Sunday, June 9, 2013

Almond lemon cake

This is a wonderful cake. It turns out moist and lemony with a slight texture from the cornmeal and a nutty trace of almond. It is perfect for afternoon tea and can stand alone as a crowd-pleasing star of the show. I made it for some old friends who came for afternoon tea a few sundays ago, and I've wanted to make it every week since. I don't often pine for something I've just made, so this is saying something.



Another star recipe from baking goddess Nigella Lawson. Sorry this in grams because I used an English cookbook. On the up side, if you have a kitchen scale, it's actually really easy to use grams. Put your bowl on the scale, zero it out, and weigh each ingredient as you add it! Easy peasy.

Almond Lemon Cake
Adapted from Nigella's great cookbook Kitchen

200 grams unsalted butter, softened
200 grams sugar, preferably caster (superfine)
200 grams ground almonds
100 grams cornmeal
2 teaspoons baking powder
3 large eggs
zest and juice of 2 lemon
125 grams confectioners sugar

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Generously butter the bottom and sides of a 9-inch springform pan.

In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy - either by hand in a bowl with a wooden spoon, or using a freestanding mixer.

Whisk together the ground almond, cornmeal nd baking powder in a medium bowl, and beat some of this into the butter-sugar mixture, followed by 1 egg, then alternate dry ingredients and eggs, beating continuously.

Finally, beat in the lemon zest and pour the mixture into your prepared pan. Bake in the oven for about 35 minutes. You can tell when the cake is done when the sides of the cake begin to shrink away from the sides of the tin. A tester will come out with moist crumbs.

While the cake is baking make the syrup. Bring the lemon juice and confectioners sugar just barely to a boil in a small saucepan. Turn off the heat and stir until the sugar dissolves.

Once the cake is out of the oven, prick the top of it all over with a toothpick, then pour the warm syrup over it, and leave to cool completely on a wire rack before taking it out of the pan.

1 comment:

  1. Yum; mouthwatering indeed! Would love to try to make it but for lazies like me or those on the run who don't have a kitchen scale, would you please translate the grams into US cooking jargon? I love the lemon juice and sugar pricked into the top - must be delightfully refreshing in summer too. Thanks

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