sticky lemon cake

This a lovely cake, intensely lemony and sticky. I first made it back in 1999 for my mum on Mother’s Day.  It was a recipe in the Tesco Recipe Magazine in March 1999.

The instructions for this cake advise that you whisk the eggs and sugar in a bowl over simmering water.  I have always done this, but it is such a pain.  Trying to get the electric wire of the whisk to stretch over to the hob or Aga and then holding the bowl steady over a hot pan is awkward and potentially dangerous.  So, this time I ignored that instruction and just whisked the eggs and sugar in a bowl in the normal manner and it worked just as well, with the mixture becoming just as moussey and the cake being so much easier to make. I also thought that if I sifted the flour twice, like I did with the chocolate muffins, this would make the cake even lighter.  It worked.

This cake lasts a couple of days in a tin, so is perfect to keep cutting into.

350g caster sugar
5 eggs
finely grated zest of 3 lemons
250g plain flour
50g cornflour
1 tsp baking powder
150ml double cream
juice of 1 lemon
100g melted butter

For the glaze:
juice of 2 lemons
50g icing sugar

Method

Preheat the oven to 180°c, gas mark 4, or use the Baking Oven of the Aga.  Grease and line the base of a 20cm springform tin.

Place the eggs and the sugar and the lemon zest in a bowl and beat with an electric whisk until the mixture is thick and moussey.  Sift the flour, cornflour and baking powder into a bowl and then sift again, in three separate batches, over the moussey mixture and fold in very carefully with a large metal spoon. Fold in the cream, then the lemon juice and then the melted butter, making sure that each are well mixed in before adding the next.

Pour the mixture carefully into the prepared tin and place on the middle shelf of the oven and cook for 50-60 minutes until a skewer comes out clean when inserted into the middle of the cake.

When the cake is nearly cooked place the icing sugar and lemon juice into a small pan and bring to the boil and simmer for five minutes.

As soon as the cake comes out of the oven pierce it all over with the skewer and brush the lemon glaze all over.  Leave the cake to cool completely in the tin.