It is lemon season here in the West.
Why I grew three lemon trees and a rangpur lime tree, I will never know. Nobody needs that much citrus.
I was having morning tea with my sisters a few weeks back and Vickie mentioned that she had just made a very nice lemon cake. “Send me the recipe,” I casually commented… and she did.
I was pondering our lemon situation yesterday, and the fact that I hadn’t made anything sweet for a while, when I remembered the recipe Vickie sent me. I decided to give it a go. I am very, very glad I did. It is a beauty. It is a cross between a cake and a pudding. You can eat it for morning tea or it would be equally great (even better, in fact) eaten warm with a big dollop of cream as a luscious dessert. The yoghurt and lemon syrup make it wonderfully moist and tangy. Best of all, it is dead simple to make.
If you have access to a lemon tree, I implore you to give it a go. It is a great recipe.
The recipe is by Margaret Johnson, who is the food editor of The West Australian newspaper ‘Fresh’ lift out each Thursday so I am guessing that is from where Vick got the recipe.
In the preamble, Margaret notes that she loves lemon cake and has eaten many but this recipe may be the best she has tried. I tend to agree with her. The cake is three quarters gone and it is less than 24 hours since I made it. Not a bad effort for two people.
Even though the slice in my photo looks very crumby, it is not. We cut this slice when the cake was still very warm. We are getting much neater slices today.
This cake uses three lemons – that is a start, I guess. Only one thousand to go!
Ingredients:
Cake:
- 125g butter
- rind of 2 lemons
- 1¼ cups* caster sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1¼ cups flour
- 1½ tsp baking powder
- ¼ cup lemon juice
- ¾ cup natural yoghurt
Syrup:
- ¼ cup sugar
- rind of one lemon
- 3 tbs** lemon juice
*A cup is 250 mils.
**These are 20 mil tablespoons.
Method:
- Preheat your oven to 160°C.
- Line the bottom of a 20-22 cm cake tin with baking paper and grease the sides with butter.
- Cream the butter, lemon rind and the sugar until they are light and fluffy.
- Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each egg.
- Add the lemon juice and yoghurt, mix well.
- Sift together the flour and baking powder then add to the main mixture – lightly mix together.
- Place batter into your prepared tin.
- Bake in your preheated oven for 30 – 40 minutes (mine took the full 40 minutes) or until the cake is firm to touch. Note, the recipe does not say “until a skewer comes out clean”. This cake is a little more moist than the average cake.
- Meanwhile, combine the syrup ingredients in a small saucepan.
- Heat to dissolve the sugar.
- When the cake is cooked, remove from the oven, allow to sit for a minute or two and then move to a serving plate.
- Whilst the cake is still warm, pour the syrup gently and evenly over it.
Passion Fruit Garden 
Reblogged this on Our Cocooning World.
Is it plain flour or SR flour please
Hi Jenny. I was worried when I saw your question. I thought I must have left something out. Luckily, I still have the printed copy of the recipe and it just says “flour”. It is a long time since I made this cake so I don’t remember what I used but my educated guess is “plain flour”. This is because the recipe would say if SR flour is used. SR flour is plain flour with baking powder added so when SR flour is used no additional baking powder is required. As this recipe requires baking powder in addition to the flour it must be plain flour. If you want to use SR flour, skip the baking powder. I hope you enjoy the cake. It is a beauty.
While I don’t have a lemon tree or a thousand lemons, I do love lemon cake and will happily buy a bag of lemons so that I can try this recipe.
Oh no Karen, it breaks me heart to think people have to buy lemons when I have so many. Surely, you know someone who could give you a few.
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Yum! This looks absolutely delicious Glenda! I can imagine a fluffy citrus delight that is definitely going onto my baking list. 🙂
You basically had me at the word ‘drizzle’ and I’m glad to see that the photos show that it’s just how i imagined. My stepfather’s family have bush lemons that are prolific at the moment so this might be a good option for me too.
Hi Fiona, I don’t think you will be disappointed.
That reminded me of a lemon cake that my mother used to make especially in the summer. I’m very impressed by the texture which looks perfect.
Alas, no lemon trees would grow here except indoors.
No Diane, yours is not lemon country 🙂
I happened across your recipe when hunting for things to do with my oversupply of limes – which I intend to use for the cake instead of lemons. Hopefully it’ll be just as delicious! Thanks for sharing 🙂
Hi Nik, I hope you enjoy your cake.
Aunty Glen, the girls had some friends over on Wednesday and I made it for their afternoon tea. It was demolished within 5 minutes. Not even a crumb left. Winner!
Hi Kate, it is a great recipe, isn’t it? Ours didn’t last much more than a day.
This reminds me of a lemon cake Mum used to make for us for an after school snack. I always pick a lemon dessert over a chocolate dessert.
Nancy, it is funny you should say that. My niece just commented that she make this cake for her girls for afternoon tea and they loved it. So nice when things don’t change.
Looks delicious… love citrus and cake. I wouldn’t be able to resist. Because I moderate sugar intake I tend not to bake but we’ve been enjoying sweet treats as we travel and I’m fine, so I think when we get home I’ll do some baking… I’m not a confident baker so the practice would be good.
Hi Ella, good to hear from you. Where are you at the moment?
Leaving windy Darwin today to spend some time exploring the surrounds.
Nothing crumby about this! I love lemon in anything, impossible to have too many. I made your ginger nuts again the other night while I was baby sitting at our daughters place. They are a staple now, in the short list of “what will I cook first” when the oven is connected! 🙂
Hi Maree, so glad you like the gingernuts, we make them quite a lot too. There is one last one in the barrel at the moment. I made a batch just before we went to Adelaide, so I decided to freeze them. I was amazed that they stayed really hard and crisp even though they had been frozen. I might do it again as the recipe makes quite a few.
A beautiful cake, Glenda, and just my type of cake too! My lemons are bearing, but not quite as prolifically as last year. I’m not baking anything at all at present… puts me in bit of a quandry (sp?) with the blog, but Peter and I are dieting quite strictly… and what with all the invitations to dine out, I cannot load our home meals with calories. Keeping this for later xxx
Good luck with the diet Liz. By the way, Maus is going to make your lattice slice this weekend.
This cake sounds delicious, Glenda, and looks even better. I’m such a push-over for any baked goods with some sort of citrus topping I’d make a lousy negotiator. put a slice of this cake on the table and I’d leave the meeting without my wallet, shirt, shoes, etc, etc, etc… 🙂
That meeting sounds like fun John.
Lucky you have so many lemons. I suppose you could trade them. We don;t have so many in our new ( 6 yrs) place. Swap for eggs? Lovely classic lemon cake, well worth keeping the recipe.
Thanks Francesca, I am very excited about your meringue cake. It is definitely on the agenda.
This cake looks a beauty Glenda, a big hit of lemon flavour. I have a potted lemon tree, fingers crossed that it will bear fruit, one day….
Hi Sandra, How do they do in Brisbane. We have perfect weather for citrus here.
Citrus does quite well, I think they must be very adaptable
Even though I don’t have a lemon tree, this looks one to try. Nothing beats a good lemon cake.
Anne, I wish I could send a bucket load your way.
And I could send you back a bucket load of raspberries in return 🙂
Now you’re talking 🙂
Just to report that not only does this cake taste delicious on its own but also makes an excellent pudding accompanied by a heap of raspberries and loganberries. Recipe now copied down and I’ll definitely be making it again.
Oh Anne, you are a tease with all your berries.
Lovely recipe Glenda and you could always set a few of your lemons aside for a G&T. 😉
Have a lovely day.
🙂 Mandy xo
Mandy, I would be totally drunk before I had used more than a couple.
Yummmm Glenda! Love a good lemon cake, will definitely try this one.
Lucky you with all that citrus, I miss having a lemon tree and hate having to buy waxed lemons!!
Oh Lily, surely you know someone with a tree. If not, I am sure if you walk around your neighbourhood you would find someone to give you a couple of lemons.
Looks great Glenda will definitely
Give it a go Emily xxxx
It’s a beauty, Em.
I adore lemon drizzle cake. For my glut of lemons, I zested and juiced before freezing them separately in various sized containers – brilliant to use a lot in making lemonade or lemon barley water when the weather gets hot. But, I can see your point – 3 lemon trees might be a bit much!
Don’t forget the rangpur lime, the orange and the mandarin 😦