Everyone who knows me well, knows I can’t cook, don’t cook and won’t cook. They may be surprised to know that I do make a mean lemon drizzle cake, a seriously mean one at that.

I don’t actually know what came over me today, Saturday of all days (my girly shopping day) but I donned my domestic goddess hat (I didn’t go as far as the apron) and I baked a cake. At the risk of sounding like a Stepford Wife (which I am so not), the other half will be uber impressed and I fully intend to serve it to him while dropping hints for a Caribbean holiday I’ve seen on the internet. Oh the powers of a woman with a sneaky mind.

Anyway to make my lemon drizzle schmizzle cake and sweet talk your hubby/boyfriend/partner/wife/girlfriend/bit on the side or anyone else you want to go on holiday with, here’s what you’ll need (alter the quantities according – but I made a humongous cake – it’s an expensive holiday!!):

For the cake…

6 large eggs
340g self raising flour
340g caster sugar
340g unsalted butter
The zest of 2 large lemons

For the drizzle…

120g icing sugar
The juice of the 2 lemons you’ve just grated the zest off

Now I’m not an expert cook/chef/baker (M & S Dine in for Two is about my limit – I think I keep their profits up!!) so if I can manage to make this cake, anyone can.

All you have to do is cream all the cake ingredients together (because I’m a greedy guts and am making a big cake, the creaming took ages and made my arms ache…but you could you use a food processor). Grate the rind of the lemons (mind the knuckles!!) and add the zest to the mixture.

Then pour the mixture into a pre greased loaf tin. Pop it into the oven for about an hour at 180 (I did have to keep checking as it was a large loaf tin and seemed to be taking ages).

Once cooked, bring it out of the oven, remove from cake tin and prod holes all over the cake going right down to the bottom.
Juice the 2 lemons that you previously grated and add this to the icing sugar.

Once its a smooth runny consistency, pour the glaze all over the cake and leave to drizzle and soak in.

 

And hey presto…one very moist, very scrummy cake that the other half will love!! How can he not whip out his credit card and book a holiday now eh??

And for an extra lemon kick (as if it needs it), add a thick dollop of lemon curd and spread over….

If the bribery works and he/she books a holiday, you might want to lay off the cake yourself, its far too calorie laden for a pre holiday diet….