Romantic Iced Cakes

Preheat the oven to 230°C (210°C in a fan oven), 425°F, gas 7 and line a baking tray with grease-proof paper.

Melt the butter slowly and put to one side. Beat the egg white with a few drops of lemon juice to form stiff peaks and put to chill. Beat the egg yolks with the sugar, vanilla sugar and a pinch of salt to form a pale yellow, smooth, thick mixture. Sprinkle the lemon zest over. Heap the beaten egg whites on top of the mixture. Mix the flour with the cornflour and a pinch of baking powder, and sieve over the egg whites. Mix everything together loosely, and finally stir through the melted butter.

Spread the mixture evenly over the baking tray and bake in the hot oven for about 10 minutes until golden brown. Transfer the cake, with the grease-proof paper, to a cooling rack and leave to cool.

Using a cutter, cut an even number of heart shapes out of the cake. For the filling, mix the raspberry jam with the raspberry brandy and bring almost to the boil over a pan of hot water. Stick pairs of hearts together with jam and leave to cool.