This cake recipe is incredibly simple and really worth knowing about. There is something rather special about the simplest of cakes made with the best quality ingredients. Whilst this cake may sound unremarkable, with no icing, no groundbreaking ingredient pairings, and its simple, homemade appearance, it is truly delicious, very versatile and a great recipe to have in your repertoire.
This lemon butter cake is a simple, rich, dense sponge cake, flavoured with fresh lemon zest. It is light, buttery and has a subtle hint of lemon. It’s really excellent served with tea or coffee at any time of the day, and makes a lovely pudding served with some fruit and cream, or can even be used in a trifle sponge. It freezes well and will happily keep for a week, wrapped well.
- 250g salted butter, softened
- 200g caster sugar
- Zest of three unwaxed lemons
- 3 large eggs, beaten
- 300g self raising flour
- Preheat the oven to 170C/ Gas Mark 3
- Grease and line a 2lb/900g loaf tin with non-stick baking paper and set aside.
- Place the butter, sugar and lemon zest into a large mixing bowl or stand mixer and beat together until fluffy and evenly mixed. Add the beaten egg a little at a time, beating well until each addition is completely mixed in.
- Finally, fold in the flour. Carefully spoon the cake mixture into the prepared tin and smooth the top. The centre of this cake will rise above the top of the tin.
- Bake for 50-60 minutes until the cake is a rich, golden brown, is well risen and a skewer inserted into the top of the cake comes out clean. It may need a further 10 minutes, depending on your oven, to ensure the centre of the cake is fully cooked as it is quite a big cake.
- Once baked, remove from the oven and set aside to cool in the tin for around 15 minutes. Then transfer to a wire rack, and peel off the baking paper and allow the cake to cool fully before slicing.
