I love just about any version of a lemon drizzle cake, so when this delicious, and super easy, Sunshiny Lemon & Poppy Seed Cake, from my favourite gal, Julia Busuttil Nishimura came across my screen last week I just had to give it a try.
Not quite a one-pot wonder, but even so, you just whizz it together, and then impatiently wait for it to bake, so that you can enjoy a slice asap, still warm from the oven.
3 eggs
180g caster sugar
200g butter, softened
juice and zest of 2 lemons
2 tablespoons full cream milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract or paste
200g self-raising flour
2 tablespoons poppy seeds
Preheat oven 180 degrees C. Grease & line a 23cm loaf tin with baking paper.
Beat the sugar & butter in a large bowl until pale and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating after each addition. Add in the lemon juice, zest, milk and vanilla, and mix well. It may look curdled at this point, but it will come together once the flour is incorporated.
Gently fold in the flour and poppy seeds and mix until fully combined. Pour into the prepared tin and bake until the top springs back when pressed (approximately 40 -45 minutes). Allow to cool in the tin for 10 minutes then tip onto a wire rack to cool completely before icing.
While the cake is cooking, make the lemon icing -
200g icing sugar, sifted
70g sour cream
zest of a lemon
juice of half a lemon
Combine the icing sugar, sour cream and most of the lemon zest in a bowl. Add in the lemon juice, a little at a time, until you have a thick but pourable icing. Pour over the cooled cake and spread to cover, allowing it to drip down the sides. Sprinkle the remaining lemon zest on the top.
Even Maude fancied a piece! So delicious.
Amanda xx
Find Julia's fabulous cookbook, A Year Of Simple Family Food, at Small Acorns here.
Follow her on Instagram @juliaostro
And, she has a new You Tube channel - Ostro - Cooking with Julia Busuttil Nishimura
