It’s perfectly lovely served sprinkled with a few flaked almonds before baking. But if you want to elevate it to show-off status it’s worth making with this suprisingly simple white chocolate ganache which can be piped or spread on and finished with almonds and edible flowers.

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• For the ganache (if using): gently heat the double cream until bubbles form around the edges then add the white chocolate and switch off the heat. Stir to help the chocolate to melt. Transfer a small bowl or Tupperware and leave to cool, stirring occasionally. Once it reaches room temperature, refrigerate, stirring occasionally until cold. The ganache can be prepared well in advance.
l Preheat oven to 180°C and line the base of a 22cm springform baking tin with baking parchment.
• If using whole almonds blitz them in a food processor and put to one side. 
• Finely chop the chocolate into small chunks - roughly chocolate-chip sized, and put aside.
• Beat the butter and sugar, in a food processor or electric mixer. Separate 2 of the eggs. Add the whole eggs, one at a time, and the 2 yolks. Beat thoroughly. (Keep the 2 egg whites.)  Add the lemon zest and juice, vanilla extract, crushed almonds and salt. Stir to combine then transfer to a mixing bowl. Stir in the white chocolate chips.
• Beat the egg whites until very stiff.  Gently fold them in the rest of the cake mixture until you have a homogeneous texture.
• Pour the cake mixture into the tin and bake for about 40 minutes. Cool on a rack, then transfer to a serving plate.
• Put a round nozzle into a piping bag and fill it with the ganache. Pipe small dots on top of the cake in concentric circles, and place whole almonds all around, or create a design of your choice.