Lemon Drizzle Loaf Cake

This recipe was requested by my little brother who is not a massive cake fan (more cake for me!), but really loves when I make a lemon drizzle cake. Another Nigella classic, I haven't changed anything in this recipe because, well, 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it'! This cake is so lovely and lemon-y and moist yet crumbly, it really is the perfect summer tea-time treat!

Ingredients

For the cake 

125g unsalted butter, softened

175g caster sugar

2 large free range eggs

zest of 1 lemon 

175g self-raising flour

a pinch of salt

4tbsp milk

For the 'drizzle' 

100g icing sugar

juice of 2 lemons (you can use more or less depending on how lemony you want your syrup to be)

Method

Lemon cake

1. Preheat your oven to 180ºC and grease and line a loaf tin.
2. In a large mixing bowl, cream together the butter and sugar, add the eggs and the lemon zest and mix together.
3. Sift in the flour and the salt and fold it in gently. Add the milk and mix until all of the ingredients have incorporated and you have a lovely, silky cake batter which smells like lemons!
4. Pour the batter into the prepared loaf tin and place into your preheated oven for 45 minutes. This seems like quite a while, but I would recommend definitely leaving the cake in there for the full time otherwise it will be undercooked and a bit wet in the middle. 
5. In the last 10 minutes or so of the cake being in the oven, you can make your lemon syrup for the drizzle on top. 

Lemon drizzle/syrup

1. Sift your icing sugar into a small saucepan and add the lemon juice.
2. Place on a low to medium heat and stir together until all of the sugar has dissolved and you're left with a syrup. 
3. When the cake is ready to come out of the oven - insert a fork to test that it comes out clean - pierce the cake all over with a fork or skewer. 
4. When you have pierced the cake pour all of that lovely syrup over the cake ensuring that it is completely covered and it is being absorbed. 
5. Leave the cake to cool completely in its tin otherwise it will break from the wetness of the syrup.
6. Once the cake has cooled, remove from the tin, slice, serve and enjoy!

The holes on the top of the cake are not the most attractive decoration to a cake, but it tastes so light and summery that it definitely doesn't matter! Hope you like this recipe as much as my little brother and I did! 

N.B. This isn't technically a 'drizzle' cake as there is no drizzle, it's a syrup, but that's what I've always called it :) 

Carrot Cake with Lime Mascarpone Icing

I'm going to be honest and admit that I'm not really a fan of carrot cake. I've never liked cinnamon, ginger or any spices, so, naturally I would never order carrot cake in a coffee shop, nor would I make one when I could make a chocolate, coffee or vanilla cake! The other day I was thinking about the next bake for the next post and my boyfriend asked if it could be carrot cake, so I hesitantly made one and actually loved it! I think it was the walnuts and the lime flavoured icing that made it better than any carrot cake I had eaten before. Hopefully this recipe will sway any non-believers!

Ingredients

For the cake
210g plain flour
1tsp ground cinnamon 
1tsp mixed spice
a pinch of salt
210g light muscovado sugar
70g chopped walnuts
200g carrots, grated
50g desiccated coconut
3 eggs 
145ml olive oil 

For the lime icing

300g icing sugar
75g softened butter
75g mascarpone cheese
zest and juice of a lime
a handful of chopped walnuts (optional)
lime zest (optional)

Method

Carrot cake

1. Preheat your oven to 180ºC and grease and flour two sandwich tins. Sift your flour into a large mixing bowl and add the ground cinnamon, mixed spice and salt. When those ingredients have all combined, add the muscovado sugar and mix until there are no lumps remaining.
2. Now add in your chopped walnuts, grated carrot and desiccated coconut and mix together. Finally add the eggs and olive oil and combine all the ingredients to a nice cake batter. 
3. Pour the batter into your prepared sandwich tins making sure there is an equal amount in both tins. Bake for 25 minutes, and check that a fork inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean. Leave to cool and make the icing. 

Lime mascarpone icing

1. In a mixing bowl beat together the butter and the mascarpone until smooth and sift in the icing sugar. Once the icing sugar is all mixed together, add the lime zest and lime juice and stir until combined. 
2. Once the cakes have completely cooled, remove from the tins and assemble your cake. Put half of the icing onto the cake which will be the bottom of the carrot cake and spread out - be careful as the icing is quite wet so may drip down the sides, so maybe don't spread the icing too far, or, add more icing sugar to the mix. 
3. Once your have iced the first cake, place the second cake on top and use the rest of the icing on top smoothing it out over the surface. 
4. From a height sprinkle over the chopped walnuts and lime zest - I used a cheese grater for this bit of lime zest so the pieces were bigger. You may want to chill the cake for a bit if the icing is particularly wet. Cut a slice and enjoy!

Chocolate Fondants for Two

The other night my boyfriend and I were having a movie night and as I got to choose the film (a rubbish chick flick I can't even remember the name of - gotta love Netflix), he got to choose the food. So, at 10pm on a Friday night we were making chocolate fondants, and they were so so good! On Masterchef, it seems that every contestant tries to make a chocolate fondant and there is always a problem with them, so I didn't really have much faith in our late-night attempt, but they really are a lot easier than they look, and they look very impressive! 

Ingredients (for two people)

1tbsp melted butter

cocoa powder for dusting

50g dark chocolate

50g butter
50g caster sugar

1 egg

50g plain flour

Method

1. Brush two ramekins with half of the melted butter and put into the fridge to chill for about 20 minutes. Once the butter has cooled, brush the remaining butter on top and dust with cocoa powder and tap out any excess. 
2. In the microwave (or over a low heat in a saucepan) melt together the dark chocolate and the butter until it is smooth and runny. 
3. In a separate bowl, beat the egg with the sugar, sift in the flour and mix together until it is all combined. 
4. When the chocolate and butter mixture has cooled, add it to the flour, egg and sugar and mix until all of the ingredients have come together and you have a thick batter. Pour the fondant batter into the two prepared ramekins and place in the fridge to chill for a minimum of 20 minutes. Preheat your oven to 180ºC while your ramekins are in the fridge.
5. Once the fondants have chilled, put onto a baking tray and into the oven for 13 minutes, until a light brown crust has formed and the fondants have come away from the sides of the ramekins. 
6. Leave the fondants for 1-2 minutes in the ramekins and then carefully remove them - I found running a knife on the inside of the ramekins and flipping them out on a plate was the easiest way to do this. 
7. Dust with icing sugar and enjoy! You could also serve with vanilla ice cream and/or salted caramel sauce.

I hope you enjoy this recipe - they honestly are a lot easier than people think!
They would make a fantastic dessert, so just multiply all of the quantities depending on how many you want to make. 

I have added this recipe to #CookBlogShare with SuperGolden Bakes