Sweet Lemony Sunshine.

Believe me when I say it really wasn’t my intention to disappear. But between my working hours (which varied between long and longer and stretched into the weekends) and spending any slivers of time off I could get my hands on with GT, my nights and days sort of melded into each other. And just like that, the weeks whisked by.

Now, a quick glance through my ever growing list of recipes to try and one of the things that will probably jump out at you is the astonishing proportion of them that contain lemon in some form. Such is my love for the tart, pucker-inducing fruit that offer me a slice of lemon pie or even a juicy piece of grilled chicken drizzled with lemon juice and I wouldn’t be able to resist.

So when I came across a recipe for a lemon and almond cake on Nigel Slater’s column, I just had to try it.

And that was, in short, how I found my favourite lemon cake.

Incredibly moist, lemony and topped with a crisp, slightly tangy icing, this cake was everything I dreamt it would be and so much more.

Now, I just need to find a way to stop myself from devouring more than two slices at each sitting.

Lemon Loaf Cake [adapted from Nigel Slater's column at The Guardian]

Ingredients
200g butter, chopped
170g caster sugar
3 large eggs, at room temperature
40g plain flour
140g ground almonds
Couple drops of lemon essence
Pinch of salt
Grated zest and juice of 1 lemon

Icing
2 tbsp lemon juice
6 tbsp icing sugar

1. Preheat oven at 175C. Grease two 3″ x 6″ mini loaf pans, line them with baking paper and set aside.
2. Using an electric mixer, cream the butter, sugar and salt together till creamy and almost white in colour. Add the eggs, one at a time and adding the flour in between each addition to stop the batter from curdling, mixing well. Add the lemon essence and zest. Fold the ground almond into the batter till well combined.
3. Divide the batter evenly between the two loaf pans. Bake for about 40 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean.
4. Remove the cakes from the oven. Pierce about 8 holes in the cake and brush the cakes with the lemon juice. Let the cakes cool completely in the pans before unmoulding them.
5. To make the icing Sift the icing sugar into a bowl and mix the lemon juice in till a smooth, thin mixture forms. Drizzle the icing over the cakes and let it set at room temperature. Makes 2 mini loaf cakes

Posted by thecoffeesnob on August 1, 2009

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