DRIZZLE SHIZZLE

Lemon Drizzle Cake, BBC Good Food

Freshers, freshers everywhere , leaving not any drop to drink.  It’s “Welcome Week” and the little greenhorn are rife - pouring out of off-licences clutching their swall of special-offer Glen’s Vodka, sitting outside pubs during the day  and all the while looking like they quite literally can’t believe their luck. 

Meanwhile my walk to work is now littered with the plastic glass-debris of the Night Before and my lunchtimes are spent dodging excited young things hopped on the highs of Topshop student discount (twenty per cent!!) and possibly the after-effects of that Glen’s vodka.  Boo hiss.  Having left my heady student days on the other side of my twenties; and having learned from experience that theage-old adage “if you can’t beat them, join them” will only lead to catastrophe, I turned to cake for comfort.  And opted for the most delusional variety of guilt-free gluttony – baking.  Everyone knows that the efforts expended whilst baking negate any calories consumed (both during the baking process and in the aftermath).

I turned to an old friend and my one and only failsafe recipe – lemon drizzle cake as published by the BBC Good Food website (click here).  I have never fudged this recipe; and I have fudged many a recipe in my time. “My drizzle is the shizzle” I once announced to all and sundry (or rather to my numerous siblings).  Which bears witness to another age-old adage: “pride comes before a fall”. 

It started so well.  I followed Nigella’s top tip to bring all ingredients to room temperature and Jamie’s entreaty to have all equipment to hand. 

 

 

My mission was two-fold – to create one cake to gift (risky) and one for my family (much less risky, they’ll eat anything).  This, unfortunately for the shirkers amongst us, is not a simple matter of doubling the ingredients but requires two separate batches of batter.  I usually use a special tin for this particular recipe because I find the quantities so vast – one that I like to call “The Beast”.  The Beast (pictured here languishing in the oven) can be purchased at Ikea and will feed a small family. 

 

 

 

 

When using a normal-sized loaf tin, you will find that there is usually enough batter for a few cupcakes on the side.

 

 Method: I creamed my butter and sugar and beat in the eggs one at a time – whereupon I read the recipe that I have been using for four years – for the first time and noted that the eggs are actually to be mixed in.  I can only comment that I recommend a beating but I’ve never tried it any other way.  

The flour, lemon extract and lemon zest is then stirred in.  Having a preference for beating the living daylights out of any batter, I then tend to cream the entire mixture at top-speed for a couple of minutes with the idea that the end result will be all the lighter for it.  This recipe does not require baking soda!  The sharp-eyed will note that it’s prettily pictured with the rest of the ingredients above but it’s a red herring (I’m just a bit keen on baking powder).

The recipe states that the cake should then be baked in a preheated oven for 45 minutes – I ‘ve never known this cake to bake in less than an hour (and an hour and fifteen minutes for The Beast).  The cupcakes are a different matter and will take fifteen to twenty minutes as they’re only wee; which unfortunately makes them all the easier to devour in one mouthful.  

Once the cakes are safely parked in an oven pre-heated to 180 degrees Celsius;  the chef can sit down with a cup of tea watching the Great British Bake Off.  Usually.  For me, this is where the wheels came off.  It appears that both my abode and my cakes are the victims of a vicious confection-hating poltergeist.  When I had finished my cup of tea and my Mel and Sue-induced mirth had slightly subsided; I was horror-struck to see that the temperature of my oven had quietly surged to 245 degrees Celsius – hotter than the surface of the sun. 

The long and short of this is that The Beast took a bit of a battering (BOOM), the cupcakes look somewhat unleavened BUT somehow the gift cake was left unscathed.  It’s the miracle of Welcome Week.   

I was very tempted not to post all photos illustrating the Baking Disaster of 2013 but have concluded that honesty is the best policy.  I will postpone editing reality until something truly humiliating happens - I probably won’t have to wait too long. 

Recipe below – good luck!

Lemon Drizzle Cake

Ingredients

• 225g unsalted butter, softened
• 225g caster sugar
• 4 eggs
• finely grated zest 1 lemon
• 225g self-raising flour

 

For the drizzle topping

• juice 1½ lemons
• 85g caster sugar

 

Method

1. Heat oven to 180C/fan 160C/gas 4. Beat together 225g softened unsalted butter and 225g caster sugar until pale and creamy, then add 4 eggs, one at a time, slowly mixing through. Sift in 225g flour, then add the finely grated zest of 1 lemon and mix until well combined. Line a loaf tin (8 x 21cm) with greaseproof paper, then spoon in the mixture and level the top with a spoon.

2. Bake for 45-50 mins until a thin skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean. While the cake is cooling in its tin, mix together the juice of 1 1/2 lemons and 85g caster sugar to make the drizzle. Prick the warm cake all over with a skewer or fork, then pour over the drizzle – the juice will sink in and the sugar will form a lovely, crisp topping. Leave in the tin until completely cool, then remove and serve. Will keep in an airtight container for 3-4 days, or freeze for up to 1 month.