Lemon Drizzle

Ingredientes

Lemon Cake batter

175g Butter, soft

30g Vegetable oil

185g Caster sugar

200g Whole eggs

200g Plain flour

12g Baking Powder (about 3 tsp)

50g Milk

½ tsp Flaky salt

2 Lemons (about 150g per lemon to give you about 50g-60g segments)

Crusty lemon topping

45g lemon juice (approx one)

115g caster sugar

Pinch of fine salt

Optional: pinch of citric acid

Instrucciones

Method

Line the loaf pan with baking paper and set aside. Preheat oven to 160 c fan

Zest the lemon and set zest to one side. Cut the top and bottom of your lemon so you have a flat base to work from. Carefully slice the pith/skin away, following the curve of the fruit as best you can. You can go back over it to remove any stragglers later.

Once all the skin is removed, cut segments from between the membranes of the orange, using your knife at an angle to get really clean cuts. Use the white lines of the membranes to guide you and try to cut as close to these are possible. Set seeds aside.

Cut the perfect segments into 4-5 smaller chunks and put these, juice and all, into a small bowl and set aside. Squeeze the leftover flappy lemon membranes into the bowl so no lemony goodness is missed. You should have about 50g-60g segments per lemon.

Cream together the butter, zest, oil and sugar on a medium speed until lightened and the sugar is dissolved, about 2-3 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and slowly add the eggs, one by one. It may curdle a touch, but persevere and continue adding. As it's winter, the batter is much more prone to curdling - the butter splits apart as you add colder eggs. If you want to put in some extra effort, you could gently heat the bowl whilst adding the eggs, but to be honest, this cake will be okay if you don’t bother.

Sift together the flour and baking powder together then add in three additions. I choose to fold this in by hand. Try not to deflate your aerated batter and once you see no more streaks of flour, stop mixing. Finally, add the milk and salt, folding briefly until a very lush, smooth batter forms, finishing with the lemon segments and juice. Stir through briefly.

Pour into the tin and smooth the top. Bake for 50-60 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean. It may crack a touch, but that’s okay - lemon drizzle should be gloriously rustic.

When the cake comes out of the oven, mix together the glaze for the crust. If desired, you can add a few lemon segments to the mixture for decoration. Pour all over the top of the loaf (no need to stab cake for absorption - it will permeate happily without). Sometimes I gently lift the edge of the cake to let a bit of the syrup go down the edges. Leave to cool in the tin.

Serve in thick slices and enjoy with tea. Cake will last at room temp for 4-5 days - wrap it well for best results.

Notas

Makes 1 x drizzle cake, serves 8 or about 8-9 mini loaves.

Equipment: Loaf Tin, 21.5 x 11.5 x 7 cm (8.5" x 4.5" x 3")

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