Loaf Cake Part 1 ~ Lemon Loaf

So as promised last week, today I will be sharing more details on the loaf cakes I made for my choir's Silent Auction.  For the occasion, I made 2 loaf cakes to donate and try and raise funds, and that they did - they both sold - yey!

 

Last week I shared my Eggs in a Nest Cupcakes which I made from the extra half batch of each loaf batter that I made for the choir so that of course I was able to taste the cake, and also have my own few extras to eat ... and to share I guess too!  I also wanted to use new cupcake cases I had been given, and of course jump on the April/Easter boat and get excited for Spring!!  Check them out here :-)

So this week I'll start of the Loaf Cake 2-part series with a Lemon Loaf, adapted from a recipe given to me by my university housemate of 4 year's Mum... I loved it when she would come back from a visit home and would bring her Mum's "Luscious Lemon Loaf", so much so I even got a special recipe notecard from her and have made it many many many times since.

But then the worst happened.  Saturday morning I went to get the notecard and it was GONE.  Not where I left it, or where it should have been so I had to improvise a little... Now don't worry, my amazing best housemate has already re-sent me the recipe so I will never be without again but on the day, there was no time to spare, I had to do lots of baking and sewing too all before our choir concert.

 

So here's a few pictures and the recipe (not the original "Luscious Lemon Loaf" but my own adaptation from last weekend!)...

I made a loaf cake and also 4 cupcakes from this recipe, but if you are just looking to make a loaf then just do 3/4 of the recipe instead.  But really, who could say no to a little taste-test!? ... Especially if you're giving the loaf away or sharing with family/friends!

Ingredients:

9oz margarine
9oz sugar
3 tbsp milk
9oz self-raising flour
3 eggs
Zest of 1 lemon

and for the glaze:
6 rounded tablespoons icing sugar
Juice of 1 lemon

Method:

1.  Preheat the oven to 350°F and grease and line a loaf tin, and prepare 4 cupcake cases. 
2.  Beat together the margarine and sugar.
3.  Add the milk and mix together.
4.  Sift flour and mix until combined.
5.  Add eggs and beat after each addition.
5.  Add lemon zest and mix together one last time!
6.  Fill the prepared loaf tin, and use the remaining batter for a few bonus cupcakes.
7.  Bake the cupcake for 15-20 minutes (until golden brown and a cake tester comes out clean) and bake the loaf cake for 40-50 minutes.

While the cake is baking, make the glaze so it can be spread over the warm cake as soon as it comes out of the oven...

8.  Mix together the icing sugar and lemon juice.
9.  When the cake is baked and out of the oven.  Leave in the tin to cool and immediately spread the glaze over the cake until it soaks in.

... And the final step is to just ENJOY!  This is lemon at it's best!  Lemon glaze on a lemon cake, in my eyes there is nothing better!

I packaged the loaves up in brown parchment paper, and tied up with string... ♫ These are a few of my favourite things ♫ ... of course!

 

And a little tag to go along with the silent auction bidding sheet... I wanted to make sure whoever won the cake knew what it was!

 

 

So there were indeed two loaf cakes I promised... today you'll have read about the Lemon Loaf Cake, and check back next weekend to hear how I turned a British favourite of mine ~ the Cherry Bakewell and turned it into a loaf cake :-)  Scroll down to the bottom of the page and fill out your email to always be the first to read a post and never miss a recipe!

 

 

 

 

This time last year I asked 'Spring are you Here'?!  Little did I know this past Winter would be even longer... even colder... even snowier than 2013!  So really, the same question still lies although I think, think Spring may have actually arrived now!

 

 

To get in the mood check out last year's Spring Cake! 

 

 

Sunday Tea Cakes

Happy Family Day weekend to everybody here in Canada... Presidents' Day for my US readers... And a happy start of the Half-Term holiday of which I am the most jealous of, to all of my UK friends and family :-D

However jealous of a full week off work I am, I am still very excited to have my long weekend!  So far we have enjoyed pasta and truffle making (another post coming soon...) and my first time out cross country skiing and tubing - wow, so much fun but I definitely fear for sore limbs some time soon...  Still to come, brunch on Family Day and some general chilling out enjoying the extra day to the weekend!

After returning back from our outside adventures yesterday, I tried out our tea cake plaque pan we bought a good few months ago from Williams Sonoma (thank you wedding gift cards once again!) and hadn't tried yet!

With a church luncheon today it was a perfect opportunity to try it.  They are such pretty designs, little bite sized cakes that would make a great platter to take with us.

To create this recipe I investigated how this tea cake plaque pan worked and read a few contradictory reviews - some saying you needed to grease the pan, some that said you didn't, some people who liked the recipe that came with the pan, others had complaints... Hmm, what to do then!?

In the end I found a recipe for Apple Madeleines I changed up to be lemon - my flavour of choice in everything I do!  ... I also included a glaze on top of the cakes for extra juiciness.  

We may have tasted a couple last night, but the rest are out on the sweet table, right about now... 

Here's the recipe I used and what you'll need (thanks Good Housekeeping Cakes and Bakes recipe book):

For the Madeleines

150g unsalted butter, melted and cooled, plus extra to grease (I actually sprayed with cooking spray and added a sprinkling of flour as the recipe that came with the pan suggested this)

2 tbsp honey, added to the butter after melting

3 large eggs

150g caster sugar (I used granulated as caster is hard to find here, and it was fine...or should I say superfine?!)

150g plain flour, sifted

1/2 tsp baking powder

Grated zest of 1 lemon

For the Glaze (not from the original recipe)

3 rounded tbsp icing sugar

Juice of 1 lemon

Directions

1.  Preheat oven to 200°C (392°F).  Grease the madeleine tins or in my case, the tea cake pan.

2.  Beat the eggs and caster sugar together until pale and thick (this should take about 8 minutes).  I used our Kitchen Aid stand mixer mostly on speed 2 for 7 minutes and 1 extra minute on speed 4 and it had become pale and thick as it suggested :-)

3.  Quickly, but gently fold in the flour, baking powder and lemon zest, followed by the melted butter and honey mixture, making sure the butter doesn't settle at the bottom of the bowl.

4.  Spoon the mixture into the tins.  Bake for 8 - 10 minutes until golden then remove from the tins and cool on a wire rack.

5.  Store in an airtight container for up to 2 days. 

6.  Prepare the glaze while the cakes are cooking so that you can pour onto the cakes while warm - whisk together the icing sugar and lemon juice until all of the sugar and any lumps have dissolved.  Spoon or pour over cakes while warm.

A recent investment brought me to the OXO Good Grips cookie scoop, something I thought I would never need until the addition of a mini muffin tin to my collection.  So I bought one and it has already proved very helpful! For this cake pan, it was suggested on the recipe that came with the pan that 2 teaspoons of batter would be a good amount, and hey guess what - the cookie scoop was 2 teaspoons, yey!  This made this much easier to get even portions in each mini cake :-)

We got our pan from Williams Sonoma but we've also seen them at Home Outfitters!!  The cakes popped out SO easily although the pan was very very hot (coming out of a 390°F oven, I guess that goes without saying however!).

I LOVE how cute they look, and it could make for a really easy 30 mini cake quick batch to whip up, perhaps with a little sprinkling of icing sugar on top?

Have a great long weekend everyone, thanks for reading!