all-purpose flour; ½ teaspoon baking powder; ¼ teaspoon fine salt; 150g caster sugar; 1 egg; 1 – 2 tablespoons milk, as required; 1 teaspoon vanilla extract; 100g unsalted butter, melted; 200g caster sugar; 4 eggs; 2 medium lemons, juice and zest; 100g ground almonds

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With a sweet, soft, buttery base, a luscious, creamy, lemon and almond topping with a light meringue like crust, this dreamy Croatian Lemon Cake is as fabulous with a cup of tea, as it is, with a splash (or jolly good glug!) of fresh cream, for dessert.

Lyngen Lodge

I first tried this cake when it was made for us by the Croatian chef, Jasenka Zitko, at Lyngen Lodge, last April. It was my absolute favourite cake of the week and Jasenka very kindly gave me the recipe. Apparently, the recipe was given to her by her best friend’s grandmother. Although she is not sure if it is Croatian in origin, it is one she has grown up with and regularly makes for clients and guests, now that she is a professional chef.

How to make Croatian Lemon Cake

Collect all your ingredients together:

For the base –

plain/all-purpose flour
baking powder
fine salt
caster sugar
cold, unsalted butter
egg
milk, as required
vanilla extract

For the lemon topping –

unsalted butter, melted
caster sugar
eggs
medium lemons, juice and zest
ground almonds

How to make this wonderful Croatian Creation!

First, make the base:

Start by weighing the butter and then pop it in the freezer to harden before you grate it. Also grease and line your cake tin.
Weigh the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar into a mixing bowl and mix well with a balloon whisk.
Beat the egg with 1 tablespoon milk and the vanilla extract.
Now, take the butter out of the freezer and grate it directly onto the flour mix. Stir to combine – I use a knife.
Add the egg mix and, using a knife, stir it into the flour and butter mix.
Use your hands to simply bring the dough together, rather than knead it. Do not over mix. If necessary, add extra milk; it should be quite a sticky dough.
Flour your fingers and push the dough into the cake tin and up the sides. Flatten the base as much as possible, and try to ensure that the dough is a consistent thickness all over the tin.
Place the base in the fridge whilst you prepare the lemon topping.

Now make the lemon and almond topping:

Melt the butter and set aside to cool whilst you prepare the rest of the topping.
Zest and juice the lemons. Set aside.
Beat the eggs and sugar for 5 minutes, with an electric whisk, until light and frothy.
Fold in the zest and juice from the lemons, the ground almonds and the melted butter.
Pour into the base. Place on a hot baking tray in the centre of a pre-heated oven and bake for 30 – 40 minutes. The top should look like light meringue but the centre of the cake should still be a big jiggly when you take it out of the oven. Leave to cool in the tin for 30 minutes, before removing it.
What this cakes lacks in looks, it more than delivers in flavour – best to decorate it a little though! I sieved over some icing sugar and added some lemon slices, blueberries (or raspberries or red currants) and some mint leaves.
Serve either as is, with a cup of tea/coffee, or with some fresh cream for dessert. Serve at room temperature, but store covered in the fridge, if not eating straight away, or if you have any leftovers.

Made this recipe?

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