RWI Some More... Lemon Drizzle Cake Recipe

it's an oldie but a goodie

Hello!

As we sit in a sparse period between the seasons, where the joy of summer fruits lingers so closely around the corner but hasn’t arrived just yet, and I’m slightly fatigued by our glorious pink rhubarb, it’s hard to imagine what might spark some inspiration. The best thing now is to rummage in the freezer for last summer’s glut, or peruse the preserving aisles. Or perhaps, return to something so simple that you often forget how delicious it is - lemon drizzle cake.

I made this cake 3 times during my recipe development, which is something I hope you’re all familiar with now, after reading my most recent newsletter My Guide to Developing Recipes. The first was a recipe that I had been dreaming of; a cake pairing the deep, charred flavour of toasted vanilla pods with a sharp citrus batter and icing. Sadly, it didn’t quite meet the high expectations I had grown in my head. The flavour pairing was perfect but the cake itself was quite dense. My friends told me they liked it like this and thought that’s how a lemon cake should be (maybe they were being polite), but I wasn’t convinced. I thought it would lend itself better to being baked in a loaf tin. Then, the second attempt ballooned beautifully in the oven, only to deflate five minutes later. Too much baking powder! Back to the drawing board.

I went through my filofax of memories and discovered a recipe I had made a lot when I was a child (from the same kids cookbook my Best Chocolate Birthday Cake is based off). It was a simple lemon pound cake (when the weight of butter, flour, eggs and sugar are equal). I remember placing 3 eggs in the golden basket on one side of my Mum’s cast iron scales, then weighing each other ingredient in the golden trough opposite, until the scales were balanced. It was joyful and I loved it.

As always, thank you for signing up to RWI Some More and supporting my work. I hope you enjoy.

Much love,
Cissy…xo

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Candied Lemon Peel

Candied Lemon Peel Recipe

Makes enough for this cake

Always be candying (ABC) is something you’ll hear a lot of in bakeries during the colder months. It’s a period of time when a huge pot is always on a rolling boil, puffing out a sweet sticky mist that clings to the walls. It’s an attempt to fill as many preserving jars as possible with candied fruit. Enough to see you through the busy hot cross bun period and beyond.

Candying fruit is a serious art that requires patience and a deep knowledge of sugar molecules. It’s something I’m not sure I’m cut out for when I’m not at work. So for this cake, we’re going to follow a quick candying method to brighten up this citrus cake recipe. We’ll fold some candied lemon peel through the batter, as well as use it for decoration. If you CBA (can’t be arsed. My at home alternative to ABC) then I respect that. Just skip this candying step and omit it from the cake batter recipe.

Ingredients

• 1 unwaxed lemon

• 75g caster sugar

• 75g water

Method

• Using a vegetable peeler remove the skin of 1 lemon, making sure not to peel off any of the white pith.

• Slice the peel into thin strips.

• Place the sliced lemon into a small saucepan filled with cold water (roughly 500ml) and a big pinch of salt. Bring to the boil then remove from the heat.

• Drain the liquid, reserving the lemon strips.

• Repeat this blanching technique without the salt.

• To candy the lemon, bring 75g water and 75g caster sugar (a simple syrup) to a boil in a small saucepan.

• Once the sugar has dissolved, add in the blanched lemon.

• Reduce the heat to a low-medium and gently simmer for 5 ish minutes, until the mixture is syrupy but not fully reduced.

• When thick, remove from the heat and pour into a preserving jar or heat proof container.

• Fit with a lid and set aside to cool.

Note: as this jar sits, or gets used, you might experience some hard crystallisation of the fruit (normal with such a small batch size). If you do, stir in a tsp-tbsp of boiling water, to help loosen and dissolve any stubborn sugar crystals.

My first lemon cake test