I absolutely love using lemons in both savoury and sweet. From their zesty scented air that they gladly accompany in a cake to the tangy relief in a sorbet or ceviche, I’ve used them quite a lot here. When I first pictured this dessert (or more accurately, I pictured an out-of-focus dish as I hadn’t yet decided what it was going to be), it was bathed in afternoon sun. That reminded me obviously of lemons and lemons remind me of a lemon cake that I made not so long ago. What I really like about that cake is that it’s really moist and light, and seeing that my dessert  was to be summery, what better choice! 

While choosing its accompanying components, I decided to go with a lemon-honey-mango theme because all of these ingredients work really well together and they are also monochrome yellow, so a nod to my original imagination of this dish. For some texture, I initially decided to do some sort of crumble but then the idea of a honey granola popped into mind. I’ve made a lot of granola in the past and trust me it can’t have been a better choice to pair with the cake. It’s really nutty and slightly sweet with the honey and the addition of dried cranberries dubs it into a honey “gemstone” granola! With the mango, I got my inspiration from a dish I saw on TV. It basically had a burnt peach component where they charred the outside of the peach on a grill until black but to keep the inside still sweet. Obviously, I didn’t want to take the mango that far, so I held the mangoes over an open flame long enough to impart a smoky flavour and enough to keep them bright still! 

My last component is a honey caramel sauce. Another addition that would certainly brighten this up would be some plain-flavoured ice-cream. You don’t have to make the ice cream; I didn’t because I wanted it to make ice cream quenelles (just a fancy way to serve ice cream!), but it was so humid that when I initially plated it, it ran down the entire plate, so opted not to put it in the final plating. So much for errors! I'm a huge fan of this combination and I hope you like this summery dessert too!

Lemon cake:

• ½ cup + 6 tbsp. sugar
• ½ cup softened butter
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1¼ cup flour
• ½ tsp. baking powder
• ½ tsp. baking soda
• A pinch of salt
• ½ cup buttermilk
• Zest from 2 lemons

Preheat your oven to 180˚C. Lightly grease a loaf pan with oil and line with parchment paper at the bottom. In a bowl, cream together the sugar and butter. Then gradually blend in the egg and vanilla. In a separate bowl, combine the flour, salt and baking powder and incorporate into the creamed butter-sugar mixture. Add the baking soda to the buttermilk and incorporate into the batter. Gently fold in the lemon zest. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for about 40-45 minutes.

Honey “gemstone” granola:

• 1 cup oats
• ¼ cup almonds
• 1 tbsp. pistachios
• 1 tbsp. sunflower seeds
• 1 tbsp. pumpkin seeds
• A pinch of salt
• A pinch of cinnamon
• 2 tbsp. honey
• 2 tbsp. neutral oil
• Dried cranberries

Chop the almonds and pistachios. Combine with all other ingredients except cranberries. Spread evenly onto a parchment lined baking tray and bake for about 20 minutes at 180˚C until golden brown. Remove and mix once every 5 minutes. Once cooled combine chopped cranberries.

Honey caramel:

• ¼ cup granulated sugar
• 1 tsp. water
• A pinch of salt
• 1/8 cup milk
• 1 tbsp. butter
• 2 tbsp. honey

Melt the sugar, water and salt over a low heat in a heavy based pan. Once it starts to turn golden, add the butter and milk. Stir together on a medium heat until butter has melted. Make sure there aren’t any lumps. Stir in the honey.

Vanilla ice cream:

• 1 cup milk
• 1 cup cream
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract
• ½ cup caster sugar
• 6 egg yolks

Combine milk, cream and vanilla in a pan. Bring to a boil and set aside for 10 minutes. Whisk the yolks and sugar in a bowl until thick and pale then whisk in the milk mixture. Pour the mixture into a pan and stir on a low heat until thickened. Cool the mixture. Churn in an ice cream machine until semi solid before placing in the freezer for about an hour. 

Plating:

• Mango wedges (skewer some mango wedges and hold them over an open flame for a few seconds)

Start by "smearing" some caramel in the centre of the plate. Place 2 slices of the cake, surrounded by the granola and mango wedges. (Serve with ice-cream after admiring the plate!)