For the fifth Concert at Cratfield I planned a new Carrot Cake recipe, only the concert goers were not keen on my moist Carrot Cake, bursting with carrots, raisins and walnuts, the lemon glaze cutting through the sweetness of the cake … So, I need to try something else. Lemon Drizzle Cake is often mentioned so I consulted Food Blog Search and found 1,900,000 entries! Tastespotting has only 34 entries – I’ll start there. There are several decisions for this cake: shape, appearance (decoration), and recipe (poppy seeds?polenta?almonds?) I will need more than one cake – help, Friends?!

Firstly appearance. I like the glazing of the cake above – and the ‘large’ round (and a recipe which includes ground almonds). But I already use a lemon glaze and need another ‘look’ – no icing? Rather uninviting in a round cake –

What about a smidgen of drizzle? I think this looks quite elegant in a round shape, or a circle with a hole in the centre –

And I have the tin!

And perhaps it should be a loaf shape, like this cake – (were the concert goers intimidated by the ridges on the Carrot Cake?) Long loaf shapes are useful for cake stalls and sales, but how do I make this shape attractive?

Betty makes a pretty loaf –

And I have the tins!

And then there is the dilemma of which recipe. Delia Smith adds poppy seeds, as does the exciting Dan Lepard in Short and Sweet, but he also adds oatmeal! (Katrin’s version follows.)

Ground almonds figure in the BBC recipe, with a solid round shape and I have the tin!

Felicity Cloake at the Guardian addresses the problem of ‘which recipe’. I think I will try

• Mary Berry‘s plain cake in a loaf tin with a sugar ‘frosting’
• Delia Smith with added poppy seeds, or Dan Lepard, who adds oatmeal (as well as poppy seeds) for what users call a ‘rustic’ flavour, in a circular tin with a hole in the middle with a drizzle of drizzle
• The BBC publishes a recipe with ground almonds in a beautiful, solid round cake
• And finally I remembered Jane Grigson, who makes a Carrot and Almond Cake, flavoured with lemon, but I don’t have her recipe book with me in Suffolk, so her ideas will have to wait.