Luscious Lemon Cake

I am very VERY keen on lemon cake. I love it to be both sweet and sharp all at once, which is achieved by drizzling a syrup made of lemon juice and icing sugar all over a sponge made in a loaf tin as soon as it comes out of the oven, then leaving it to cool completely in the tin. This makes it sticky, moist and completely delicious. My mum made a fabulous version of this, but used a 18cm square tin and cooked it for less time (about 30 mins should do it). This is also her name for it and it is completely fitting, for luscious is exactly what it is!

Ingredients

125g butter, softened
175g caster sugar
2 eggs
zest of 1 lemon
1tbsp poppy seeds (optional)
175g self raising flour
pinch salt
4 tbsp milk

For the syrup:
juice of 1 lemon (about 4 tablespoons)
100g icing sugar

Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4. Line a 1lb loaf tin (roughly 23x13x7cm) with baking parchment or greaseproof paper.

Cream together the butter and sugar until well combined and a little bit paler than the butter's original colour. Add the eggs and beat together. Mix in the lemon zest and poppy seeds if using, then add the flour and salt. Add the milk to loosen the mixture, the scrape into the prepared tin. Bake for 45 minutes, until risen and golden.

Whilst it is baking, put the juice and icing sugar in a pan and warm gently until the sugar is dissolved. As soon as the cake is cooked, jab it all over with a skewer or small knife, then pour the syrup over. Make sure it is evenly distributed, as it is rather keen on running to the edges so spoon plenty of the syrup into holes made in the middle. Once you've doused it, leave it to cool completely before taking it out the tin. If you can leave it over night, as it will soak in fully and the remaining heat of the cake will help the liquid evaporate, and leave an almost imperceptible sugary crust on the top of the cake.

Variations

You could do this with any citrus fruit I think. If your using oranges, it will probably be the juice of half an orange, if limes, probably the juice of two.

Banana Bread

This is one of the easiest and most rewarding cakes you can bake. It has the added advantage of being good household economy. We've all bought a bunch of bananas and then a week later been left with overripe fruit that is not entirely appetising to eat, unless you are a very small child. It is also satisfyingly mucky in it's construction; if you enjoyed making mud pies or crashing about in puddles then this pushes all the same buttons. Mashing banana with a fork is simple enough, but it seems to fulfil some primeval urge. Or it's just me. The cake itself is delicious, having all the advantages of a fruit cake without being a fruit cake (I speak as someone who doesn't actually like eating fruit cakes.) and makes your house smell like some centre of domesticity and capability, and why let anyone think otherwise. I will admit that this recipe comes almost verbatim from Nigella Lawson's 'How to be a Domestic Goddess'.

Ingredients
100g sultanas
75ml recently boiled water
175g plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
0.5 tsp bicarbonate of powder
0.5 tsp salt
125g butter, melted
150g caster sugar
2 large eggs
300g very ripe banana, mashed

23x13x7cm loaf tin, lined.

Preheat oven to 170C/Gas Mark 3

Put the sultanas in a bowl with the hot water and leave to stand to plump them up. This can be done an hour or two in advance for really nicely plumped up fruit. However if, like me, you're not that organised then you can leave them to soak until you need them.

Put the flour, baking powder, bicarb and salt into a bowl and mix together. In another, larger bowl mix the melted butter and sugar together until well blended, add the eggs one at a time, again until well blended and then add the mashed banana and mix. Drain the sultanas then add them to this liquid mix. Then add the flour mix into this. You can either do it all at once or in two batches, it depends on your level of patience.

Pour this mix into the prepared loaf tin, scraping the bowl out thoroughly, then place in the oven for 1-1.25 hours. Use a skewar or cake tester to check whether it is ready (if it comes out clean it's ready, if cake mix adheres to it, give it longer).

Once it is cooked, leave to cool in it's tin. Then eat with glee.

Variation
In the original recipe, there was also 60g of chopped walnuts added at the same time as the sultanas, but I have an absolute hatred of walnuts. With the soaking of the sultanas Nigella uses bourbon or dark rum which is fine, but not something I have in the cupboards but feel free if you do.

Apple Cake Crusoe Style

This recipe was called Tuck's Apple Cake but I've change it because I don't know who or what Tuck is, and it's just like the cake my friend Vicky Robinson's mum makes, so it's a much better name. Be warned though, this cake is mighty tastey and will be eaten very quickly.

A quick note about the ingredients. The butter will be easier to use if it's at just below room temperature. Take it out of the fridge 30 minutes to an hour before you need it. You can use cold butter, but it's more work for your fingers.

350g self raising flour
225g unsalted butter cut in to cubes
175g caster sugar, plus extra
450g Bramley apple, peeled, cored and diced
125g raisins or sultanas
3 eggs, beaten
pinch salt
1tsp ground cinnamon (optional) 1/2 tsp grated nutmeg (optional)

Preheat the oven to 150°C/300°F/Gas 2. Grease and line a 20cm/8in cake tin.

Sift the flour into a large (it must be large as there's a lot of stuff to go in) and add the butter and salt. Rub the flour and butter together to create breadcrumbs.

Add the sugar and dried fruit and mix together gently, you don't want to make the breadcrumbs clump up into dough. Add the spices here if you're using them.

Add the apple chunks and mix in until evenly distributed throughout the mixture. I find it best to use the same technique as you use for folding egg white, not for gentility's sake but because there's a lot in the bowl and going mad with the mix will result in a messy kitchen!

Now add the eggs and mix until all the breadcrumbs are combined. Don't be tempted to add extra liquid, this comes from the apples as they cook down. Put the mixture into the cake tin and smooth it out a bit.

Bake for 1 1/2- 2 hours until golden. To check it is cooked through, insert a skewar or thin blade. If it comes out clean then it's cooked, if some cake mix is stuck to the metal, stick it back in for another 10-15 minutes.

Once you're satisfied it's cooked, remove from the oven and leave to cool. Don't take the cake out of the tin until it's cooled enough for you to handle. If you remove it whilst it's hot, it will go a bit squiffy and wonky.

Sprinkle the extra caster sugar all over the top when you take it out for a nice crunchy top.

Serve warm with custard or cold whipped cream for a pudding or have cold as a cake.

And yes, there will be a chocolate brownie recipe coming soon!

Naughty Chocolate Cake

This is the recipe I was going to do for Easter weekend, adorned with Mini Eggs for a decadent treat. But instead I got a stomach bug so I am making it now and present it to you here. This is a chocolate cake that shops or cafes would probably called chocolate fudge cake, and has a very light, rich sponge and a ridiculously rich and naughty icing. You could use any icing you like, but I've given a recipe for a chocolate ganache, which will make you dribble everywhere with delight, so get a bib handy!

Ingredients
200g good quality chocolate (I use Green & Blacks 70%)
200g unsalted butter, cubed
1tbsp instant coffee powder or granules
85g plain flour
85g self raising flour
1/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda
200g light muscavado sugar
200g golden or white caster sugar
25g cocoa powder
3 medium eggs
1tsp vanilla extract
75ml buttermilk

For the ganache
200g chocolate (same as above)
284ml tub of double cream
2 tbsp golden or white caster sugar

Butter the base and sides and line the base of a 20cm round cake tin (7.5cm deep). Preheat the oven to 160°C/320°F/Gas 3.

Break the chocolate in to pieces and put in a heavy based pan with the butter and the coffee powder mixed with 125ml cold water. Place on a low heat until everything is melted and mixed but avoid overheating as the chocolate will catch and burn when exposed to too much heat. Once everthing is combined, take off the heat and leave to cool a little

In a large mixing bowl, mix the flours, sugars, bicarbonate of soda and cocoa powder. In a jug whisk the eggs and buttermilk together (If you can't get buttermilk, measure out 75mls of milk and add half a teaspoon of white wine vinegar, then leave it to sour for 5 mins. This means that the acid will be present in the batter to react with the bicarbonate of soda and create a light cake) then add to the dry ingredients followed by the chocolate and butter mixture. Mix together thoroughly until you have a smooth batter. This will be quite runny but don't worry, it's meant to be.

Pour the batter into your cake tin and cook on the middle shelf of the oven for 1 hour 25-30 minutes. To check this is ready put a cake tester or skewar into the middle of the cake, which should come out clean once the cake is ready. The top of the cake should feel firm to the touch, but don't be alarmed if it's a little bit cracked. Leave it to cool in the tin for about 10-15 minutes, then turn out on to a rack to cool completely.

When the cake is cold, cut it horizontally in to three pieces. To make the ganache, break the chocolate into small pieces and tip into a heat proof bowl. In a heavy based pan heat the cream with the sugar until it is about to boil then take off the heat and pour over the chocolate. Stir this until the chocolate has melted and the mixture is smooth.

Sandwich the layers together using a little icing, then once all the layers are together, pour the rest of the ganache over the top, letting it fall down the sides. Smooth the sides with a palette knife then decorate the top with whatever you fancy: sprinkles, chocolate vermicelli, chocolate curls, crystallised flowers etc etc. Of course you can leave it unadorned too.

Variations
If you wanted something a bit more varied, you could sandwich the layers with tinned strained cherries and a thin spreading of lightly whipped cream, which would give you a Black Forrest type thing. I would top it with more whipped cream, some cherries and grated chocolate. You could do the same with fresh strawberries, though I would use a thin layer of strawberry jam then a layer of thinly sliced strawberry (about the thickness of a £1 coin). Do this on both layers then dust with icing sugar and serve with the whipped cream