RECIPE | STICKY LEMON CAKE

I do love a lemon drizzle, but after watching Raymond Blanc make his lemon cake on the current BBC Kitchen Secrets program I was sold for a sticky glaze!

Raymond Blanc uses double cream in his lemon cake, but we didn't have any in so I used my usual lemon drizzle recipe and instead of doing the usual lemon drizzle topping at the end, I went down Raymond Blanc's route and covered the cake in a sticky glaze with apricot jam and a lemon icing.

Ingredients:

For the Cake:

225g Butter or Margarine

225g Caster Sugar

225 Self-Raising Flour

3 Eggs

1tsp Vanilla Essence

Grated Zest and Juice of 2 Lemons

2-5tbsp Milk

For the Sticky Glaze:

3tbsp Apricot Jam

100g Icing Sugar

3tbsp Lemon Juice

Instructions:

1.  Preheat your oven to 180 and grease and line a 2lb loaf tin (or two 1lb loaf tins) with baking paper.

2.  In a bowl, cream the butter (make sure the butter is at room temperature) and the sugar together with a whisk until light and fluffy. Add the eggs and vanilla essence and mix until combined.

3.  Add the lemon zest and juice to the mixture and the fold in the flour.

4.  Add 2-5tbsp of milk until the mixture becomes "loose" then transfer into the loaf tin.

5.  Bake in the centre of the oven for 50-60 minutes.

6.  When cooked, remove the cake from the tin and place on a wire cooling rack for 5 minutes.

7.  Heat the apricot jam in a saucepan on a low heat or in the microwave. Take a pastry brush and slather the cake (all visible surfaces) with a generous layer of jam.

8.  Whilst the jam sets, to make the lemon glaze, mix the icing sugar with the lemon and then drizzle over the cake and leave for 20 minutes to set before serving.

I'm a little bit obsessed with these 1lb loaf tins at the moment!

They make two small loaves which stay moist and fresh so you can easily stick one in the freezer or give one away to a very lucky friend...