Lemon Drizzle Cake

For the last few weeks, M has been asking for lemon drizzle cake, so on Thursday afternoon I thought I'd give it a go in time for an after school snack. Rather than just using one of my basic cake mixes, and adding lemon, I had a quick look online for some ideas. I spotted this one, which was another of those pictures that you look at and are not convinced the picture is the actual recipe shown… Gluten free cake tends to be much paler than this. I wanted to give it a go, just to see. 

Just 2 little problems…

• Reading the ingredients and the method, they didn't match. Add the lemon juice? what lemon juice? I guessed that it should have said zest and juice of 2 lemons, not just zest. 
• L is allergic to chick peas, so gram flour was not an option. I considered just doing it with extra self raising flour, but having looked through my cupboard decided on substituting it for something else high in protein. 

I decided to use my Fava bean (broad bean) flour because it needs using up by the end of the month, but even with only 20g (my hand slipped), I could taste it. I think I'd just add 50g of ground almonds next time (although, then it's no use for school lunchbox!).

As expected, my cake was still very pale after the suggested time, so I turned the temperature up to get a little colour. It also sank, a lot, when it came out of the oven. That said, it was a nice moist texture inside, and the boys loved it, which is the whole point (I may have had two slices as soon as it was warm enough to cut too…). Definitely one to adapt next time, but thought I'd post the recipe now anyway in my attempt to publish more recipes than stay in my drafts folder this year!

Cake Mix

235g Gluten Free Self Raising Flour

15g Gram Flour/Fava Bean Flour/Quinoa Flour/or other high protein flour. (I'm going to try with 50g Ground Almonds next time)

150g Sugar (I used a mixture of caster and soft brown)

85mls Vegetable Oil (I used mix of olive and rapeseed, which gave it a nice yellow colour)

265mls Milk Substitute

Zest and Juice of 2 Lemons

Syrup for Drizzling

3tbsp sugar

Juice of 1/2 lemon

Weigh out flours and sugar into a large bowl.

Mix lemon juice & zest (keep 1/2 tsp back for the syrup), milk substitute and oil in a jug or a bowl.

Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and mix well with a balloon whisk.

Pour into a lined 2lb loaf tin and bake at 170ºc for 50mins (I might try 180ºc next time).

To brown cake slightly, turn up to 200ºc for a further 10 minutes.

While it's baking, add the syrup ingredients to a bowl and microwave for 1 minute until lightly boiled and clear. 

Remove cake from oven and cool for 10 minutes.

Prick cake all over with a skewer and pour over the syrup. Leave in tin to cool for another 30mins before removing to cooling rack.

Tasted much better than it looked at this stage!

Not sure why this one is sideways, but you get the gist...