Just the kind of laid back cake that packs a punch while dressed most plainly in a sponge batter.
The tartness of lemons balances ever so perfectly with the sweetness of cake that it’s difficult to understand whether its complementing your palette or squeezing in your cheeks.
Even better, it tastes more delicious the next day, if it survives, that is.
The summeriness of lemons does wonders to uplift your spirits and this cake works perfectly as a midday sweet snack filler or lazy dessert. It’s not easy to say ‘no’ to this bronze slab of sour sweet zing, and if you can resist it then you ARE heartless.
there are two stages to this cake. one is the batter and the other is syrup and both idiotically easy.
begin by creaming butter and sugar
once they’re satisfactorily creamed, add vanilla extract
and lemon zest
and eggs
also mix the leavening agents into the flour for an even mix.
add flour to the mix
mix well.
it’ll be a thick thick batter, and a bit of milk will soften its consistency without thinning it.
nice dropping consistency
line a baking tin of choice with baking paper. Scrape the batter in and bake in a preheated oven at 180°C for 40-45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in comes out clean
while the cake bakes we can get on with the syrup. It’s a simple syrup. With sugar and lemon juice.
add sugar to a pot
and the lemon juice
and let it cook until the sugar begins to melt
here the contents began boiling which meant the sugar was pretty much dissolved.Convey the pot to a cooler place and let it slowly cool. DO NOT be tempted to taste the boiling potion. You’ll come to regret it so.
once the cake is baked and out of the oven, do not wait for it to cool down.
start poking deep holes in it. Use a skewer or a toothpick.
Drizzle lemon syrup all over, so that the top is sodden. Be brave. The cake won’t crumble under all that liquid. In fact it will absorb all the contents.
The surface will be slick with the syrup. Let the cake continue cooling in its tin. If you try to pry it out at this stage it will tend to crumble and break apart.
you might wonder why there’s a difference in picture of the said cake. I’d baked two cakes. The one baked in loaf tin was given away promptly and the one shown above was consumed by this blogger.
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Ingredients
For the cake
Butter: 120 g (3/4 cup)
Sugar: 170 g (1.5 cups)
Flour: 170g (1.5 cups)
Eggs: 2
Zest of 1 lemon
Milk: 4 tbsp
Baking powder: 1 tsp
Baking soda: 1/4 tsp
Vanilla extract: 1 tsp
For the lemon syrup
Juice of 2 lemons
80g (3/4 cup) sugar
Recipe instructions: cream together butter and sugar, and add lemon zest, vanilla extract and eggs. Beat them well. Add flour and leavening agents and fold all ingredients to form a batter. Add milk to thin the batter in spoonable consistency and bake in a well greased and paper lined baking tin at 180° for 40-45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.
While the cake bakes prepare the syrup. Heat gently the sugar and lemon juice until all sugar has dissolved.
Once the cake is baked and out of the oven, prick holes or puncture the top with a toothpick or cake testing skewer to form holes. Pour over the syrup and let the cake rest to absorb the syrup in its pan. Don’t take out the cake until it’s completely cooled.
Cut into pieces and serve.
Driedredchillies 