LEMON DRIZZLE CAKE

So I realise I've been a bad blogger again and neglected my corner of the internet for a while. I do have a relatively good excuse, as I've been trying to juggle my social life and my dissertation work during my last month at university. Hopefully I can redeem myself by posting a recipe for a delicious Lemon Drizzle Cake, perfect for a Sunday afternoon baking session or even for an Easter treat next weekend.

{photo from womanandhome.com}

 I learnt how to bake this whilst on a cookery course at the beautiful Orchard's Cookery School in Evesham. It always gets so many compliments, and has even been raffled off as a prize at a village fete before, so you know it's good.

You will need:

1 medium sized loaf tin

greaseproof paper

mixing bowl

1 unwaxed lemon

85g caster sugar (for the cake mix) 110g for the 'drizzle' topping

140g self-raising flour

2 eggs

4 tbsp milk

1 tsp baking powder

110g margarine

(In these photos I had doubled the above recipe to make a larger cake)

Set the oven to 170 degrees Celsius. Line a medium sized loaf tin with greaseproof paper, folding the corners to make fitting it in a bit easier. Finely grate the zest of  the lemon (or use a zester if you have one!).

Cream together the margarine and caster sugar in the mixing bowl. Beat the two eggs separately, then add to the margarine/sugar mix. Sieve the self-raising flour into the wet mixture. Add the baking powder, grated lemon and milk, and stir until you have an even looking consistency.

Pour into the loaf tin and place in the oven for 45-50 minutes.

Whilst the cake is in the oven, measure out 110g of caster sugar into a small non-stick saucepan. Add the juice of the lemon you just grated, and heat until all the sugar dissolves.

 After 40 minutes, test the cake with a skewer. If the skewer comes out clean, the cake is ready. Poke a few holes in the top, and pour over the hot, sticky lemon juice/caster sugar mixture. Voila!

This week I also made some devilishly good Creme Egg Brownies having seen people posting about them all over Twitter and Facebook. I used a traditional chocolate brownie recipe, then added halved Creme Eggs 5 minutes before taking them out of the oven. They were made for a friend who had just completed a horrific 5km obstacle course race for charity in the pouring rain and hail, and I'm pretty sure they went down well!

TTFN

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