If you already make nice cakes, this isn't the recipe for you!
Baking isn't really my thing, you have to be too precise, and it always seems a lot of time and effort for regrettably disappointing results but this simple recipe for a loaf cake produces consistent and presentable results for even reluctant bakers like me - foolproof!
Whisk an egg, 4 fl oz of milk and 4 tbsps of vegetable oil in a bowl.
Grate in the zest of an orange or a lemon and whisk in 2 oz of brown sugar and 2 oz of white sugar.
Whisk in half a teaspoon of salt, 2 tsps of baking powder and 8 oz of plain flour and beat to make a batter.
Line a small loaf tin with greaseproof paper and pour in the batter. Put it in the oven heated to about 160c/GM4.
While the cake is cooking, add the juice of the orange or lemon to a pan with about 2 oz of white sugar (if you are using lemon juice, add a couple of tablespoons of water too, you need a total of about 100mls of liquid). Bring gently to the boil then simmer for about 5 minutes to make a syrup.
After about 25 minutes stab it with a thin knife or skewer. If there is wet batter stuck to the knife, put it back in and keep checking every 5 mins or so. (Don't worry about leaving holes in it.)
When the knife comes out clean, take the loaf out of the oven. Prog lots of holes down into it, then pour the syrup over to soak down into the holes and leave to cool.
(If you don't have any citrus fruit, this is still okay without any zest in the batter and using orange or lemon juice for the syrup or using just sugar syrup (100mls of water), or putting a few spoons of marmalade or lemon curd over the top)
You might also like:
Chocolate Mousse
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Please visit my Intro post for more about my blog and me - I hope you enjoy my recipes : )
