Just before Christmas, I did a fridge audit and found a pot of cream and a lot of lemons that I didn't want to waste. Cake being my favourite thing to make (although oddly, not my favourite thing to eat), I turned to my baking books for a lemon cake that would also use up the cream.
In one way, my mission failed - I didn't find a cake containing lemons and cream. However, I did find a lemon yoghurt cake in The Golden Book of Patisserie. I have often read about people substituting yoghurt for cream - so why not substitute cream for yoghurt? And a cake was born.
This cake was perfect for my needs, as it used up the entire pot of cream, and had a lovey subtle lemon flavour. It didn't use as many lemons as I would have liked, but there are not many sweet treats that are going to do that.
This cake disappeared pretty quickly at work, even at a tme when everyone was saturated with Christmas goodies, so I think that is a good sign.
If you, like me, have some lemons and cream lying around, begging to be used, you can make this cake as follows:
2 cups plain flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
125g butter
1 cup sugar
1 tablespoon grated lemon zest
3 eggs, separated
250ml cream (or yoghurt!)
icing sugar, lemon juice (my basic recipe)
Preheat your oven to 160 degrees Celsius. Grease and line with baking paper a 9" round cake tin, and grease the baking paper.
Sift the flour and baking powder together in a bowl.
Rub the lemon zest into the sugar with your finger tips in a stand mixer bowl. (I added this step as Iknow it enhances the monon flavour.) Add the butter and beat the butter and sugar together until pale, smooth and creamy. Beat in the egg yolks, one at a time.
In a clean bowl, beat the egg whites to the stiff peak stage.
Fold the egg whites into the cake batter with a rubber spatula, being careful not to knock the air out of them. Scrape the batter into the greased, lined cake tin, and even off the top. Place the cake into the oven to bake for 35-45 minutes or until cooked through. Remove the cake from the oven and cool in the tin for 5 minutes before unmoulding onto a wire rack. Allow to cool completely.
Combine the icing sugar with enough lemon juice to make a spreadable icing, and spread over the top of the cooled cake with a metal spatula. Decorate if desired.
