Easy Irish Lemon Cake for a Crowd
If you subscribe to the idea that baking is a science and therefore not for you, then consider this lemon drizzle cake a mathematically perfect recipe.
Very difficult to get wrong, and still delicious even if it sinks in the middle (more on that later), lemon cake is what Americans call pound cake, and what Irish people call 'grab it before it's all gone.'
Though there are several iterations of lemon drizzle - the more modern of which include ground almonds for added depth - I prefer the tried and true sponge method.
Mary Berry throws caution to the wind and suggests adding all the ingredients at once to a mixer and working the dough at speed. This frightens me - a slave to tradition - so I prefer to cream the butter and sugar together until light and creamy, adding eggs one by one and then finally the flour.
While we are all watching the cost of our shopping bills at the moment, it's important for this recipe to buy unwaxed lemons if you can. You will find them mostly in the organic section of your local supermarket - I find that they are costing in the region of €1 per fruit, which I know is higher than you might expect.
If there are no unwaxed lemons available in your locality or budget does not stretch to them right now, then do not worry. Submerge your lemons in hot water prior to zesting them and give them a good scrub with a clean kitchen scrubber to remove the wax before you grate the zest into your mixture. Your taste buds and your tummy will thank you for it.
One of the most helpful lessons I have picked up on my baking journey is preparation. I ensure that all of my ingredients are at room temperature at the beginning unless specified otherwise in the recipe. That way the temperature and texture of the mixture will not be affected before it goes into the oven.
In all but high summer I keep my butter in the press, so that it is spreadable at all times. Likewise, I do not keep my eggs in the fridge. Eggs for baking should always be used at room temperature, so if you keep your eggs refrigerated, take them out an hour or two before you begin.
Finally, let's talk about the drizzle of your lemon drizzle cake. There are several routes you can go down, each of which will result in a different but equally delicious result. If you make your drizzle with caster sugar simply stirred into lemon juice and poured over the cake you will have a crunchy topping to your cake. If you heat the sugar and lemon juice together until dissolved and pour that over your cake, you will have a sticky topping to your cake and if you mix icing sugar and lemon juice and pour it on top of your warm cake you will have a glazed top, similar to that of a glazed doughnut. The choice is yours.
Lemon drizzle cake
This cake keeps well in a sealed tin for up to four days
Preparation Time
15 mins
Total Time
1 hours 5 mins
Ingredients
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175g butter
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175g caster sugar
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2 extra tbsp caster sugar
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3 eggs
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175g self-raising flour
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zest and juice of 1 lemon
Method
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Preheat the oven to 180°C.
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Cream the butter and sugar together and add the eggs and flour alternately, a tablespoon at a time, beating in gently. Finally, add the lemon zest (reserving the remainder of the lemon) and pour the cake mixture into a greased and lined 900g (2 Ib) loaf tin.
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Bake in the centre of the oven for approximately 50-60 minutes, until golden brown and firm to touch. A skewer inserted into the centre of the cake should come out clean.
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Meanwhile strain the juice of the lemon and add it to the 2 tablespoons of caster sugar in a small saucepan. Boil the mixture together for 2 minutes until the sugar is dissolved.
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Remove the cake from the oven and leave it in the tin, prick the surface lightly with a fine skewer.
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Pour the lemon syrup over the cake ten minutes after it is out of the oven, leaving it to become cold before turning onto a plate to serve.
Source: https://www.irishexaminer.com/food/arid-40846316.html
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