Lemon Drizzle Cake

Believe it or not, in all the years I've been baking cakes and everything else I had never made a lemon drizzle cake, and it was only after my friend made one that inspired me to make one, they are easy to make, but the cake is amazing with a nice cup of tea or coffee (depending on your preference)

Ingredients – Serves 10 slices - Ready in 60 minutes

• 225g unsalted butter , softened
  
• 225g caster sugar
  
• 4 eggs
  
• finely grated zest 1 lemon
  
• 225g self-raising flour

FOR THE DRIZZLE TOPPING

• juice 11⁄2 lemon
  
• 85g caster sugar

Now for the How To:

• Heat oven to 180C/fan 160C/gas 4.
  
• Beat together the butter and sugar until pale and creamy, then add the eggs, one at a time, slowly mixing through.
  
• Sift in the flour, then add the lemon zest and mix until well combined.
  
• Line a loaf tin (8 x 21cm) with greaseproof paper, then spoon in the mixture and level the top with a spoon.
  
• Bake for 45-50 mins until a thin skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean.
  
• While the cake is cooling in its tin, mix together the lemon juice and sugar to make the drizzle.
  
• Prick the warm cake all over with a skewer or fork, and then pour over the drizzle - the juice will sink in and the sugar will form a lovely, crisp topping.
  
• Leave in the tin until completely cool, then remove and serve.
  
• Will keep in an airtight container for 3-4 days, or freeze for up to 1 month.

My personal tip is to use more lemons than the recipe above says – you want the lemon flavouring to stand out (but not to overpower.) I ended up using the juice of two lemons and also the zest of two. I made this cake for the people at work and it was another one that went down a storm, crumbs weren't even left so I think that's a pretty good sign!
Another top tip for this recipe – if you are into the silicone bake ware make sure that you put the silicone loaf tin inside a normal loaf tin – learn from my mistake – the silicone tin wasn't strong enough to hold the cake as it cooked and half of it ended up spilling over the sides and onto my oven – using the sturdy tin will just help the cake to keep its shape and cook evenly – I don't know if this is a probably with all silicone loaf tins – or just mine as I got it from a bargain shop :-)
Next up we have a couple of recipes involving pumpkins!
Bye for Now! X