I love lemon in desserts. Whether it's a , a or a , I love that zingy yet sweet flavour. However, I am not the best , which means even some of the simplest dessert recipes can end up being a stodgy mess. After looking at countless dessert online, I decided to settle on this gooey lemon butter cake .

The recipe includes a lazy baking method, which meant that even a complete novice like myself could perfect it. While this dessert has been described as a "cake", I would personally describe it as more of a pudding. It's incredibly gooey and decadent and definitely requires a spoon to eat.

The base of this recipe is a lemon cake, which is then topped with a delicious, tangy cream cheese.

To make the base, all you need to do is mix together some cake mix, melted butter, eggs, lemon zest and juice. This took around five minutes, which gave me plenty of time to then work on the lemon cream cheese layer.

The cream cheese layer includes eggs, powdered sugar, lemon juice, lemon zest and vanilla extract. Once baked, the cream cheese layer becomes a sweet yet tangy custard layer, which perfectly complements the zingy cake base.

Serves 8

You will need:

A 9-inch springform baking pan

Two bowls

Grater

For the lemon cake base:

One box of lemon cake mix

113.5g of unsalted butter, melted

Two large eggs

One tablespoon of lemon zest

One tablespoon of lemon juice

For the lemon cream cheese layer:

226.8g cream cheese softened

Two large eggs

480g powdered sugar

One tablespoon of fresh lemon juice

One teaspoon of vanilla extract

Two tablespoons of lemon zest

1. Preheat your oven to 180C. Grease and line the bottom of a nine-inch springform pan with parchment paper.

2. In a bowl, mix the ingredients for the cake base until they form a thick dough. Spread and press the mix into the bottom of the cake pan and put to one side.

3. Next, beat the cream cheese until smooth, being careful not to over-beat it. Add the eggs one at a time before mixing in the powdered sugar, lemon juice, vanilla, and lemon zest until creamy.

4. Pour the cream cheese mixture over the cake base and spread evenly. Bake the cake for 35 to 40 minutes. I found my cake needed 40 minutes. The cake should be golden on top with a slight jiggle. If it's too wobbly, put it back in the oven and cover with foil to stop the top burning.

5. Allow the cake to cool for at least one hour before removing it from the tin. Then, put it in the fridge for a few hours to set. Before serving, dust it with icing sugar.

I served mine cold with a dollop of crème fraîche, but it would taste delicious paired with raspberries or cream too.

I had so much cake leftover, I decided to pop some slices in plastic tubs in the freezer. When I want to eat some more, I then microwave it and serve it warm with some crème fraîche.