Lemon and Yoghurt Cake

This is one of two lemon cakes that were really popular in our household when the children were growing up. The other was a recipe (one of many) given me by my wonderful mother-in-law, Anita when she used to come out from Leeds in the UK and stay with us in NZ. She is, I am sorry to say, no longer with us, but I am sure she would have liked this one, too.

This is good served with creamy yoghurt or as here, clotted cream.

It is so long since I have baked a cake - around 3 years, I think and unfortunately I miscalculated and slightly over baked this one.  You will see that the oven was too hot so the cake rose too quickly and split.  It is also a little sun-tanned around the sides. Never mind, it tastes good and the syrup that soaks it prevents it from being dry.  I will know next time and I promise to do better!  It is such an easy recipe though that it is well worth a try.


                                                         Lemon and Yoghurt Cake

Ingredients


Cake
1 cup caster sugar
finely grated rind of two lemons
2 eggs, lightly beaten
3/4 cup rice bran or grapeseed oil
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/4 cups plain unsweetened yoghurt
2 tbsp lemon juice
2 cups self raising flour

Syrup
1/2 cup lemon juice, extra
1/2 cup caster sugar, extra
Greek yoghurt to serve

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180C and grease a 22cm ring tin.
2. In a large bowl mix the sugar, rind, eggs, oil and salt together with a wooden spoon until well combined.
3. Add the yoghurt and lemon juice and mix, then sieve the flour into the bowl and fold in.
4. Spoon into the tin and bake for approximately 30 minutes or until a skewer inserted comes out clean.
5. Stir the lemon juice and caster sugar together.
6. After the cake has cooled for 5 minutes, pour this glaze over the cake. Serve with Greek yoghurt
Notes

• I  use a micro-planer for grating where-ever possible.  It is less messy, you do not grate pith and you do not risk having slices of flesh added to your recipe! 
• When grating rind, add it straight away to your sugar if the recipe allows.  Any oils that seep out will soak into the sugar and you will not lose the precious flavour.
• Always use a metal spoon for folding and you will lose less air from your mixture.

                                                

Measuring Up!

M has decided he is going to take up baking! 

His expertise is in other areas of cooking, so I think that the precision needed is going to be a bit of a culture shock for him! No matter what, successful baking is reliant on chemical reactions as is a lab experiment and, generally speaking, your Average Joe needs to measure  ingredients exactly and follow directions precisely,  at least until the recipe is understood and under control.  Expert cooks who have spent a life-time making endless batches of Scones and Victoria Sponges till they are coming out of their ears ( like my grandmother, rest her soul,) could afford to take a 'handful' of this or a  'dash', 'pinch', or 'cup' (tea or breakfast - who knows?) of that.  But as an amateur, I reckon, safe is better than sorry and even when I cooked in the cafe, I left nothing to chance when I was baking.  A reliable set of scales, measuring spoons,  jugs  and cups are always a necessity in my kitchen and always will be.

Anyway, will let you know what how it went later, when his first effort is out of the oven!