Sweet Treats
One of my favourite ingredients to use while baking, especially during the summer months, is lemon. The zesty, bitter taste of lemon is perfect for a warm summer day. As we’ve finally had a spot of sun these past few weeks, I’ve created a tray bake to satisfy the senses. This lemon drizzle traybake is the ideal summer party treat and is always a hit. This soft, sticky sponge will take around an hour or so to make, but is worth every second.
Sponge ingredients
- 250g sugar
- 275g plain flour
- 250g butter
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 4 eggs
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- Zest of two lemons
- Juice of half lemon.
Lemon drizzle icing
- Juice of one to two lemons l 200g icing sugar.
Preheat your oven to Fan 180° / 200° / Gas Mark 4.
To make your lemon sponge, combine your sieved flour, baking powder, and sugar in a large mixing bowl. In another separate bowl, whisk together the eggs, vanilla extract and softened butter.
You can use a stand mixer, or handheld mixer for this to fully combine the butter and eggs.
Mix your dry ingredients in with the wet ingredients little by little to avoid lumps in the batter. Once all your ingredients are together, add in the lemon zest and lemon juice. Mix well and set aside.
Butter and line an 8” square baking tin. Pour all your batter into the tray and spread evenly. Bake your cake for 30-35 minutes, or until golden brown and a skewer comes out of the centre clean. Leave your sponge to cool for 15 minutes before removing from the tray and setting aside.
To make the lemon drizzle icing, place the juice of one and a half lemons in a pot and heat slowly. You don’t want this to boil or simmer. When your lemon juice is hot to the touch, but not too hot, whisk in your icing sugar. The icing sugar will melt down in the hot lemon juice creating a sweet syrup.
If you want a thicker icing, add more icing sugar as you go until you reach desired consistency. You can spread this icing on top like royal icing for a lovely shiny finish.
Sweet cake
Poke a few holes in your sponge cake while it’s still lukewarm and pour the syrup slowly over top, allowing it to spill over the edges. The syrup will seep through the sponge creating a sticky, sweet cake.
Cut your cake into squares and sieve icing sugar over top to finish.
