Easy Lemon Cake
Ingredients
- 110 g butter, softened and diced
- 110 g caster sugar
- finely grated zest of ½ lemon
- 2 eggs
- 150 g plain flour, sifted
- 0.50 tsp baking powder
- 1 tblsp milk
- 20cm (8") diameter spring-form/loosebottomed cake tin
For the icing:
- 175 g icing sugar
- 2–3 tbsp lemon juice
Method
- Preheat the oven to
180°C (350°F/Gas 4). Line the base of the tin with a disc of baking
parchment and grease the sides with butter.
- Place all the
ingredients for the cake in a food processor and whiz for 1 minute or
just until the mixture comes together. Alternatively, cream the butter
until soft using a hand-held electric beater, then beat in the sugar and
lemon zest, whisk in the eggs one at a time and fold in the remaining
ingredients. Tip the mixture into the prepared tin, smoothing over the
top with a palette knife or the back of a spoon.
- Place in the oven and
bake for 30–35 minutes or until golden on top and a skewer inserted into
the centre of the cake comes out clean. Leave to stand for 5 minutes
before removing from the tin and placing on a wire rack to cool.
- To make the icing,
sift the icing sugar into a bowl and add just enough lemon juice to make
a soft icing with the consistency of thick double cream. (Too thick and
it won’t ‘self-spread’, too thin and it will run off the cake and onto
the plate beneath.)
- Place the cake on a
serving plate and tip the icing into the middle of the cake, allowing it
to spread itself, then cut into slices to serve.
- Rachel’s tip: If the
icing is a bit stiff and won’t spread easily, dip a palette knife in
boiling water and use this to gently smooth the icing over the surface
of the cake.
