Charlotte Pike

Award-winning food writer Charlotte Pike
Recipes, foodie guides and news from my kitchen

Baking

Lemon Butter Cake

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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.

Lemon Butter Cake
Serves 10
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Prep Time
20 min
Cook Time
1 hr
Total Time
1 hr 20 min
Prep Time
20 min
Cook Time
1 hr
Total Time
1 hr 20 min
385 calories
43 g
110 g
22 g
5 g
13 g
92 g
581 g
20 g
1 g
7 g
Nutrition Facts
Serving Size
92g
Servings
10
Amount Per Serving
Calories 385
Calories from Fat 194
% Daily Value *
Total Fat 22g
34%
Saturated Fat 13g
67%
Trans Fat 1g
Polyunsaturated Fat 1g
Monounsaturated Fat 6g
Cholesterol 110mg
37%
Sodium 581mg
24%
Total Carbohydrates 43g
14%
Dietary Fiber 1g
4%
Sugars 20g
Protein 5g
Vitamin A
14%
Vitamin C
4%
Calcium
12%
Iron
9%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your Daily Values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs.
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Ingredients
  1. 250g salted butter, softened
  2. 200g caster sugar
  3. Zest of three unwaxed lemons
  4. 3 large eggs, beaten
  5. 300g self raising flour
Instructions
  1. Preheat the oven to 170C/ Gas Mark 3
  2. Grease and line a 2lb/900g loaf tin with non-stick baking paper and set aside.
  3. 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.
  4. 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.
  5. 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.
  6. 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.
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calories
385
fat
22g
protein
5g
carbs
43g
more
Charlotte Pike https://www.charlottepike.co.uk/

Date and walnut cake *Updated Post*

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Date and walnut cake

Date and walnut cake

One of the most popular posts on this site is the recipe for date and walnut cake. It makes me so happy to receive regular messages from readers to say how much you’ve enjoyed making and sharing this cake.

For those of you who had read the original post, you’ll know that the recipe is one that had been in the family for years and years and one I remember enjoying throughout my childhood. We thought the recipe might have come from an old Marks and Spencers cookery book, but we were wrong. I have recently uncovered the old recipe in one of my maternal grandmothers cookery books. My mum has a small collection of her cookery books and hand written recipes, and I found the original recipe in there just a few weeks ago. 

I’m amazed to say that the original recipe actually comes from the Queen Mother at Sandringham. It was apparently her favourite cake. We have family up in North Norfolk, and it would appear that my grandmother may have picked this up on a visit to Sandringham, or a relative might have done and passed it on. How exciting!

Whilst I bring you this news and thank you again for all your comments, I thought I’d bring the recipe up to date in metric for you, with a couple of tweaks, and also to update it in the new format I have over here, with printable recipes for you. I hope you continue to enjoy this recipe and to share your stories with me.

Date and walnut cake
Serves 8
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Prep Time
30 min
Cook Time
45 min
Total Time
1 hr 30 min
Prep Time
30 min
Cook Time
45 min
Total Time
1 hr 30 min
384 calories
60 g
50 g
15 g
6 g
7 g
138 g
676 g
33 g
0 g
7 g
Nutrition Facts
Serving Size
138g
Servings
8
Amount Per Serving
Calories 384
Calories from Fat 132
% Daily Value *
Total Fat 15g
23%
Saturated Fat 7g
35%
Trans Fat 0g
Polyunsaturated Fat 4g
Monounsaturated Fat 3g
Cholesterol 50mg
17%
Sodium 676mg
28%
Total Carbohydrates 60g
20%
Dietary Fiber 3g
13%
Sugars 33g
Protein 6g
Vitamin A
8%
Vitamin C
0%
Calcium
15%
Iron
12%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your Daily Values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs.
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Ingredients
  1. 250g whole dates, stones removed and roughly chopped
  2. 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
  3. 300ml boiling water
  4. 250g self raising flour
  5. Pinch sea salt
  6. 100g dark brown soft sugar
  7. 100g salted butter
  8. 50g walnuts, chopped
  9. 1 large egg, beaten
Instructions
  1. The night before you want to make the cake, soak the dates to make them even more soft and fudgy. Place the dates, bicarbonate of soda and boiling water into a bowl, stir and set aside until you are ready to make the cake. Cover with cling film if you like. You can leave this for an hour before using if you’re pushed for time, but I really do think it makes a difference to do it the night before.
  2. Preheat the oven to 180C/Gas Mark 4. Grease and line a 2lb/900g loaf tin and set aside.
  3. To make the cake, put the flour, salt and sugar into a bowl and rub in the butter until the mixture resembles soft breadcrumbs. I like to do this in the Magimix to save time when making this cake at home. Stir in the walnuts, then add the date mixture, liquid and all, along with the beaten egg and stir to bring the cake batter together.
  4. Carefully spoon into the prepared loaf tin and bake for around 45 minutes, until a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean.
  5. Leave to cool in the tin for at least 15 minutes once the cake comes out of the oven, and then transfer to a wire rack to cool fully, peeling off the baking paper, so that the cake does not turn soggy.
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calories
384
fat
15g
protein
6g
carbs
60g
more
Charlotte Pike https://www.charlottepike.co.uk/

Elderflower Cordial

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The elderflowers were out early in Dorset this year, but much later in Oxfordshire. And now, in early July, they are still out in Northern Ireland, where I’ve just returned from this week.

Elderflower has a unique fragrance and is a truly wild ingredient. You can only get it when it’s in season. It’s very easy to find and pick when in flower, and not to be confused for cow parsley growing in the verges.

I like to make it into cordial, using citric acid to stop it fermenting and to allow it to keep for longer. Citric acid is easily obtained from brewing shops and chemists, if you have never bought it before.

This cordial can be diluted with sparking water to make an elderflower pressé, mixed into a gin and tonic or drizzled onto summer fruits, such as strawberries or poached gooseberries. It also goes straight into my elderflower sorbet recipe.

Elderflower Cordial
Yields 1
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7908 calories
2038 g
0 g
0 g
5 g
0 g
3215 g
71 g
1997 g
0 g
0 g
Nutrition Facts
Serving Size
3215g
Yields
1
Amount Per Serving
Calories 7908
Calories from Fat 1
% Daily Value *
Total Fat 0g
0%
Saturated Fat 0g
0%
Trans Fat 0g
Polyunsaturated Fat 0g
Monounsaturated Fat 0g
Cholesterol 0mg
0%
Sodium 71mg
3%
Total Carbohydrates 2038g
679%
Dietary Fiber 3g
11%
Sugars 1997g
Protein 5g
Vitamin A
0%
Vitamin C
20%
Calcium
8%
Iron
16%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your Daily Values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs.
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Ingredients
  1. 2kg caster sugar
  2. 1 litre fresh cold water
  3. 30 large elderflower heads (must be perfect white)
  4. Juice and zest (use a potato peeler to take it off in thick strips) of 2 organic lemons
  5. 50g citric acid
Instructions
  1. Place the sugar into a large pan. Add the water and bring to a simmer, stirring regularly, to ensure the sugar does not stick to the bottom of the pan. Once the sugar is dissolved, turn off the heat and cool. This makes your sugar syrup.
  2. When the sugar syrup is cool, add the remaining ingredients. Stir well and leave, covered in cling film, for 24 hours for the flavours to infuse.
  3. Pass through a sieve to remove the bits, and then a muslin cloth, to get out any last bits.
  4. Bottle and keep in a cool, dark place for six months.
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calories
7908
fat
0g
protein
5g
carbs
2038g
more
Charlotte Pike https://www.charlottepike.co.uk/