Lemon Drizzle Cake Dilemma!

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?!

Lemon Drizzle Cake
Lemon Drizzle Cake

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 –

Lighter Lemon Drizzle Cake, BBC Good Food
Lighter Lemon Drizzle Cake, BBC Good Food

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 –

Lemon and Poppy Seed Cake, with a drizzle of drizzle, on Conde Nast
Lemon and Poppy Seed Cake, with a drizzle of drizzle, on Conde Nast

And I have the tin!

Circle tin with hole in centre
Circle tin with hole in centre

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?

Lemon Drizzle Cake, from Really Nice Recipes
Lemon Drizzle Cake, from Really Nice Recipes

Betty makes a pretty loaf –

Lemon and Lime Cake by Betty
Lemon and Lime Cake by Betty

And I have the tins!

Loaf shape for Carrot Cake with lemon glace glazing
Loaf shape for Lemon Drizzle Cake with lemon glace drizzling

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.)

Double Lemon Drizzle Cake, Delia Smith
Double Lemon Drizzle Cake, Delia Smith
Sticky Lemon and Poppy Seed Cake, Dan Lepard
Sticky Lemon and Poppy Seed Cake, Dan Lepard

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

Round tin for Lemon Cake with Ground Almonds
Round tin for Lemon Cake with Ground Almonds

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.

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