So I think I have the only grandmother in the world that had to pay overweight luggage when she flew across the country to visit me because she’d stuffed her bag full of lemons from her tree.
So to say thanks to granny I baked her one of her favourites. She always tells me she wants a cake that is rich, moist, light, airy and slightly fudgy. Well by some miracle this lemon pound cake does all that.
You can add whatever berries you prefer. I have a budding little strawberry plant that needed some pruning and so my choice was easy. This cake also works exceptionally well with blueberries and a dash of apricot jam as a glaze.
Lemon Pound Cake with Strawberries
Ingredients:
- 3 eggs
- 170g icing / powdered sugar, sifted
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 170g plain flour
- 3g baking powder
- a pinch of salt
- 170g unsalted butter
- zest of 2 large lemons
- a handful of fresh strawberries (or berries of your choice)
Method:
Preheat oven to 170˚C. Grease a loaf tin well with butter.
Whisk eggs, sifted icing sugar and vanilla well.
In a separate bowl whisk flour, baking powder and salt together to incorporate.
Place butter in a small saucepan. Zest lemons into your butter and place on a low heat to melt. Do not boil the butter or you’ll just have to end up making clarified butter and use it for something else!
Once all three of your mixes are ready start incorporating all three a little at a time. Do so gently and quickly as you do not want to over mix the batter.
Chop your strawberries into quarters and arrange evenly throughout the batter.
Pour into your prepared loaf tin and bake in the middle of the oven for about 40 minutes depending on your oven. The cake should be golden brown and ‘just’ done, with your knife or cake tester not coming out completely clean. It’s a genuine crime to over bake this cake. It will loose it’s glorious moreish-ness! (If that’s even a word!)
Let cool slightly in the pan, turn out gently and leave to cool on a wire rack.
Dust with powdered sugar and try not to eat the whole cake in one go!