Lemon Drizzle Cake

 

I have been on a mini break from work for the last two weeks; this is not to say life has not been quiet! With a couple of university sporting End of Season Dinners attended; one of which I had to organise, combined with the sunshine breaking out in Devon, life has been pretty sweet! So I thought it about time to add another bake to the mix. Today I fancied a lemon drizzle cake as the sunshine is out and it would be rude not to!

Quite frankly an amazing bake. This is a show stopper afternoon tea cake, alternatively a delicious pudding served with a few raspberries and a dollop of yoghurt. It is incredibly simple and is much like the process for a Victoria Sponge Recipe but with a few added extras & a bit more volume...

Serves 10-12

Pre-heat the oven to 180°C

Bake to perfection for 50minutes

You will need the following:

Cake

225g Butter

225g Caster Sugar

225g Self Raising Flour
4 Eggs

2 Lemons ... juice & zest

30g Poppy Seeds

Drizzle

Juice of 1 lemon

100g Caster Sugar

Icing

225g Icing Sugar

Zest of 1 lemon ... the juice of half of it

 

Method:

Cream together the butter and sugar

 

Add in the eggs one at a time

 

Next stir in the flour

 

Until it forms a smooth texture


Grate the zest of two lemons 

Add the zest of the two Lemons & squeeze in the juice of the lemons

stir until combined well

 

Finally, stir in the poppy seeds

As this is a deep cake as well as greasing the deep cake tin with butter cut a piece of baking paper to the shape of the tin to lay in the bottom; this will just help out when removing from the tin

Bake to perfection for 50 minutes; may need an extra 5 minutes depending on your oven

 

Once baked make the drizzle in a bowl by combining the sugar and lemon juice

Pour over cake and leave to stand for at least half an hour so it can soak all of the juice up

Make the icing sugar by combining the icing sugar with the lemon zest and juice 

 

Pour the icing over the cake and leave to stand till icing hardens

Serve as afternoon tea or a deliciously extravagant pudding, hopefully it will last longer than a day as it is rather more-ish ... 

Enjoy ...

Crumble

 

Simply a must after a Sunday Supper. Super easy and delicious. Crumble for me is probably one of my favourite puddings alongside cheesecake. It is all in the topping as to how good the crumble is. The fruit base layer is merely a flavour addition to the crumble. Done well and the topping will be sweet & light. Done poorly and you will either have a dry crumble or dense crumble!

The trick with crumble is to get the proportion of ingredients correct and not put the topping onto steaming hot fruit.

After a spectacular black tie dinner on Friday evening, I was still recovering on Sunday evening, however, this homely pudding should did the trick to put a cap on it!

Tops a crumble to serve 6

Pre heat the oven to 180°C

Bake to perfection for 30 minutes 
Serve with custard or ice cream

You will need the following:

125g Soft Brown Sugar

125g Oats

125g Flour

125g Butter

Method:

Measure all of the ingredients into a bowl

Gently rub together with your fingers

Once with crumble is a light golden colour & looks like this, the crumble is ready

Choose your fruit; peel & chop up

Line the fruit in the base of an over proof dish
 

Add crumble topping & bake to perfection for 25 minutes 

Enjoy

Lemon Zest Cheesecake

Possibly my favourite pudding alongside a good crumble. This is such a great pudding to whip out at a dinner party or birthday (as you can see from the photo), so long as you don't eat it all whilst making it! This recipe was originally taught to me on the cookery course I took when I was seventeen and has since been tweaked for a perfect cheesecake! 

I'm pulling the cheesecake out of the bag as it has been a long sought after request by many; however, one request had more merit than others. A group of girlfriends were being domestic goddesses & throwing a dinner party. The  pudding was set to be a delicious Oreo cheesecake. Unfortunately the cheesecake didn't have the desired effect & everyone went down with food poisoning ... apparently dairylea isn't a fine substitute for cream cheese! With a 21st dinner party in the group of domestic goddesses to supply a pudding for, this was the perfect excuse to make a cheesecake & remedy the previous mistake that had occurred ... I won't mention any names! 

This is a non baked cheesecake, so no need to worry about cooking times, simply measure out correctly, mix together & leave to set in the fridge. Best made the night before so that the cheesecake has time to set properly. 

Serves 8-12

(depending on how generous your slices are and whether you want seconds)

Chill to perfection overnight 
(or for a minimum of 2 hours before your event if needs)

You will need the following:

Base

200g Digestive Biscuits

120g Ginger Nut Biscuits

140g Butter

Topping

75ml Double Cream

200g Cream Cheese

250g Marscapone Cheese

120g Caster Sugar

Zest & juice of 1 Lemon (2 if you want it really zingy)

 

Method:

Put both varieties of biscuits in a food bag & take out your stress by crushing them with a rolling pin

Melt the butter for 1 minute in the microwave 

 

Add crushed biscuits, stir in well 

 

Get a suitably sized tin. Usually I would use a 12inch circular cake tin or tart dish but today I have gone for a rectangular tray. Pour your biscuit mixture into the tray & press down firmly so that it looks a little like this...

 

Chill in the fridge for half an hour before you put the topping on

(If you're in a rush & have other things to be getting on with, put the base in the freezer for 5 minutes)

In a bowl mix the sugar, marscapone, cream & cream cheese

 

 

Grate the zest of one lemon (2 if you want it really zingy)

 

Squeeze the juice of that lemon into the mixture & add in the zest

 

Pour mixture over the biscuit base and smooth out

 

Put in the fridge over night or in the freezer for just under 5 minutes

Serve scattered with the fruit of your choice; strawberries, blueberries or raspberries

 

Happy Birthday Amy...

 

Enjoy ...

Marshmallow Munchies

 

These are incredible to eat and acceptable at any age. With not a single ingredient that could be argued to be healthy (other than rice krispies are a cereal) I think these are an incredibly guilty bake. However, these do not actually require baking...toooo easy! What could go wrong?! So try it. 

Makes 15 squares

Chill to perfection for 30 minutes

You will need the following:

40g Butter

200g Marshmallows (average packet size)

200g Rice Krispies

2tbsp Golden Syrup

Method:

Put the butter, marshmallows & golden syrup in a bowl

 

Melt the ingredients in the microwave for 1 minute

 

Add in the rice krispies

 

Pour mixture into a tray of some form & press it down

(Can be any shape)

Put in the fridge for 30minutes

Cut up & serve

Enjoy...

Banana Bread

Life is fairly rosy post essay hand in last week. I am totally ignoring how dauntingly close finals are and throwing myself into a spot of baking this week. What's new?! I have three birthdays coming up and therefore there is much baking to be done. Potassium is needed in my life today after last night...Banana bread is clearly in order. 

Moist and soooooo good! Banana bread is ideal for many occasions; afternoon tea, pudding served with ice cream, essential hangover treat (high levels of potassium) or just pure indulgence. If you have a few old bananas that are beyond consumption as a normal banana, put them to good use! 

You can customise your banana bread with added extras as you wish. You can go for the simple banana bread or you can add in some chocolate chunks, sultanas or walnuts; it's entirely up to you...

Serves 10

Pre-heat oven to 180°C

Bake to perfection for 35minutes

You will need the following:

250g Butter

250g Self Rasining Flour

250g Brown Sugar

4 Bananas

4 Eggs

50g Sultanas/ Chocolate Chunks/ Walnuts (optional)

Method:

Measure out the Butter and Sugar

Mix together

Add in the Eggs, one at a time

Next, add the Self Raising Flour

Mash the bananas in a separate bowl and add to the mixture
Today I also added chocolate chips & sultanas

Pour the mixture into a loaf tin and bake to perfection for 35minutes.
Until it looks like this...

Good old fashioned advice: Use a wooden kebab skewer to poke into your cake. If it comes out with raw cake mixture on it, it needs longer. When it comes out clean you know your cake it cooked to perfection.

Enjoy