Lemon Drizzle Slices

After 2 flights, 26 hours in the air, 4 movies and at least 7 in-flight meals or snacks, I am now back home in the UK from my Australian trip.

I’ve also swapped a daily high temperature of around 30C in the Australian summer, for one of around 8C in the UK winter. If that sounds low in comparison, it is positively tropical given what friends and family have told me about the freezing weather here over December and January. Touch wood, we seem to have missed the worst of a very cold UK winter.

It’s good to be back in the ADK kitchen researching new dishes and listening to some new bands over the speakers on Spotify. There’s lots of exciting recipes and stuff to come over my next few posts, so stay tuned.

The first creation since my return is the Lemon Drizzle Slices shown above. I made these as a thankyou for our lovely neighbours who have been keeping an eye on our house while we have been away. Sweet and tangy, the cakes went down particularly well along with a glass of prosecco, sat in a warm living room sharing a few holiday snaps cast to the TV screen. Fancy having a go?

Servings

This will make 16 slices.

Timings

10 minutes to prepare, 15 – 20 mins in the oven. 5 mins to drizzle the lemon and another 5 mins to add the icing.

You Will Need

• 70g softened butter
• 120g caster sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 140g self-raising flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• zest of a lemon
• 1 tbsp lemon curd
• 2 tbsp semi-skimmed milk
• 30g granulated sugar
• juice of a lemon
• 70g icing sugar
• 1 – 2 tbsp water

Method

1. Grease a traybake pan 20cm x 20cm and line with baking paper.
2. Heat the oven to 180C.
3. Cream the softened butter and caster sugar with a mixer. Add in the eggs and whisk again.
4. Sieve the flour and baking powder into the mixture. Add in the zest, lemon curd and milk. Stir to combine so there are no dry ingredients showing.
5. Tip the mixture into the tin and place in the oven once it’s up to temperature. Bake for 15 – 20 mins, until the cake has risen and is golden. Pierce the middle with a skewer and, if there is no wet mixture on the skewer, it is done.
6. Leave the cake in the tin, and pierce it all over in about 15 – 20 places to make tiny little holes. Mix the lemon juice and granulated sugar, then gently pour it over the cake, so that it seeps down into the holes. Take it slow as, if you pour too fast, it will flow off to the sides.
7. Leave the soaked cake to cool completely, then remove it from the tin.
8. Mix the icing sugar and water together, then spread over the cake. Leave it aside to set (I find placing it in the fridge helps the setting process).
9. Once the icing is set, cut into slices and serve.

Customise it!

This recipe is already customised, to be fair, so there’s not too much more to suggest. It’s based on one by Paul Hollywood (thanks Paul), to which I have made a few tweaks – the main one being to use only one third the amount of icing that he does. I can only assume he likes his icing laid on nice and thick!

If you don’t want to make the icing, that’s ok – the cake is also fine to serve without it (see my photo below).

I’ve been discovering some great new music since my return, so will be featuring this on the ADK Playlist over the next few posts. Here’s the first: The WAEVE is the new venture by Graham Coxon (out of Blur) and Rose Elinor Dougall. They’ve just released their first album, and I love the bass guitar line on this track, called Kill Me Again. Stick with it – it kicks in after the first verse.