I love Cake!
Cake! It has to be said that this simple word conjures up so many memories and emotions. Whenever I talk or think about the great cake experiences I have had, and I’m primarily referring to the homemade version (with a few exceptions I willing to give anything a go!), I am immediately transported back to the moment I first tasted it along with the occasion surrounding it. Cake it would seem is embedded in our nation and can define us regionally, the infamous Bakewell Tart, Yorkshire or Lancashire Parkin, Dundee Cake or Eccles cakes to name just a few.
Along with so many, my love of cake probably started at an early age...one to be precise with the arrival of the “1st Birthday Cake”. At a first birthday the cake is probably more aimed at the parents and party goers, but nonetheless it starts playing and important emotional role in our lives at this very early age. The making and giving of the celebration cakes continues through-out life with the likes of Wedding Cakes, Christmas Cakes, and others. Don’t get me wrong there doesn’t have to be a massive motive or special occasion for making and giving cake, more often than not the simple raison d'être is purely to say “thank you” or “I love you”. It was the later of these two thoughts that really got me emotionally involved in cakes.
An abiding childhood memory of mine is my Mum’s delicious Lemon Drizzle Cake. What’s so special about that I hear you ask? Well nothing specifically, ultimately it is just a cake, but for me it now represents so much more, at the core are cherished recollections of Sunday afternoons when the freshly baked cake had cooled sufficiently to be eaten, or rather devoured, I seem to recall that very little of the cake was around for a post tea-time nibble! The day-long anticipation after seeing the mixing bowl and ingredients sitting on the work surface was enough to have me not venturing too far from home that day. In making this cake my Mum was delivering a personal gift to the whole family and I for one certainly recognised and appreciated it! That symbol of giving still continues today, each visit by her to our home in London is accompanied by a scrumptious homemade cake, and it is the Lemon Cake that brings the greatest smile of all, without words the cake says it all!
In the stores we have seen a huge resurgence in the cake making, much of it around birthdays, the unique and novelty cake pans are a real hit! In addition however there is a real sense of revisiting the art of everyday baking and you can see the satisfaction that creating the cake brings to our customers and no doubt their family and friends too.
Home-baking is also a major topic on television, indeed Whisk has been asked to help find the next champion of the Great British Bake-Off. I’m not sure I have the credentials to enter, however on hearing from our highly skilled customers I am sure we have a worthy competitor out there. All the details are on the website, so if you fancy giving it a go or just want to find out more
click here.
So, in celebration of my Mum’s simple, but absolutely delicious Lemon Cake here is the recipe to share with all. Cake forks to the ready, who’s for the first slice...?!
Diane’s Luscious Lemon Cake
Ingredients
(Yes, of course it’s in ounces’!)
Cake Mixture
Method
Grease and line a 1lb loaf tin
Place all the cake mixture ingredients in a bowl and mix together for about 5 minutes
Turn the ingredients into the loaf tin and bake in a preheated oven (Gas Mark 4, Electric Oven 1800C or Fan assisted 1600C) for 45 minutes.
Check the cake is done by putting a skewer into the cake, if it comes out clean then it is ready, if not, place back into the oven for another 5 minutes. Then repeat process.
Remove from the oven, but leave the cake in the loaf tin.
Prepare the syrup by gently dissolving the icing sugar in the lemon juice until warmed through.
Prick the cake all over to a depth of about 1 inch using a skewer. Then gently pour over the warm syrup.
Leave the cake to cool, turn out of the tin and sift over with icing sugar.
