Unlike most bloggers, I do not create perfectly pretty cupcakes. If you're one of those people, I'm jealous. I've only really gotten into domestic goddressry since I've wanted to impress my husband and his family. Easter was one of the those occasions. Being Easter and not going for the chocolate option, yellow became the obvious choice. I pimped this fine recipe from the warm yet no-nonsense Mary Berry; here is her recipe for lemon yogurt cake (link here). I really think this lemon cake will impress girlfriends, men, colleagues or whomever. It's easy, not too sweet but still intensely flavoured.
How I Pimped the Mary Berry Lemon Yogurt Cake:
1. Use more lemon zest. Whether vanilla, cinnamon, lemon or any flavouring I almost always double what the recipe advises. I zested a LARGE lemon and another half. If you're going for an impress the foodies option, grapefruit might grab their attention more; if I were making it for my Mum it would be a lime cake. For the mother-in-law and the three men, I went classic.
2. When the cake is cooked, poke some holes in it with a skewer the way you would for a lemon drizzle cake. I drizzled the juice from a lemon and a couple capfuls of limoncello I still have (limoncello recipe here) .
3. Use a more interesting cake mould, if you have one. A plain loaf is harder to make look elegant. I juiced a second lemon when I turned the mould over (make sure the cake's cool before turning it out) and added some more limoncello.
4. The quantities recommended for the icing produce a very firm, seriously sweet, royal icing. I added more lemon juice to make it more of a drizzle and iced the cake by making diagonal stripes. Add the zest from another lemon on top of the icing.
5. Add a sauce. Lemon goes wonderfully with berries, so this was my effort- raspberries and tayberries from the freezer. Blueberries would also look and taste fresh. I cooked the berries down with a bit of raspberry wine that I had; any red juice or water would be fine though.
The cake did indeed impress. Impress the in-laws mission accomplished.
Lauren,
ReplyDeleteThank you for your thoughtful comment Saturday! I appreciate it!
And wow, this looks divine! I am still working on the whole domestic thing. It can be a challenge!
Cheers,
Anna
Fortunately, a kind family will disregard any domestic failures and delight in what you can bring to the table. I don't really care about the domestic thing but I do think some great food can be an expression and extension of one's love. Thank you for commenting, yourself.
ReplyDeletewow you definitely did a good job! i am hungry now ): *off to the kitchen!*
ReplyDeleteI have to admit that the cake I actually made for Easter and the mother-in-law wasn't this one, meaning that I ate a significant amount of this cake. It was a hard few days.
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