Friday baking- Lemon Syrup Cake

So the end of another week has quickly arrived. And what a week….I thought winter had already arrived but oh no…it had just been teasing us with a wet month and dreary weather. The icy winds came a knocking this week and the wind has been chilling. Our kids have all had head colds and that horrible barking cough. There have been a few sleepless nights and even a midnight panic of should we head to the emergency ward and get this heavy whiziness checked out??? Thankfully they seem to be on the mend- a sign of this is 'back to active' kids racing around the house and creating complete kaos!

Yesterday I drove over to Barham which is about an hours drive to the west of Echuca. I met with Katrina and Tim Myers who own and run a fantastic farming business called Barham Avocados. Its hard to think that avocados can be grown here, but they do and the Myers certainly know how to grow beautiful and delicious Avocados! Im looking forward to sharing more about their business next week.

But, I have digressed a bit from todays recipe. As its been a week or so since my last lemon post, our tree is well and truly bursting with ripe fruit. Im so excited the day has finally come that we can just go out and pick lemons off the tree as we need them. It also does mean though that we have quite a few to chomp through and there are lots of new blossoms and young fruit starting to form too…so we won't be running out in the near future.

I can't quite remember where I found this Lemon Syrup cake recipe. I think it was found in a magazine back in the nineties during my Uni days. I handwrote it into my cooking journel and it has been one of those favourite cakes that never fails. I hope you enjoy it too!

Lemon Syrup Cake

250g unsalted butter, softened

The zest from a  finely grated lemon

1 cup caster sugar

4 large eggs, mixed together lightly

2 cups self raising flour with 1 teaspoon baking powder-mixed together and put aside

100ml milk

juice of one lemon

Syrup-

2/3 cup caster sugar

juice of 1 lemon

Heat oven to 180 deg celcius. Lightly grease and line with baking paper a 23 cm cake tin. Preferably springform.

Beat butter, sugar and zest together for 5-7 minutes or until mix is light and 'fluffy' in appearance.

Whilst still mixing, add the egg in four doses. In between each addition of egg, add a tablespoon of the flour and baking powder. Once eggs has been added, mix in remaining flour. Add the milk and lemon juice and gently continue to mix until combined. The mix is quite thick and foamy looking- so don't stress if you think it looks like it has curdled!

Pour cake mix into the cake tin then place in oven for 40-50 minutes, or until golden brown on top and skewer comes out clean when you poke into the centre of the cake.

Whilst cake is baking, quickly make up your syrup simply by putting bith sugar and juice into a small saucepan and stirring until sugar has dissolved. Then boil gently for a few minutes. Turn off heat and put aside to cool down a bit.

When cake is ready, place on a cooling rack (still in tin and straight from oven). Using a skewer, poke lots of holes into the top of the cake. Then pour over the warm syrup. Dont panic, it make look like a lot but the cake will absorb it. Once you have made it a few times you can alter the amount of syrup to your own liking.

You can drizzle over a simple lemon icing but I actually find it too sweet and prefer having it as is.

This cake can be frozen for up to a month- always a bonus! I have also made mini versions and patty cakes too- cooking time is just adjusted to whatever size you are baking- keep checking.

This cake is so moist and bursting with lemony flavours. 

Serve with some cream or lovely natural yoghurt. 

My kids love having this with cream or custard for dessert.

Hope you all have a warm and relaxing weekend……xx