Can I Use Limoncello In The Lemon Tendercake?

Our answer

Nigella's Lemon Tendercake With Blueberry Compote (from AT MY TABLE) is a vegan cake made with coconut milk and flavoured with lemon. The cake has a slightly different texture to a regular sponge cake and is more like a super-aerated American-style pancake.

The cake is flavoured with lemon zest and lemon juice. Most of the lemon flavour comes from the zest of the lemon rather than from the juice. The cake is leavened with bicarbonate of soda (baking soda) and baking powder, so although the acid from the lemon juice helps activate the bicarbonate of soda, it is not essential as there is also acid in the baking powder. But to be on the safe side you may want to add a little lemon juice. So we would suggest that if you want to use limoncello that you use 3 tablespoons of the liqueur and add a teaspoon of lemon juice to the cake batter as well. You can certainly use limoncello instead of lemon juice in the compote, though taste and add a few drops of lemon juice if the compote is too sweet. Most limoncello brands are vegan, but please check the label on the bottle if it is essential that the cake is vegan.