Hello all! Hope you all had a great weekend!
Today I have my first recipe post in a long long time for you, I am one of those people who constantly watches cooking programmes and yearns to make all these yummy meals and treats, so I've taken the plunge and decided to start NOW! I'll probably start off with a few recipes a month to begin with but I can see my love growing already so it might even be more than that!
We were kindly sent over a box of goodies from Baking Mad, to make anything we fancied from the website, there is so many things to choose from including, granola recipes, smoothie recipes and scrummy waffle recipes to name a few! Whether you're on a healthy lifestyle journey or fancy a little treat, you will find delicious recipes to suit you and your family!
I'll show you all step by step in pictures as I personally find photos to go alongside a lot easier to follow! So without further ado, here we go! Baking Equipment Loaf Tin (think ours was £4 from ASDA) Large Mixing Bowl Small Mixing Bowl Wooden Spoon Electric Whisk (if you don't have one, just use a wooden spoon like us) For the cake; YOU WILL NEED 225g Unsalted Butter (room temp) 225g Unrefined Golden Caster Sugar 225g Self Raising Flour 4 x Eggs 1 Lemon Zest
For the Drizzle Topping 1 1/2 Lemon Zest 85g Unrefined Golden Caster Sugar This is the original recipe from the website, however I adjusted a few bits to suit us better, I used 170g of sugar instead of 225g, but it's all down to personal taste!
Prep First things first, pre-heat your oven to 180 degrees (160 for fan/Gas mark 4) & Grease and line your loaf tin (We used the Dr Oetker Cake Release Spray)
Step 1 Measure out your caster sugar and butter and beat until the mixture is pale and creamy, I won't lie, my arm was aching way before I got to this point so above is the closest I got so don't worry about it being 'perfect'
Step 2 Next add the eggs and beat together slowly until combined Step 3 Sift in the flour and combine mixture Step 4 Add your lemon zest and again mix together until well mixed *I also added 2 capfuls of Sicilian Lemon Extract for an extra punch of sharpness but this is optional!
Next.. Add your mixture into your greased loaf tin and level with a spoon
Pop the cake in the oven for 45-50 minutes at the set temperature Whilst your cake is cooking away in the oven, it's time to make the lemon drizzle! Yay! Grab your small mixing bowl and add in the caster sugar, squeeze the juice of 1 1/2 lemons and mix together thoroughly! Have a little taste test to see if the sharpness is ok...very important ;)
Check on your cake after about 40 mins, insert a knife into the middle, if it comes away clean, your cake is ready, if not, leave in for another 5 or so minutes! But keep an eye out so it doesn't overcook!
Once you are happy, remove your cake from the oven and leave to cool in the loaf tin until it's cool to touch
Once it is cooled down a bit, prick the cake with a fork or skewer all over and pour over your drizzle mix. We chose to decorate with little lemon meringue pieces too because well, why on earth not!? And how much more fun does it look!
Leave to cool completely and remove from tin (might have to give it a little shake), and you can finally serve! Woo! This was the first time i'd baked anything like this before, and I can honestly say, it was bloody delicious! Perfect sharpness, light and fluffy whilst being only around 130 calories a slice too! Have fun! :) x
