Lemon Drizzle Cake

Like the carrot cake, I’m surprised I haven’t made lemon drizzle cake to write about yet. I’ve tried a few recipes for this before but this is the best one I’ve tried to far – feel free to correct me if you have found any others to try. Anyway we arranged a coffee morning for Macmillan this week at work and this was one of my contributions. Its pretty easy to make – mix dry ingredients, mix wet ingredients, mix both together! Although mine never look exactly like the photos in the book, this one being from my Baking Bible again.

Ingredients

Cake

• 200g / 7oz plain flour
• 2tsp baking powder
• 200g / 7oz caster sugar
• 4 eggs
• 150ml / 5fl oz soured cream
• grated rind of 1 large lemon
• 4tbsp lemon juice
• 150ml / 5fl oz sunflower oil

Syrup

• 4tbsp icing sugar
• 3tbsp lemon juice

Preheat the oven to 180C / 350F / Gas 4 and lightly grease a 20cm / 8in loose bottomed round cake tin, lining the base with greaseproof paper.

Next sieve the flour and baking powder into a bowl and add the caster sugar. In a second bowl, whisk the eggs, soured cream, lemon rind, lemon juice and oil together then add this wet mixture into the dry ingredients (or vice versa!) and mix them together well.

Pour the mix into the tin and bake it (once the oven is preheated) for 45-60 minutes – mine took about 55 although the top was browner than I would have liked so perhaps next time I will lower the temperature a little as ours is a fan oven.

When the cake is nearly ready, make the syrup by mixing the icing sugar and lemon in a small saucepan and heat it until it just starts to bubble and turn syrupy.

Once the cake comes out of the oven, prick the surface of the cake with a fine skewer and brush the syrup over the top then leave the cake in the tin until its completely cooled.

I love the flavour of lemon cake and this goes nice with a cup of tea – how old!? Despite the time it was in the oven (and the colour of the top of the cake), it wasn’t at all dried out as I worried it would be. I’ll definitely experiment with the oven temperature next time though.