It’s official. I am no longer a lady of leisure. Two weeks ago I was given permission to give the crutches the old heave-ho and heave-ho them I did. With glee. Good riddance you fair weathered friends. So now it’s off the lazy-boy and back to the kitchen. Suddenly I’m wondering if having a broken leg was really as bad as I had whined. I mean I did get to spend four months without having to set a single alarm clock. Four months to take each day at a leisurely pace, catch up on Netflix and even plan a bathroom remodeling job. That was all towards the end though I suppose- I wouldn’t take back those first six weeks for anything. What I missed most was the cash flow into my bank account. Only seeing it flow out is not nearly as fun. So hi ho hi ho it’s off to work I go…I suspect I’ll long for my afternoon naps even more now, my lunch dates with friends and mid-day trips to the pool when it’s nice and quiet. Sigh…..I’m already planning what I’ll do with all my time when I have my next surgery.
In the meantime- I think you and I should talk cake. More specifically Lemon. Drizzle. Cake. I know. I was sort of shocked to realise that I had not previously posted about it either. What was I thinking? When it comes to lemon drizzle cake I’ve been somewhat of a recipe whore over the years. Unable to settle on the definitive one I’ve flirted with Nigella’s, a Good Housekeeping, Jamie’s and most recently a BBC Good Food Magazine recipe. The foundation of this cake is the Good Food one which is intended to be used as a layer in a wedding cake. Thus, needing to be firm and hold up in a tier it’s level of syrupyness is not quite up to par. That of course can be quickly remedied. Being that self-raising flour is not at all the same thing stateside I opted for cake flour. The result was a much more tender crumb- a sort of softness that makes you want to cuddle up in bed and rest your head on a slice of it. Okay so perhaps that’s not true. I mean why cuddle cake when you can eat it- but you get my drift. So I upped the amount of drizzle and in doing so cut the amount of sugar in the actual cake slightly so that it sort of netted-out. Until I decided to cover the whole thing in a lemon icing because it just makes it that much more tempting. Like you needed to be tempted further.
I made this for a very special occasion. My dad’s 60th birthday. An avid cyclist, complete with flashy lycra bike-wear it was only appropriate that it included a bike. My original idea was a far cry from this but when the cake came out with a crack in the middle I decided that it would have to be covered (okay so it wasn’t all about tempting you) and the bike was piped on top. Piping is not a skill that I claim to be proficient in but I was pretty chuffed with how this came out. The key things are to practice first on a bit of parchment paper and make sure that your icing is the right consistency- as in thick. Everything else is down to a steady hand and having the sheer guts to just go for it.
Print This PostLemon Drizzle Cake (with or without Bicycle Decoration)
This recipe is slightly adapted from Jane Hornby’s Zingy-Lemon Wedding Cake recipe from BBC GoodFood. The Dried lemons are from Saveur.
Makes one large 9inch/23cm cake (easily enough for 16-20 slices)
For the cake
350g unsalted butter, softened
300g sugar
6 eggs, at room temperature, lightly beaten
420g cake flour
2 pinches of salt
2 tsp baking powder
zest 4 lemons, juice of 3 (100ml/3 1/2 fl oz juice)
For the drizzle
Juice of 4 lemons (use the zest too if you plan to serve the cake un-iced)
200g icing (confectioners) sugar
For the white icing
140g icing (confectioners) sugar
juice of 1-2 lemons (or water)
For the bike
♦♦♦note you could just buy pre-made frosting and colour it
75g icing (confectioners) sugar plus 1 Tbsp
black food colouring paste (not liquid!)
1 lemon sliced 1/8th inch thick
1 Jordon almond, for the bike seat (or you can pipe this on)
• Heat the oven to 150C/300F/Gas 3. Grease a 23cm/9inch loose-bottomed cake tin (sides included) with butter and flour, shaking out any excess. Then line the bottom of the tin with parchment and again butter and flour.
• Beat together the butter and the sugar for at least 5 minutes on a medium-speed in a standing mixer or close to 10 by hand so that it is incredibly fluffy. With the speed on low, gradually start adding a little of the beaten egg at a time allowing the batter to absorb all of the egg before adding any more. Scrape down the side of the bowl as necessary. If the mixture begins to split, you can add a tablespoon of your flour.
• Remove from the mixer and fold in 1/3 of the flour mixed with the salt being careful not to beat out all of the air. Once, it is mostly folded in add 1/3 of your lemon juice and zest and fold again. Continue to alternate between flour and lemon juice and zest until it has all been added.
• Fill up your cake tin and smooth out the top so that it’s even. Give the tin 2 firm taps on the counter to knock out any air bubbles and place on a baking tray in the oven. Do not even look at it for the first hour. If you know that you’re oven is uneven then you may want to turn it the other way after an hour. Carry on cooking until a skewer comes out clean. About 25-30 minutes if it still seems very unset in the middle.
• Leave to cool until warm then prick all over the top of the cake with a skewer. Make your syrup by melting together the sugar and the lemon juice then spoon over the top of the cake evenly. Allow to completely cool. This is perfectly delicious as is and you can stop now if you want to. If you want to create the bike look, keep on reading!
• Turn the oven to 110C/175F/Gas 1. Lay your lemon slices on a wax-paper lined baking sheet and cover on both sides with the 1 Tbsp of icing sugar. Place in the oven for 3 hours or until dried out to your liking. Set aside.
• For the white icing beat together your sugar with enough juice or water to make a thick glaze- add only a tablespoon of liquid to begin with and then add little drops to get the consistency that you like. Pour into the middle of the cake and gently coax out to the edges of the cake with the back of a spoon. It will run over the sides all by itself. Allow to set until hard- about 30 minutes.
• For the bike I just made a little more icing much thicker and coloured it using black food colouring paste. Make and fill a cone out of a parchment paper (or fill a small ziplock bag) and snip the end off to pipe. Practice piping the shape of the bike first on parchment paper and then just go for it! I used the sugar coated almond for the seat but you could easily pipe that on too. Only thing else that’s needed are sparkler candles which are really cool!
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officially the cutest cake of all times!!! love it!
It’s gorgeous! It’s my dad’s 60th this year too. I’ve got til November but I’m still racking my brains for cake ideas. You did a great job with the piping.
Thanks ladies!
Could this be any cuter? Piping isn’t one of your skills must be a serious understatement but this is one of the most simple and neat 60th birthday cakes anyone could ask for!
Found your blog while searching for birthday cake ideas.
That looks awesome.
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