Tea Party Lemon Cake

The perfect Lemon Cake

In case you are feeling British and such, here's a simply enchanting light cake to make. Any baking that involves lemon as its core feature includes a mighty challenge- getting that perfect balance between sweet and sour. I mostly find lemon cakes outside too sweet and not citrusy enough, so here is a version that is tarter and lighter on the calories to boot!

Disclaimer : This is my own recipe with a little Martha Stewart inspiration. But her version involves ghastly egg yolks, and we don't do that shit here. Therefore any resemblance to British tradition, flavour, or culture is purely coincidental. 

What do I  need, you ask? Kind folk, it is presented below.

 For the Cake

1 1/2 cups flour/maida

1 tablespoon baking powder

1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/3 cup vegetable oil

Juice of 21/2 lemons ( or 3 will be fine too)

The grated rind of 1 lemon

1/4th cup almond milk 

2 splashes of orang juice (preferably with no sugar added kind, fresh if you can do it) 

3/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup of sugar (a little more if you want it sweeter)

1 teaspoon vanilla essence

For the Lemon Glaze

1 cup icing sugar

Juice 1/12 lemons

Yellow Food Colouring (optional)

How do I do it?

In a bowl mix the flour, baking soda and powder and salt set aside

Grate one lemon for all its rind. 

Rind Grating is Fun

In another bowl whip the oil, butter, vanilla  and sugar. It might be a tad lumpy because butter does not do well with oil but try your best. Then add the lemon juice, rind and orange juice and whisk it together, it will be liquidy. 

Now add half of your wet mixture to the flour and blend, slowly add the remaining wet portion to the flour and mix thoroughly. Your batter is ready.

Ain't nothing wrong with a slightly lumpy batter

Pre-heat your oven to 175c , grease a loaf pan and pour batter in. Bake for 20 minutes, please take a fork and do the fork test after 15 minutes to check, oven times vary with depending on what you are using. I have a tiny oven and that usually speeds things up for me. 

While your cake is in the oven prepare for making the glaze, which is really easy and doesn't really need much prep work.

Dump your one cup of sugar in a bowl, add your lemon juice, food colour, and a few drops of water and mix till you have a slightly thick glaze. Always start with less water and build up until you have a good consistency. You want it to create a glaze that will spread but also thick enough to create a tiny layer on top of the cake.

Nothing like food colouring to add some gaudy to your glaze

Once your cake is our of the oven and completely cooled (at least 20 minutes, no cheating)  take it out of the pan carefully and put it on a plate. I managed to slightly burn the top of my damn cake this time, so I am flipping it over and using the other side to glaze.

Stir your glaze, add a drop of water or two if it has thickened during the waiting time. Pour over your cake or drizzle it in any pattern you like. Let it set for 5-10 minutes. Decorate with lemon sliced and/or orange slices.

Serve with tea. Fake a British accent. 

Happy New Year! We'll see you in 2016 puppies. Bake safe.