Method (cakes)

1. Preheat your oven to 180ºC  fan and line a cupcake tin or loose base sandwich tin with cupcake cases.
2. In a small bowl, combine the dairy-free milk with the apple cider vinegar and whisk until fully combined. This creates a vegan buttermilk.
3. In a large mixing bowl, sift flour, sugar, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda. Mix well to combine.
4. Add the lemon zest and extract oil to the ‘buttermilk’ and whisk to combine.
5. Add the wet ingredients into the dry and mix until a smooth batter.
6. Fill the cases 3/4 full with the batter. Make sure to tap the tins on the worktop to remove any air bubbles.
7. Pop the cakes into the preheated oven and bake for 18-20 minutes. You will know they are done when you put a knife or skewer down the centre of the cakes and it comes out clean and they are springy to the touch.
8. Place the cupcakes on a cooling rack and allow to cool fully before filling and decorating.

Method (lemon curd)

1. In a small bowl, add in the corn flour and water. Stir together into thick paste.
2. Add the cornflour paste, dairy-free butter, sugar, lemon juice, lemon zest, condensed milk and a pinch of turmeric into a medium sized saucepan.
3. Place the saucepan on the hob and heat over low to medium, stirring constantly, preferably with a whisk. After around 5-8 minutes the lemon curd will thicken. If the curd isn’t thickening, turn up the heat and constantly whisk.
4. Pour curd into a heat proof jar or bowl, cover and place aside to cool down.
5. You can either put it in the fridge or keep it at room temperature to cool. Before you use it, give it a good stir as it will thicken.
6. Transfer into a piping bag for ease, or you can use add it to the cakes using a spoon. There may be leftover lemon curd, so simple store it in a sealed container in the fridge! 

Method (buttercream)

1. In a large mixing bowl, add in the dairy-free butter and whip until creamy. I use a stand mixer with a balloon whisk attachment, a hand mixer will work great too.
2. Add in the whipping cream and whip to combine.
3. Sift in the icing sugar and lemon extract. Whip for 5 minutes on high speed until the buttercream becomes pale and fluffy in texture. If it’s too thick add in a splash of dairy-free milk to get it to the right consistency. It should be thick and creamy.
4. Transfer the buttercream in to a piping bag fitted with a small star tip nozzle.
5. Carefully peel the sponges from the cupcake cases. Slice each cake horizontally.
6. Pipe the buttercream decoratively over one half of the sponges, and pipe on some lemon curd in-between the buttercream (watch the tutorial here).
7. Sprinkle over some meringue pieces, then place the other half of the sponge on-top to create a sandwich. Press down slightly to stick, but not too much that the fillings will ooze out. 
8. Place into the fridge for 10 minutes to slightly set the buttercream.
9. Decorate with some meringue sprinkled on top, and a lemon wedge on top of each cake.
10. Tip: To make the lemon stick, pipe on a star of buttercream and press the lemon wedge into it.