This week has been l-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-ng. We had a special event for patients and their families today that I was running a lot of, so if I haven't been swimming in thousands of mind-maps and plans for the workshops I've been whizzing around the hospital at 90mph trying to get all my normal work done too. Its been one of those weeks where I haven't truly been able to unwind or switch my mind off, with a constant to do list whirling around in my head.
And so, by Thursday evening, cake became necessary.
Lemon drizzle cake to be precise.
If you've had a crazynonstopgogogoaaaaaaahhhhhhhh week too, this is the perfect cure. And even if you haven't been suffering from headless chicken syndrome but just fancy some cakey goodness, there's no reason why you can't enjoy a cheeky bit of baking too.
You will need:
225g butter
225g caster sugar (+ 85g for the drizzle icing)
4 eggs
grated zest of 1 lemon
225g self raising flour
juice of 1 and a half lemons
Pre-heat oven to 180C (or 160C if you have a fan oven).
Cream together the butter and caster sugar in a bowl then gradually add the eggs to the mixture, stirring as you go.
Sift in the flour and then add the grated lemon zest.
Stir until it is all combined into a smooth mixture.
Pour the mixture into a lined loaf tin and bake for about 50 minutes (or until you can insert a skewer into the middle of the cake and have it come out clean).
Leave the cake to cool and then mix the caster sugar and lemon juice to make the drizzle icing.
Pierce the cake all over with a skewer before pouring the drizzle over the cake (I made a huge messy puddle of the mixture on the worktop because I got a bit keen with pouring... go slowly here!).
When the cake has fully cooled (I sneakily stood outside on the balcony at this point and let the freezing cold Leeds air speed up the cake cooling for me) remove from the tin and serve.
Easy peasy lemon squeezy.
Bearing in mind my flatmate and I didn't finish making this until about 10pm on Thursday evening, there isn't even a crumb left on the plate now.
If that's not a winning recommendation then I don't know what is.
