• First, make the curd. Whisk the cornflour with the water until dissolved and milky looking, then place all the ingredients in a small saucepan over a low heat. Whisk constantly, helping the butter to melt, then gradually increase the heat to medium and stir until it thickens to form a curd the consistency of loose mayonnaise. Allow to cool to room temperature.
• Whip the mascarpone with the cream and icing sugar to form soft peaks. Decant into a piping (pastry) bag if you have one.
• Soak the savoiardi in milk, allowing them to absorb enough to become just damp and spongey but not dripping, then layer them at the base of a 23 cm (9 in) dish. Pipe over a third of the cream, flatten with a spatula or back of a spoon, then spread over half of the cooled curd. Repeat, then finish with little piped peaks of cream.
• If you do not have a piping bag or prefer not to use one, you can layer differently and finish with a shining layer of yellow curd, which is equally beautiful. In this case, do two layers of both: start sponge, then cream, then curd; sponge, cream and finally curd. To finish, arrange the lemon zest, slices and sprigs of mint on top.

Recipe extracted from For the Love of Lemons, Italian-inspired sweet and savoury recipes (Hardie Grant)