Sometimes, I think those simple bakes with a touch of je ne sais quoi are the best. Light, airy and simply delicious. Also ideal to accompany a cup of tea in the late afternoon when you just need that little pick me up. Lemon Drizzle Cake is certainly one of those types of cake in my book.
How the lemon drizzle came about is anyone's guess really but it probably was an experiment with a pound cake. The baking of a Pound Cake was first recorded in 1700 in England. The concept was straight forward, a pound of every ingredient to make a simple cake; quite a heavy, dense one but cake none the less. Probably something similar to the cake Mrs Heeps serves to David Copperfield at tea time in the Charles Dickens novel of the same name!
Now here's a little tip, melt your butter before you add the sugar and whisk together for a while until you have a really light and pale mix. Melting the butter makes for a fabulously fluffy sponge.
Well, this is a great Lemon Drizzle Traybake recipe, easy to do and one I hope you enjoy making. Send us your photos, we'd love to see them!
Ingredients:
For the sponge
Weigh 4 eggs and the you will need the equivalent amount of butter, caster sugar and self-raising flour.
Zest of 1 lemon
For the syrup:
Juice of 1.5 lemons
85g caster sugar
Method:
Melt the butter in the microwave for about a minute on high.
Heat your oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. Grease and line a 32 x 18cm baking tin.
Now whisk together the butter and caster sugar until pale and creamy, then add the eggs, one at a time, whisking after each one.
Sift in the self-raising flour, then add the lemon zest and whisk again until well combined.
Spoon your cake mixture into the tin and level the top.
Mix together the lemon juice and caster sugar to make the syrup for drizzling.
Bake for 20-25 mins until a thin skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean.
Let the cake cool for a few minutes and then using a skewer, prick the top of the cake numerous times to help the syrup soak in. Pour over the syrup – the juice will sink in and the sugar will form a lovely, tangy topping.
Don't remove from the tin until completely cool. Cut into 12 pieces and if you keep the traybake in an airtight container it will be good for 3-4 days, or freeze for up to 1 month.