You will need:

For the cake:

Decoration:

• 250g unsalted butter, softened
• 250g caster sugar
• 4 large eggs
• 250g self-raising flour
• 150g fresh raspberries
• pink gel food colouring
• For the filling: 150g unsalted butter, softened
• 150g icing sugar, sifted
• lemon curd or seedless raspberry jam

• 4 tbsp seedless raspberry jam
• 500g ready-to-roll white sugarpaste
• pink gel food colouring
• icing sugar, for dusting and sticking
• 1 x packet Love Hearts sweets

1

Preheat the oven to 180ºC/fan 160ºC/gas 4. Grease and line two 20cm sandwich tins.

2

Beat the butter and sugar using a wooden spoon or electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition, and adding a tablespoon of flour with the final egg to prevent curdling. Sift in the remaining flour and beat to combine. Fold in the lemon zest and raspberries, then add a drop or so of the pink food colouring to turn the sponge pink.

3

Divide the mixture between the tins and level the tops. Bake for 25–30 minutes or until golden and a skewer inserted in the centre of the cakes comes out clean. Remove from the oven and leave to cool in the tins for 5 minutes, then turn out on to a wire rack and leave to cool completely.

4

For the filling, beat the butter and icing sugar until you have a smooth buttercream. To stop your cake sliding around on the serving plate spread a tiny bit of the buttercream on the plate before assembling the cake.

5

Place one sponge on the plate and spread the buttercream over the centre. Cover with the curd or jam and top with the second sponge.

6

To decorate, gently warm the jam, then brush it over the top and sides of the cake.

7

Colour the sugarpaste with a tiny bit of the food colouring (use a cocktail stick) and knead until the colour is even. Dust your work surface with icing sugar and roll out the sugarpaste until it’s large enough to cover the cake. Gently lift over the cake and smooth down, then trim the edges.

8

Make up a small amount of thick glacé icing by mixing icing sugar with a little bit of water. Using a small spoon or a cocktail stick, spread a little bit of icing on to the back of a Love Heart and stick on to the cake. Arrange the Love Hearts on the cake as you wish.