Lemon Drizzle Bundt Cake

WaterAid Bake Sale

Throughout the year I do a lot of work to help raise money and promote the work of WaterAid. Normally I’m taking part in or helping out with events such as the Cycle ride or Ball. Last night we hosted a WaterAid quiz and bake sale at the Holiday Inn in Peterborough. Raising just over £4k.

I wrote a recipe for a Maple Apple bundt cake earlier this month. Bundt tins allow for more heat distribution across the cake so work well for heavier cakes like the apple one.

Today I have made a very different cake, much lighter as uses butter not oil, the recipe is more akin to one I would use for a loaf tin. Not only do I love the bundt shape but because there is extra contact with the pan edges the sugar here will undergo more caramelization and create in my opinion a better crust then a loaf tin.

Food colouring is optional but I was going for a WaterAid theme. It was easy to tell who had bought a piece by checking their hands for the tell-tale blue stain.

Lemon Drizzle Bundt Cake

Ingredients

250g softened butter

300g caster sugar

½ tsp vanilla essence

3 lemons, zest & juice separated

4 eggs

250g plain flour

1½ tsp baking powder

50g icing sugar

Food colouring - optional

Method

I use a silicon bundt mould, this only requires a light greasing with some oil and makes it really easy to turn the cake out, but if your using a solid tin then ensure you grease all the corners really well to prevent the cake from sticking.

Heat the oven to 160c/ Gas 4.

Beat the butter and 215g caster sugar together with a stand mixer or electric hand whisk until pale and fluffy. Still using the whisk attachments add the vanilla essence, lemon zest and then the eggs, one at a time until fully incorporated.

Fold in the flour, baking powder, and a pinch of fine salt.

Fill the bundt tin with the cake mixture and bake for 60 minutes. Check that the cake has been cooked with a wooden skewer, if not give it a little more time.

Set aside 2 tsp of lemon juice. Then in a small pan on a low heat, place the remaining sugar and the rest of the lemon juice, let the sugar dissolve and reduce the volume by about half to create a syrup, which you can leave to cool while the cake is baking.

While the cake is still warm, use a skewer to poke a few holes in the surface, which will be the base of the cake, and pour over the syrup. Leave to soak as the cake cools down before removing the cake from the tin.

Mix the icing sugar with a couple of drops of food colouring and half a tsp of lemon juice. Slowly add more lemon juice until the icing forms a drizzle. If you run out of lemon juice add some water instead, but go steady as it is easy to go too far and make the icing runny. Drizzle over the cake and leave to set before serving.