Lemon drizzle cake is a staple, traditional cake that every baker should have in their repertoire. This one is an all-in-one cake, decorated as i usually do with edible flowers from the garden( these are Aubrietia), fresh mint and crystallised mint. The perfect cake to have when you need a good chinwag with your friends accompanying a steaming mug of tea.

Ingredients

For the cake

• 400g golden caster sugar
• 400g salted butter
• 8 eggs (medium sized)
• 400g self raising flour
• ½ a vanilla pod
• zest of 2 lemons
• 1tsp baking powder

For the syrup

• Juice of 2 lemons
• 3tbsp golden caster sugar
• 50ml of boiling water

For the lemon icing

• 400g icing sugar
• juice of 1 lemon
• 50ml of water (for thick icing) *or*
• 100ml of water (for runny icing)

Heat your oven up to 170C. Grease and line 2 sandwich tins with greaseproof paper. In a mixer (or a big bowl, if mixing by hand) bung all the ingredients together, preferably flour first, and slowly mix until the ingredients are incorporated. Mix on high for a minute or two for aeration and spoon evenly between your two tins. Smooth the mixture flat and pop them into the oven for about 25-30 minutes or until a knife inserted into them comes out clean. Whilst the cakes are cooking make your syrup by mixing the water, lemon juice and sugar in a jug, until the sugar dissolves. When the cakes come out of the oven, prick them all over with a fork and pour the syrup oven them. Always make sure one or the other is hot when using syrups to flavour a cake; either a hot cake and a cold syrup or a cold cake with a hot syrup. The heat makes it easier for the syrup to absorb rather than pooling around the cake. Make your icing by mixing your sugar, juice and water together until you have a smooth, glossy paste, be it thick or thin, so long as it’s free from lumps. When the cake is cool, decorate it in any way you wish, leaving it plain and simple, maybe with a grating of fresh lemon zest over the top, or slightly more complicated like mine, with whatever you can find to throw on top. However it looks, it’ll be a sure-fire winner.