lemons – A Home by the Sea

Lemon Cake

August 5, 2021 Forestwood

This is a recipe published by the Australian Women’s Weekly Magazine some years back. In my and my family’s opinion, this is one of the best lemon cake recipes around. Perfect to have with a cuppa.

Australian Women’s Weekly Lemon Cake Recipe

Ingredients:

125g butter, softened
1 tablespoon finely grated lemon rind
1 cup (220g) caster sugar
2 eggs
1 cup (150g) self-raising flour
½ cup (75g) plain flour
½ cup* (125ml) milk – *fill to within 1/4 inch of the brim of the cup measure, with milk, then top up to the brim with lemon juice
Cinnamon and walnuts to sprinkle on top (optional)

Topping

½ cup (125ml) lemon juice
¼ cup (55g) caster sugar

Method:

Preheat the oven to moderate (180°/160°C fan-forced). Grease a deep 20cm round or large loaf pan, then line the base with baking paper.
Beat the butter, rind and sugar in a small bowl with an electric mixer until light and fluffy.
Add the eggs, one at a time, beating until combined between additions.
Stir in the sifted flours in two batches with the milk.
Spread the mixture into the prepared pan.
Sprinkle cinnamon and a handful of walnuts on top of the mix.
Bake in a moderate oven for about 35- 45 minutes or until the cake is cooked when tested with a skewer.

The topping is optional as the cake is sweet enough without, but if you wish to make it here it is:

Combine the lemon juice and sugar in a jug; stir until the sugar is dissolved.
Pour the topping over the hot cake
Allow cake to stand for 15 minutes before turning the cake onto a wire rack to cool.

This cake is suitable to freeze but not suitable to cook in the microwave.

More Lemon – based Recipes

food

Lemon Yoghurt CupCakes

August 1, 2020February 7, 2021 Forestwood

Speciality delicatessens and bakeries in my part of the world offer Lemon Yoghurt cupcakes to die for. Mostly they come from one or two bakeries, ones that are Italian in origin and their product offerings. Yet, it seems that the Lemon and Yoghurt Cake may have been French in origin:

Grandmother all over France are renowned for Lemon and Yoghurt Cake. In French, this cake is called Gâteaux de Mamie, which translated is: Granny Cake. The part of the story I love, is the way these French grandmothers measure the cake ingredients – with yogurt jars!
https://thecafesucrefarine.com/french-grandmothers-lemon-yogurt-cake/

You can try that version of the recipe out at this site.

This week, the cake for #onecakeaweek comes from Best Recipes, however, I wanted to produce a cupcake experience, rather than make another ring cake. My ingredients vary slightly from the French version in that there is more yoghurt and sugar, but less eggs and oil. Yeah – nah! – probably evens out, doesn’t it?

LEMON and YOGHURT CAKE RECIPE

Ingredients

1 3/4 cups fine or Caster Sugar – I only used 1 & one-half cups
Zest of 2 Lemons
2 Eggs
3/4 cup Oil
1/2 tsp Salt
3 tsp Lemon juice
1 cup natural yoghurt
2 cups Self-raising flour (or regular plain flour with 4 tsp baking powder added)
extra leftover lemon juice

Method

In a bowl, mix rind, oil, eggs and sugar with a fork.
Add remaining ingredients and combine well.
Pour into greased ring tin or lined cupcake pans and bake at 180C for 30 – 40 minutes – more time, for the ring tin.
When cooked, remove freom oven and poke holes in the top with a toothpick.
Drizzle few drops of lemon juice for extra tang. Not too much or the cake will go soggy.
Leave to cool and dust with icing sugar to serve.

Variation: I added Pearl Sugar and an Almond on the top prior to baking. White chocolate chips could also be added for an extra measure of decadence.

Donna Hay, Australian cook and Cookbook Author, uses almost an identical recipe to mine, but decorates the cake with icing and strangely of all, thyme leaves. If you want to try that variation?

More lemon cake recipes from other bakers are found here

#OneCakeaWeek

environment, home

Grow Your Own Lemons

February 17, 2020February 18, 2020 Forestwood

How much better is it to source organic citrus fruit straight from the garden?

Fruit that you can be sure is free from pesticides and sprays, because you have picked it directly from your own backyard?

If you have only experienced food purchased from the supermarket, you don’t know what you’re missing. Home grown fruit is so much juicier. This applies to most foods, freshly sourced.

It is not as hard as you think to grow your own food, even with limited space.

Benefits of Growing Your Own Fruit

save on packaging waste with supermarket products
better nutritional goodness
increased levels of juiciness and palatability
using your property to productive use
promoting food sources for bees

Unfortunately, those sad supermarket lemons sit in freight or storage for two weeks, before hitting the supermarket shelves, and then spend far more time in the supermarket, itself. Finally, someone purchases them, takes them home and pops them in their fridge, so they could be up to one month old or older, when they use them for meals. Eeew? Not really nutritionally sound.

I don’t have the space for a garden and my soil quality is poor, I hear many lament.

Citrus trees, such as lemons, can be successfully grown in pots, as long as they are positioned in a sun drenched spot, in the garden or courtyard and a good citrus fertiliser added in Autumn.

Meet ‘Lemon Heaven’ – a new seedless variety of lemon tree.

It is the latest addition to the Home by the Sea.

If you live in Australia, a dose of citrus food in small amounts monthly from August to mid autumn will help the little tree along. I also added some Seasol to the pot to help the new addition settle into family life at the Home by the Sea.