Friday 19 September 2008

Nigella’s adapted Lemon-Syrup Loaf Cake


I love love love baking. It represents free time and is so soul-enhancing to me. There are few better smells in the world than that of freshly baked cake wafting through the house.
In celebration of the weekend, I thought I’d share one of my all-time favourite recipes. Why do I love it so much? The fluffiness, the tangy lemon with the comforting sponge… most of all though, I love it because it is easy and because I always have these ingredients in the house. This means that a lovely treat is always around the corner.
PS: it may look boring but you won't believe how good it is.
(the recipe has been adapted from Nigella Lawson’s book ‘How to be a Domestic Goddess)

Cake:
125g unsalted butter
175g caster sugar
2 large eggs
175g self-raising flour
pinch of salt
4 tablespoons milk

Syrup: Lemon juice (from real lemons!) and icing sugar
23 x 13 x 7 cm non stick loaf tin, preheat the oven to 180 degrees or gas mark 4.

Method:

•Mix the butter and sugar
•Add the flour and salt, folding in gently but thoroughly
•Add the milk, mix in
•Spoon into loaf tin and put cake in oven for 45 mins, or until golden and a cake tester comes out clean
•While it's cooking, dissolve the icing sugar in the lemon juice, over a low heat. I haven’t given precise amounts here because people like the syrup more sweet or more sour etc. I like it quite sour and I like a LOT of it all over the cake. The only guideline here is that it should be very runny.
•As soon as you take the cake out, puncture holes all over the top and pour the syrup on to let it soak in. Make sure there are lots of holes in the top so it doesn't all go down the sides.
•Wait until it's completely cold to take it out of the tin.
•I like to sprinkle multi-coloured ‘hundreds and thousands’ to make the cake dainty.
•Devour.

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