Lemon Chiffon Cake

This is a super light and fruity sponge which will make you weak at the knees due to its glory. Wow, I have really bigged this up....It might not be that amazing but it is good.

The reason it is so light is that it has no butter in it so it is also a little bit better for you but it is still cake so lets not lie to ourselves.

I then iced it with buttercream in the middle and plain old normal icing for the top. Just as a note know, going sparingly on the icing because the buttercream can really weigh it down.

Ingredients:
Cake:
150g caster sugar
80g plain flour
1/2 a teaspoon baking powder
4 eggs, separated
3 tablespoons sunflower oil
Zest and juice of 3 lemons
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar

Buttercream:
60g butter
120g icing sugar
1 tespoon lemon juice

Icing:
70g icing sugar
As much water as needed

Method:
Preheat the oven to 150 degree celsius fan

Setting aside a tablespoon of the sugar, mix the rest with the flour and baking powder in a bowl. In a second bowl whisk the egg yolks with the oil, lemon juice and zest and vanilla. In a third bowl, whisk the egg whites and the cream of tartar with an electric whisk until stiff peaks. Then add the tablespoon of sugar and whisk for 20 seconds. Add the egg yolk mixture in to the dry ingredients and mix, then fold the egg whites in two batches.

Transfer the mixture into two 20cm shallow sponge tins which have been greased with sunflower oil. and give them a couple of swift taps on your surface so that any air bubbles rise to the surface. 

Bake for 35 minutes or until golden and firm when pressed. Invert the cakes to let the cool for about an hour before turning them the right way up. This method should prevent them sinking when the correct way up. 

While the cake cools prepare the buttercream. Whisk the butter until smoother and slightly paler in colour, then whisk in the sugar and lemon juice. 

Use the butter cream to stick the two cakes together, there may be some icing left over. 

Then pour a mixture of water and icing sugar over the top of the cake so that it drips down the sides, this should be a very thin layer.

You may want to add some form of decoration on the top so that it is looks a little more interesting.

Then, enjoy!

Christmas Countdown: Iman's Cake

On Monday it was my friend Iman's birthday, so I made her favorite cake of mine...

LEMON DRIZZLE CAKE

Ingredients:
125 g unsalted butter
175 g caster sugar
2 large eggs
zest of 1 lemon
175 g self raising flour
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 tablespoons milk
For the syrup
juice of 1 ½ lemons
100 g caster sugar

23x13x7cm loaf tin lined (you can get slot in pull out ones)

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees fan/ gas mark 4
2. Cream together the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.
3. Beat the eggs and lemon zest in to the butter and sugar.
4. Slowly fold in the flour and then add the lemon juice and milk. 
5. Once all combined, pour into the prepared loaf tin and back for 45 mins or until risen and golden. To make sure it is cooked, insert a cake tester or skewer and make sure it comes out clean.
6. The prepare the syrup, put sugar and lemon juice in to a pan. Heat until the sugar dissolves, make sure that it doesn't burn.
7. Take the cake out of the oven and stab it in order to create holes in the top of the cake.
8. Pour the syrup over the top and let is absorb it while the cake cools.
9. Remove the cake from the tin once cooled, not before or it will all fall apart due to the liquid.

insert boring photo of a loaf cake..

I promise it tastes lovely and if you want to make it prettier you can make a glaze by mixing icing sugar and lemon juice and drizzling it over the top. 

New Zealand Madelines

While I was in New Zealand over the summer holidays I found out that my relatives who live there had a Madeline tray. So it was whipped out and the opportunity was seized by all.

The mixture for madelines is very similar to that of a sponge except it has a lemon in it.

You start by whisking the sugar and eggs.

Demonstrated by my cousin Kiri

 You then add a lemon, in this case from their lemon tree in the garden.

The lemon rind has to be grated off in to the mixture, the rest of the lemon can be discarded.

Then the remaining ingredients are added and whisked to the normal cake mixture. 

You then dollop the mixture into the madeline tray and bake for about 15 minutes. 

They then come out of the tray and due to the lovely shape of the mold they look quite nice even if they are slightly burnt. 

Lemon Cupcakes

These are basically just cupcakes but with lemon extract in them... so obviously they were pretty standard. Except they were lemony.

They then have a lemon butter cream icing on them, which I have realized that I dislike... not lemon butter cream in particular but just butter cream in general. This may be down to the fact that I don't like butter.

Next Recipe: Blondies (White Chocolate Brownies)