Lemon not lush

Head Chef fancied some lemon cake. Being (usually) obliging and (sometimes) obedient, I baked some.

I followed a recipe for ‘luscious lemon loaf’, recommended by a good friend of Head Chef’s. It came in old-fashioned measurements.

4 oz margarine (I used unsalted butter instead)

6 oz caster sugar

2 large eggs (I lived dangerously and didn’t actually check what size my eggs were)

6 oz self-raising flour

4 tbsp milk

1 lemon

3 rounded tbsp icing sugar

 

I creamed the butter and caster sugar, added the grated zest of the lemon, the flour, a pinch of salt (to make up for the lack it in the butter), the beaten eggs and the milk, and mixed it well as instructed. I didn’t take any process photos so you’ll have to take my word for it that it looked like the soft, dropping consistency that it was supposed to.

 

The recipe said to use a 2 lb loaf tin, but the mixture fitted nicely into my little 1 lb loaf tin. I translated the 350°F oven temperature into 180°C and baked it for the required 45 minutes. My oven is slightly fierce, so I expected it to take less but it didn’t. It cracked along the middle and peaked a little, but not in an ugly way.

 

Whilst the cake was in the oven, I mixed together the juice of the lemon with the icing sugar. (This did not, of course, take up the full 45-minute wait.) When the cake was done, I pierced it multiple times with my trusty cake-testing skewer and poured the syrup over it. The recipe insisted that this must be done as soon as the cake came out of the oven.

My food photography skills have not improved

 

As instructed, I left the cake overnight to be sampled the following day. Head Chef said it was delicious. I thought it was pleasant enough but hardly luscious – more like a faintly lemony madeira cake with the odd juicier patch. But I hadn’t baked anything since last month’s chocolate cake and I enjoyed making this one.

 

The recipe did not suggest a number of portions. I would say that it makes 8 generous portions or 10 mean ones. We somehow managed to split the difference and cut it into 9 rather uneven slices.

A piece of cake