I have baked in that time - in fact I've made three batches of scones, but I already have a recipe for scones buried somewhere in my 2014 blog posts, so I didn't want to repeat myself.
So I've waited until I've baked something new and here it is: a lemon drizzle ring.
For some reason, lemon drizzle is a very British kind of cake. Only the other day, at my office (which is very international) someone made a comment to me along the lines of how much the British love their lemon drizzle.
In the middle of the British summer, there's just something so very right about lemon drizzle cake. It's like strawberries and cream, tea (or Pimm's) in the garden, Wimbledon and rain. Summer's not complete without it.
However, this time I've put a little twist on the old classic by baking it in a bundt tin which I dusted liberally with polenta to stop the cake from sticking. So I've added two European influences - polenta from Italy and bundt cake from Germany.
I adapted the Hummingbird bakery's lemon loaf recipe to make this cake, pictured below:
Will serve many many people. But awkward to cut, as I found out the other day.
You will need:
zest and juice of 2 large, unwaxed lemons
320g caster sugar
350g plain flour
3 eggs
250g melted butter, plus extra to grease tin
100g icing sugar
250ml milk
1½ tsp baking powder
½ cup of dry polenta (you may not have to use it all)
bundt tin (if you do not have a bundt tin, use a lined loaf tin and omit polenta)
1. Preheat the oven to 170C and use some of the melted butter to grease the bundt tin well. Dust the tin with polenta, rotating it to make sure there is polenta in every little crevice.
2. Beat together the eggs, sugar and lemon zest in a large bowl.
3. Weigh the flour and baking powder out and add a third to the egg and sugar mixture and fold in. Add a third of the milk and mix in. Repeat until all the flour and milk is used up.
4. Fold in the melted butter, pour into the prepared tin and bake for 1 hour 15 minutes, until a skewer inserted into the cake comes out clean. Turn out the cake onto a wire rack over a baking tray to cool.
5. Pour half the lemon juice over the cake, so that the excess runs into the baking tray below. Beat the icing sugar into the other half of the juice and once the cake has cooled, drizzle it across the cake.
Lovely moist lemon cake, topped with a deliciously sharp-but-sweet icing.
Amazing with a nice cup of tea.
Happy Baking!
Ellie
xxx
1. Preheat the oven to 170C and use some of the melted butter to grease the bundt tin well. Dust the tin with polenta, rotating it to make sure there is polenta in every little crevice.
2. Beat together the eggs, sugar and lemon zest in a large bowl.
3. Weigh the flour and baking powder out and add a third to the egg and sugar mixture and fold in. Add a third of the milk and mix in. Repeat until all the flour and milk is used up.
4. Fold in the melted butter, pour into the prepared tin and bake for 1 hour 15 minutes, until a skewer inserted into the cake comes out clean. Turn out the cake onto a wire rack over a baking tray to cool.
5. Pour half the lemon juice over the cake, so that the excess runs into the baking tray below. Beat the icing sugar into the other half of the juice and once the cake has cooled, drizzle it across the cake.
Lovely moist lemon cake, topped with a deliciously sharp-but-sweet icing.
Amazing with a nice cup of tea.
Happy Baking!
Ellie
xxx
