These little babes have developed quite the cult following since we stared baking them three years ago, they were on our opening menu and haven't left since; mostly for fear for our lives if we took them away!

Now you can make them at home. The beauty of them is that the batter can be made up to two weeks ahead and kept in the fridge so you can have fresh lemon cakes at home any day of the week without much fuss at all.

Note: the batter has to be made a day ahead

Ingredients
200g unsalted cultured butter
280g caster sugar
150g blanched almond meal
60g gluten free flour (plain will work too)
170g egg whites (5-6 eggs)
1/4 tsp fine sea salt
30g strained lemon juice
180g icing sugar

Method
1. Place the caster sugar, almond meal, flour, egg whites and salt into a stand mixer bowl and mix to combine well. A large mixing bowl with a spoon will work just fine if you don’t have a stand mixer.

2. Burn the butter in a saucepan over medium heat, whisking as it cooks. The aim here is for the milk solids to separate from the fat and brown, you’ll notice the butter will bubble, then settle down a bit then froth up again. It’s usually done just after the second froth, but the main thing to look out for is the nutty smell and golden colour of the liquid under the bubbles. Use a larger pot than you think you need.

3. Gradually add the butter to the mixer with mixing on a very slow speed to spot it splashing up. If you’re mixing by hand just add the butter bit by bit, stirring between each addition. Be wary not to put the pot back on the heat between additions as it will keep cooking and go black.

4. Once everything is combined pour the batter into a container and allow it to cool at room temp, then cover and refrigerate overnight. This step is vital as if you try to bake the batter without resting it will split. It will keep in the fridge for up to 2 weeks.

5. The next day, preheat your oven to 170C. Take a silicone muffin mould (or these moulds that we use at the bakery) and give it a very light spray with canola oil. Weigh 80g of batter into each mould. You can go by eye if you’re not as fussy as us! If you don’t have silicone moulds you can used a muffin tray lined with cupcake papers.

6. Bake for 28 minutes or until deep golden brown. If you’re using the fluted moulds that we use go for around 35mins as the cakes won’t be as thin.

7. When they’re nearly ready place a cooling rack on your kitchen counter and a flat oven tray lined with paper beside it. Once the cakes are done place them straight on the cooling rack, put the papered tray (paper side down) over the top of them and very carefully flip upside down then leave to cool. This ensures that the bottom of the cakes will be flat. You can skip this step entirely if you’re not fussed about them sitting flat or want to serve them the other way up.

8. While they cool prepare the icing by combining the lemon juice and icing sugar with a whisk. Once the cakes are completely cooled unmould them and use a piping bag or table spoon to ice the tops.

Baked cakes will keep in a sealed container for up to 5 days.