Lemon sponge cake Semifreddo

This lemon sponge cake is great for light desserts' admirers. It has a very saturated but not dominating lemon taste.
The cake was baked by Andrei Utkin with a recipe by David Lebovitz from his book Ready for Dessert.
We will have to cook three separate ingredients for the cake. First we prepare a lemon curd, then a lemon syrup and finally a sponge cake itself.

Ingredients for the lemon curd:
1/2 cup 9125 ml) freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/2 cup (100 g) sugar
6 tablespoons butter
2 large eggs
2 large egg yolks

Ingredients for the lemon syrup:
3/4 cup (180 ml) water
1/3 cup (65 g) sugar
1/4 cup (60 ml) freshly squeezed lemon juice
2 tablespoons kirsch (not required)

Additional Ingredients:
1 cup (250 ml) heavy cream
2/3 cup (75 g) crushed amaretti cookies


In a saucepan combine lemon juice, sugar and butter. Set the saucepan over low heat. In another bowl whisk together the eggs and egg yolks. Pour the egg mixture into the saucepan whisking constantly, until the curd starts to thicken. Don't boil it!
When the curd is ready let it cool and then refrigerate.

To make the lemon syrup warm the water and sugar in a saucepan. When the sugar dissolves remove from the heat, stir in lemon juice and the kirsch. Let it cool completely.

Bake a sponge cake 12 by 18 inch (30 by 46 cm) and cut it in two pieces so that it fits into a baking dish. Whisk the cream until it turns into a whip cream. Mix the whipped cream and the lemon curd.
Put one layer of the sponge cake on the bottom of the baking dish and brush evenly with about 1/2 cup of the lemon syrup. Spread 1/2 of the lemon cream evenly on top of the first cake layer and sprinkle with amaretti crumbs. Lay the second piece of the sponge cake on top and repeat the procedure. The cake is ready. refrigerate until chilled. Sprinkle with the rest of amaretti crumbs before serving.