Lemon Macadamia Shortbread Cake

A friend of mine recently had a Lemon Macadamia Shortbread Cake at a work morning tea.  Everyone seemed to like it, and someone asked for the recipe.  The recipe was then passed on to me as a suggestion for something to bake.

This recipe was out of someone's home recipe file, so it didn't contain a lot of the niceties that one finds in a modern cookbook for the instructions, nor was there a photo so that I had an idea of what the cake would look like.  However, I have been baking for long enough that I was happy to give this recipe a go. 

I was expecting a cookie cake from the name of the cake, but this is what it actually looks like (which I am told is an accurate representation of the original):

This is a lovely cake with a soft, buttery base that you press into the tin, topped with a thin layer of lemon curd, then topped with the same dough as the base but crumbled instead of pressed on.  The whole thing is then topped with macadamia nuts for crunch:

It really is a lovely cake that is easy to make.  If you would like to try it, you will need:

Base

2 cups self-raising flour
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
125g butter, softened 

(Double the recipe if you'd like a try bake.

Filling

1/2 cup lemon juice
grated zest of one lemon
2 eggs, slightly beaten
125g butter
1 cup sugar
1 cup macadamia nuts, chopped

(Triple the recipe for a tray bake.)

Grease and line a 20cm springform tin (mine was 22cm and it was fine.)  Preheat your oven to 180 degrees Celsius.

For the base, sift the flour and sugar into a bowl.  Rub the butter in with your finger tips (I recommend grating the butter to help with this), to form crumbs. Add the eggs, and mix until combined but the dough is still slightly crumbly.

Press two thirds of the base mixture into the springform tin, and set the rest aside.

For the filling, melt the butter and the sugar in a small saucepan (do not allow to boil).  Remove the mixture from the heat, then mix in the lemon juice and zest. 

Whisk in the beaten eggs, then return the saucepan to the heat and stir constantly until the mixture thickens (it will coat the back of a spoon).  Don't panic if some of your egg scrambles in the mixture - just strain it out once the curd has cooked.

Pour the curd over the base in the springform tin.  Top with the reserved base dough, sprinkling it over in little blobs to cover the curd.  Finally, sprinkle over the macadamia nuts.

Bake the cake for 40 minutes until golden on top, then remove it from the oven and cool it in the tin on a wire rack.

Release the cooled cake from the springform tin, and dust with icing sugar to serve, if desired.