When Life Gives You Lemons... BAKE!

Lemons are one of my all time favourite ingredients to bake with especially during the summer months. There's something much more delicious about a refreshing lemon cake when the weathers that bit hotter. I've tried so many different variations of lemon cake over that past few months but I finally think that I may have perfected it. This cake is made up of a moist lemon sponge, a gooey lemon curd centre, and is covered in tangy lemon butter cream. I've kept it simple and decorated it with fresh lemon and mint leaves dusted with icing sugar.  

Ingredients 

( Makes an 8 inch round cake)

FOR THE CAKE 

450g Caster Sugar

450g Butter (softened)

8 Eggs 

450g Self Raising Flour (sieved)

Rind of 2 lemons 

FOR THE BUTTERCREAM 

300g Butter (softened)

600g Icing Sugar 

2 tbsp fresh Lemon Juice 

3-4 tbsp Boiling Water 

FOR THE LEMON CURD

2 Eggs (lightly beaten) 

200g Caster Sugar 

3 Lemons (juice of all three, zest of one)

75g Butter 

Method

FOR THE CAKE 

1) Preheat your oven to 180C/ 350F / Gas Mark 5, grease your baking tin  with oil or melted butter and line it with grease proof paper

2) Cream the butter and sugar together using your electric mixer until fully combined. The secret for this cake is to be patient when mixing.

3) Add in the eggs one by one and continue to mix.

4) Once combined again, start to add in the sieved flour, one spoon at a time as you mix 

5) Once all the flour is in, add the lemon rind and continue to mix - be patient and allow the mixture to form a light fluffy texture 

6) Pour the mixture into your lined baking tin and bake for approximately 40-50 mins until golden brown and no longer gooey in the centre 

7) Once cooked, leave the cake to cool on a wore tray while you prepare the lemon curd and butter cream 

FOR THE LEMON CURD 

1) Whisk the eggs and sugar in a large heat proof bowl until combined

2) Add in the lemon juice and rind and continue to stir

3) Then add the butter and sit the bowl over a saucepan of simmering water, ensuring that the bowl does by actually touch the water 

4) Stir the mixture until the butter has melted and then leave for a further 10 minutes stirring from time to time - the mixture should have thickened but leave the bowl to sit to one side until you are ready to use it so it thickens further. You probably won't use all the curd in the cake so enjoy it on toast or digestive biscuits - yum! 

FOR THE BUTTER CREAM 

1) Mix the butter and sugar together in the electric mixer until creamy (be patient it might take a while) 

2) Then add in the lemon juice and continue to beat 

3) Finally add in the boiling water and beat at a high speed until light and fluffy 

To Assemble

1) Using a long bread knife, slice the cake in two 

2) Separate the layers and squeeze fresh lemon juice or a few tsp of lemon liquor into each

3) Then spread the lemon curd onto one half, topped by a layer of butter cream

4) Sit the plain layer on top of the other and completely cover the cake in the remaining butter cream 

5) Decorate as you wish and enjoy! 

You can also use the same recipe to create these cute lemon cupcakes. Simply half the ingredients, follow the same recipe, but, divide the mix into cupcake cases rather than one baking tin.

Cupcake Minis

So I turned 21 this week which came as a bit of a shock to the system with officially being an adult and all that, but, I wasn't making the transition without one final almost tea party! Besides, what's a party without lots of cake? Along with my Chocolate Tower Cake, I decided to make a few batches of cupcake minis in a selection of different flavours for my party.  I went with a batch of vanilla, a batch of chocolate and a batch of lemon drizzle. The cake and buttercream recipes are both extremely easy to follow and I'd definitely recommend giving them a go. Just so you know, each recipe starts out the exact same and the flavours are added nearer to the end.

Ingredients

FOR ONE BATCH OF TWELVE

225g Butter

225g Caster Sugar

4 large Eggs

225g Self Raising Flour (sieved)

Rind of one lemon OR 2 tbsp Cocoa Powder OR 1 tbsp Vanilla Extract

Method

FOR ONE BATCH OF TWELVE

1) Preheat your oven to 180C/ 360F/ Gas Mark 4

2) Cream the butter and sugar together in a mixing bowl until nice and fluffy

3) While the butter and sugar are mixing, line your small cupcake tray with mini cupcake cases

4) Add the eggs to the mixture, one at a time, and continue to beat

5) When combined, add the sieved flour, one spoon at a time, and mix until light and fluffy

6) Add in the flavouring of your choice (the cocoa powder, lemon rind or vanilla extract) and mix again

7) Spoon roughly a tsp of the mixture into each muffin case and bake in the oven for 10 -15 mins (check the cupcakes after 10 mins and leave in if not yet golden brown in colour) 

8) Leave the cupcakes to cool fully on a wire wrack before icing - while you're waiting you can get cracking on the buttercream...

Ingredients 

FOR THE BUTTER CREAM

50g Butter (softened)

100g Icing Sugar

I tsp Lemon Juice OR 1 tsp Vanilla Extract OR 50g Melted Chocolate and 1 tbsp Cocoa Powder

2 tbsp Boiling Water

Method

FOR THE BUTTER CREAM

1) Cream the butter and icing sugar together in your electric mixer until light and fluffy (the lighter the better)

2) Add in either the lemon juice OR the vanilla extract OR the cocoa powder (if you are making the chocolate cupcake minis, add the cocoa powder first and when combined add in the melted chocolate, one spoon at a time)

3) Continue to beat and add the boiling water, again, one tbsp at a time

4) Beat for a further few minutes and you're ready to decorate

 You can then decorate the cupcakes however you wish. I piped the icing using different techniques on each of the different styles and used "Princess sprinkles" which I bought in Lidl. 

Lemon & Lime Summer Cupcakes

If you're looking for something Summery and that little bit different to make for a BBQ or garden party, these Lemon & Lime Cupcakes are what you need. They take a little bit longer to make than regular cupcakes because of the lemon & lime drizzle, but they're still a pretty handy dessert :) So here goes....

Ingredients

FOR THE CAKE MIXTURE...

225g Caster Sugar

225g Butter/ Margarine (softened)

225g Self Raising Flour (sieved)

4 eggs

Rind of 2 Lemons

Rind of 1 Lime

FOR THE DRIZZLE...

120g Caster Sugar

Juice of 2 Lemons (-2 tsp)

Juice of 1 Lime

FOR THE LEMON BUTTER CREAM....

200g Icing Sugar

100g Butter (softened)

2 tbsp Lemon Juice

Method

1) Preheat your oven to 180C/ 350F/ Gas Mark 4 and line a muffin tray with 12 muffin cases
2) Cream the butter and sugar together in a mixing bowl
3) When combined and creamy, add in the eggs, one by one and continue to mix
4) Add in the sieved flour, one spoon at a time, until the mixture is light and fluffy
5) Add in the lemon and lime rind and continue to mix the fluffy mixture
6) Spoon 2-3 spoonfuls of the mixture into each muffin case and bake in the oven for 15-20 mins (you will know they're done when the tops are golden brown)
7) Leave them to cool on a wire rack while you make the drizzle...

8) For the drizzle, put the lemon juice, the lime juice and the sugar in a small pot over a low heat and stir until  combined 

9) When combined , turn off the heat and leave it to sit while you use a sharp knife to poke a cross shape into the top of each muffin

10) Using a spoon, pour the drizzle into the crack on top of each cupcake and watch it soak in ( this can be messy so I usually put the cupcakes on a tray or plate so the drizzle doesn't go everywhere!)

11) Then leave your cupcakes to sit and cool while you make the butter cream...

12) For the Lemon Butter Cream, cream the butter and sugar together in a mixing bowl until light and fluffy
13) Add the Lemon Juice and continue to mix
14) Use a piping bag or the back of a spoon to ice each of the cupcakes and use small lemon or lime wedges for decoration

Easter Cupcakes

I decided that I definitely needed to make some sort of cupcakes this year for Easter and despite having made my Lemon Drizzle Cupcakes with Lemon Buttercream and posting about them before, I couldn't resist baking them again :) I thought they'd be a good flavour for Spring time and that the yellow coloured butter icing would look well with Mini Eggs for decoration. I also thought about baking Vanilla Cupcakes with Vanilla flavoured buttercream so as I go along I'll show you how to make the two flavours :)

Ingredients

FOR THE CAKE MIX

225g Butter (Softened)

225g Caster Sugar

225g Self Raising Flour (sieved)

4 Eggs

Rind of 2 Lemons OR 1 tbsp of Vanilla Essence

Method

1) Preheat the oven to 180C/ 350F/ Gas Mark 4

2) Cream the softened butter and sugar together in a mixing bowl

3) When the mixture is light and fluffy, add in the eggs one at a time and continue to mix

4) If you're making the Vanilla Cupcakes, add your spoon of vanilla essence in now

5) Spoon the flour into the mixing bowl - one spoon at a time, until all the flour is in

6) If you're making the Lemon version, add in your lemon rind and continue to mix

7) Once the mixture is light and fluffy stop mixing and leave it to sit while you line a muffin tray with bun cases

8) Put one to two spoonfuls of the mixture into each bun case and bake in the oven for approximately 15 minutes until they are golden brown

9) Leave the buns to cool on a wire tray while you make your buttercream frosting

For the Buttercream...

YOU WILL NEED....

775g Icing Sugar

250g Butter (softened)

1 tbsp Lemon Juice OR Vanilla Essence

1) Cream the butter and the sugar together in your mixing bowl again 

2) When the mixture is light and fluffy add in either the lemon juice or vanilla essence and continue to mix

To assemble the Cupcakes...

Either using a piping bag or simply a spoon, ice the cupcakes and stick as many Mini Eggs on top to decorate.

I used this piping nozzle to ice my Easter Cupcakes

Sticky Lemon Drizzle Loaf

More great news :D - I've started working in our local restaurant come deli; The Coffee Shop here in Wicklow Town. I'm so happy - someone has definitely been looking out for me over these past few weeks :) I had my first day yesterday which was pretty hectic - waiting tables and learning to use the ever so confusing coffee machine. I haven't spent any time in the kitchen yet, but, hopefully after a bit of practice, and, if all goes well, I'll be making salads, scones and breads soon. Everyone has to start out somewhere even if its taking orders, waiting tables, cleaning up and washing dirty dishes!

Back to the Cake!

Despite being wrecked after my pretty busy first day, I couldn't resist making a Lemon Drizzle Loaf when I returned home. They're super easy to make and they don't really involve the use of many ingredients, so you should have everything you need at home. 

Here goes....

INGREDIENTS                                                         

225g Butter/ Margarine (softened)                                    
225g Caster Sugar                                                               
225g Self Rasing Flour (sieved)
Zest of 3 Lemons
4 Eggs

METHOD

1) Preheat the oven to 180C/ 350F/ Gas Mark 4
2) Cream the butter and sugar together in a mixing bowl
3) When nice and creamy, add in the eggs, one at a time & continue to mix
4) Add in the sieved flour - spoon by spoon, followed by the lemon zest
5) When the mixture in light and fluffy, stop mixing and pour into a loaf tin greased with melted butter or lined with greaseproof paper and place it in the oven for 40 - 45 minutes

FOR THE DRIZZLE...

115g Caster Sugar

Juice of 3 Lemons

1) Put the lemon juice and the sugar in a small pot and combine the two over a low heat

2) When you have taken the cake out of the oven, make sure to leave it in the tin

3) Using a sharp knife, poke small slits all over the top of the cake

4) Then pour the lemon drizzle over the loaf and it will soak through the loaf

5) Dust over the loaf with icing sugar and enjoy

The Coffee Shop
serves freshly baked scones,
breads, croissants, homemade cakes, muffins,
slices, gourmet sandwiches & salads along
with many different types of coffee!! 
I can't wait to see how everything's made :)

Lemon Drizzle Cupcakes with Lemon Buttercream

So seens as the first week of January's over and everyone's back to the usual work and school routine I've decided to share a cheeky Cupcake recipe - I think we all might need a little cheering up :) 

For these Lemon Drizzle Cupcakes you basically 
follow an ordinary Lemon Drizzle Cake recipe which is really simple...


INGREDIENTS

FOR THE CUPCAKE BATTER

225g Butter

225g Caster Sugar

225g Self Raising Flour (sieved)

Zest of 3 Lemons

4 eggs

FOR THE LEMON DRIZZLE

Juice of 3 Lemons (-1 tbsp)

90g Caster Sugar

FOR THE LEMON BUTTERCREAM

100g Butter

200g Icing Sugar

1 tbsp Lemon Juice

 FOR THE CUPCAKES....

1) Preheat your oven to 180C/ 350F/ Gas Mark 4
2) Cream the butter and sugar together in a food mixer until the mixture is light and creamy
3) Add in the eggs one by one and continue to mix
4) Add in the sieved flour - spoon by spoon until the  mixture is light and fluffy
5) Grate the zest  of the lemons and add it to the mixer
6) Line a muffin/cupcake tray with bun cases and put 2 spoonfuls of the mixture into each case
7) Cook for approx. 20 mins
8) When cooked, leave the buns to cool in the tray

FOR THE LEMON DRIZZLE....

1) Put the lemon juice into a small pot over a low heat
2) Gradually add the sugar and stir
3) When all of  the sugar is dissolved remove the pot from the heat
4) Using a skewer, poke holes all over the top of each of the cupcakes (they should still be in the tray)
5) Using  a spoon pour the lemon drizzle over each of the cupcakes allowing it to drizzle into each of the holes
6) Leave the cupcakes to sit while you make the icing

FOR THE LEMON ICING...

1) Cream the butter and sugar together in a food mixer

2) When the mixture is light and fluffy, add the lemon juice

3) When the cupcakes have cooled fully begin to ice them (I use two spoons for this - it works pretty well)

Enjoy!!! :)