Lemon Drizzle Cake with Lemon Curd Icing

Some People dismiss Madeira cake as being quit plain and boring and they are probably right when it comes to shop bought Madeira. You can't deny that a freshly home baked Madeira cake is buttery, light and comforting.

So getting a plain one right is worth it as the possibilities for derivatives are endless and here's mine.

The recipe makes a 2lb loaf tin and 12 cupcakes half the recipe if you want to make less.

Pre-heat oven 160 oc

Here's a few tips when cooking a Madeira style cake: 

Make sure your butter and eggs are all at room temperature so it will all combine easily.

Add your eggs one by one if it looks like its going to split add a little of the weighed flour after each egg and this should fix the problem.

Always stir the end of your mixing bowl by hand as some of the cake batter may not be fully mixed at the bottom.

Line and grease the cake tin well and remember if it doesn't work out this time just start over its all the fun of learning.

Try not to open the oven door until the cake has a brownish skin on top as the cake might flop before this if the oven cools rapidly by opening the door.

With the cake batter that is left over, spoon in to a lined cupcake tin and freeze they will cook perfect from frozen.

Ingredients:

500 g soft butter 

500 g caster sugar 

8 eggs 

500 g plain flour 

2 tps baking powder 

Zest of  4 lemons (Keep juice for later )

Method:

Cream butter and caster sugar together in a mixing bowl, hand blender or with a wooden spoon by hand

When light and fluffy start adding the eggs one by one 

When eggs are all incorporated 

Sieve in the flour and baking powder stir well 

Finally add the the lemon zest 

Spoon in to a lined and greased tin 3/4 way up to give it room to rise and bake at 160 oc for about 40 minutes or until golden brown and a skewer comes out clean.

Leave in the tin for a few minutes then turn out on to a wire rack until ready to slice and ice.

Lemon Curd 

So I suggest you make this while the cake is in the oven or even the day before and it needs to be cool before making the icing.

This recipe is for more than what you need for cake but if your going to spend the time making it you might as well make a jar. I love it on freshly baked scones with whipped cream.

Ingredients:

150 g butter  

6 eggs 

150 g sugar 

250 ml lemon juice use the juice left over from the cake but you may need to add more according to the size lemons and how juicy they are.

Method:

Melt butter in a sauce pan then add all the other ingredients.

Stir until it thickens on a low heat, don't be tempted to turn the heat up high to speed up the process or you might end up with lemon scrambled eggs. 

Cool before jarring will keep for a week in the fridge so if you don't have a jar just use a plastic sealed box. 

Lemon Curd Icing

Ingredients:

1 Tub of Philly Cream Cheese 

4 tablespoons lemon curd 

Method: 

Beat the 2 ingredients together until light and creamy.

Icing for the top of the cake 

200 g Icing sugar 

splash of water just to make a paste 

Zest of 1 lemon 

To assemble the Cake

Cut the cake with a sharp serrated knife across the width by placing one hand on top of the cake and the other hand moving the knife so you get nice even cuts.

When you have your 3 slices of cake.

Use the bottom one first add some of the curd icing spread across evenly with a palette knife then add the next layer and repeat.

when the lip is on top pour the white icing over the top and decorate with grated lemon zest.

Hope you enjoy making and eating the cake I did ! 

Don x