I made a curd with lemon, pomegranate and hibiscus, it was really tasty and was a lovely bright red colour, I wasn’t sure what to use it with so i decided to make a Victoria sponge. I whipped some mascarpone to fill it with and the dusted it with icing sugar. I love Victoria sponge, it is usually served with jam but I thought curd would be a nice addition. I got the lemons in france and bought them back with me, I fell in love with them as they had the leaves and lemon blossoms still attached.

curd

• 1 pomegranate
• 6 hibiscus flowers (dried)
• zest and juice from 1 large lemon
• 3 egg yolks
• 1/2 cup sugar 110g
• 4 tbsp. butter

deseed the pomegranate and place the seeds in a jelly bag or muslin cloth and squeeze the juice out of the seeds into a saucepan then add the hibiscus and lemon juice, zest, yokes and sugar and stir over a medium heat, keep stirring until the mixture thickens and coats the back of the spoon, then pour though a sieve to remove the hibiscus, finally stir in the butter. leave to cool.

for sponge

• 220g butter
• 220g caster sugar
• 4 eggs
• 220g self raising flour
• 1 tbsp. vanilla extract

preheat the oven to 160c

grease and line two 11cm tins with baking paper.

in a bowl whip the butter and sugar together until pale, being sure to scrape down the sides, then add the vanilla and beat again, next add the eggs one at a time and beat them in one at a time making sure each egg is completely combined before adding the next. beat until thick and fluffy, then fold in the flour and then separate the batter into each tin and bake for approx. 40 minutes.

let cool then build cake by whipping 200g mascarpone with 4 tbsp. honey. spread the curd on to one of the sponges and then top with the mascarpone then add the next layer on and then dust with icing sugar.