lemon zest Archives - Munchies and Munchkins

If I were to choose a slice of cake to indulge in then normally it would be chocolate cake. My OH however isn’t a massive fan of chocolate cake and seeing as it was his birthday this week I thought it would be nice to make something special for him. Unfortunately as with all good plans something came up.. Or lots of things actually. Spots. My oldest daughter has chicken pox and is suffering with it so my time for baking has been limited.

I would never let him have a birthday without a homemade cake so at 11.30pm a few nights ago I was still hard at work in the kitchen making a fairly simple but tasty cake. It’s not extravagant or perfectly decorated but its definitely indulgent!

For the cake:

You will need..
4 Large eggs (pref free range)
225g Golden caster sugar
225g SR flour
2 tsp baking powder
225g softened butter
Zest of one lemon
1tsp lemon extract ( not essence! I used Sicilian lemon from Morrisons)

Preheat your oven to gas mark 4. Grease and line two sandwich tins (20cm)

Place all ingredients into your mixing bowl or food mixer and either beat with a wooden spoon until smooth or mix at a high speed for a few minutes until lump free and a smooth consistency. Divide between two tins and bake for 25 minutes or until golden and will spring back when pressed lightly. Remove from tins carefully and cool on a wire rack before filling and icing.

For the buttercream filling and topping:

125 g soft butter
250 g icing sugar, sifted
Juice of 1 small lemon
50g of dark chocolate

Beat your butter until smooth and gradually add in your icing sugar then your lemon juice and blend well.

Use half as a filling and half to top your cake. Grate some dark chocolate over the top.

Enjoy.

For me a fruit crumble is the absolute comforting dessert. If I feel a bit under the weather, stressed or just COLD ( it’s been so cold this month) I always seem to make a crumble. More often than not it will be just a plain old apple crumble but I’ve used raspberries, blueberries and peach in the last 12 months as well as my current favourite – apple & blackberry. I’ve been meaning to share the recipe for a little while but kept forgetting so I’m doing it now – finally after a tweeter asked me for it. Thanks for the nudge 😉

There are two ingredients that I feel make a crumble go from a nice dessert to something a bit special and different and they are ….drum roll …. Porridge oats and lemon! After seeing a tip from a celebrity chef ( can’t remember who – sorry ) a while back I have always used lemon zest and juice in my fruit filling. It doesn’t make it taste super lemony but it does add a certain zing. Also I should note that typically I use frozen blackberries unless we are lucky enough to get some whilst out strolling at the right time of year.

Anyway here is the recipe in its entirety:

1kg mix of chopped apples and blackberries – decide which you want most of 🙂
180g plain flour
160g caster sugar
120g cold butter, chopped
Zest of ½ lemon
1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
2 tbsp water
2 tbsp porridge oats
An extra knob of butter

Preheat oven to 180C/gas mark 4.

Rub your flour and butter together until it resembles breadcrumbs then add half of your sugar, mix thoroughly and set aside.

Place your apples, blackberries,lemon zest, juice, water and the remaining sugar in a saucepan and simmer for around 5-10 minutes just to soften. This will smell incredible and you will want a little taste.

Pour into an ovenproof dish and top with your crumble mixture, then sprinkle on your oats. Just before placing in oven break your knob of butter into several chunks and place on top of crumble – this is a Rachel Allen tip and will make it even tastier.

*If you prefer a chunkier crumble mix pinch some between your fingers to create lumps.

Bake for approx 30 minutes until the fruit is bubbling and the top is golden brown.

Enjoy with cream, ice cream or custard.

Really Lemony Lemon Cake

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