Lemon drizzle cake difficulty*** #46

Cuts into 8 

Preparing time: 20 minutes 

Cooking time: 22-28 minutes 

Ingredients:

• 5 eggs 
• 100 g caster sugar 
• pinch of salt 
• 125 g plain flour 
• 1 teaspoon baking powder 
• finely grated rind of 1 lemon 
• 100 g butter, melted 

For the syrup

• 250 g icing sugar 
• 125 ml lemon juice 
• finely grated rind of 1 lemon
• seed scraped from 1 vanilla pod 

1. Put the eggs, sugar and salt in a large heatproof bowl
2. Set over a saucepan of barely simmering water and beat with a hand-held electric whisk for 2-3 minutes or until it triples in a volume and thickens to the consistency of lightly whipped cream 
3. Remove from the heat 
4. Sift in the flour and baking powder, add the lemon rind and juice and drizzle the butter down the side of the bowl 
5. Fold in gently 
6. Pour the mixture into a greased and lined 22 cm square cake tin 
7. Bake in a preheated oven, 180 C(350 F),Gas Mark 4, for 20- 25 minutes or until risen, golden and coming away from the sides of the tin 
8. Meanwhile, put all the syrup ingredients in a small saucepan and heat gently until sugar dissolves 
9. Increase the heat and boil rapidly for 4-5 minutes 
10. Set aside to cool a little 
11. Leave the cake to cool in the tin for 5 minutes, then make holes over the surface with a skewer 
12. Drizzle over two-thirds of warm syrup 
13. Leave the cake to cool and absorb the syrup 
14. Turn the cake out of the tin and peel off the lining paper 
15. Cut into squared or slices and serve with heaped spoonful of cream fraiche or soured cream and an extra drizzle of syrup! 
16. Enjoy! :-)