Lemon Drizzle Buttermilk Cake

Here’s a lovely dessert or afternoon tea cake, with lemon juice and rind in the cake itself and lemon juice in a lemon drizzle and in the drip icing.

It’s based on Very Lemon Buttermilk Cake, but the quantities are halved as that cake will feed a crowd!

Bake this cake in a small bundt mold as I did, or use a 20cm or 21cm cake tin.

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Cake
125g butter
150g caster sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Zest of 1 lemon, juice of 1/2 lemon
3 free-range eggs
150g plain flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
Pinch of salt
150g buttermilk

Lemon drizzle
Juice of 1/2 lemon
25g water
40g caster sugar

Icing
Juice of 1/2 lemon
100g icing sugar or enough icing sugar to make a dripping icing

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Preheat the oven to 170 degrees C.

Lightly grease the small bundt mold or a 20 or 21cm cake tin with butter. Sprinkle with flour to evenly coat. Chill in the refrigerator until ready to use.

Cream the butter and sugar well in an electric mixer, on medium speed. Add in the vanilla extract and the lemon zest and juice and mix on medium until combined.

Add the eggs, flour, baking powder, salt and buttermilk and mix on low speed until the mixture is smooth.

Pour the batter into the prepared mold/tin. Bake for 45 – 50 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the cake comes out clean. If the cake is browning too quickly, cover the top with foil for the remainder of the bake.

While the cake is baking, make the drizzle by combining the lemon juice, water and sugar in a small saucepan. Stir over medium heat until the sugar is dissolved. Bring to the boil and simmer for 5 minutes until slightly thickened. Set aside until ready to use.

Remove the cake from the oven. Pierce the top with a skewer and drizzle half the lemon drizzle over the top. Allow to cool to room temperature.

Release from the mold or tin onto a wire rack. Turn right side up onto a serving plate. Paint the cake with the remainder of the lemon drizzle with a pastry brush.

To make the icing, mix the lemon juice with the icing sugar to make a drippable icing.

When the cake is completely cold, drip the lemon icing over the cake – no need to be too precise! I scattered a few dried rose petals over for decoration.

Serve on its own, or with cream, ice cream or yoghurt. A few berries would be nice too!