The Daring Baker's February 2012 host was - Lis! Lisa stepped in last minute and challenged us to create a quick bread we could call our own. She supplied us with a base recipe and shared some recipes she loves from various websites and encouraged us to build upon them and create new flavor profiles.
Ingredients for cake:
- 180g melted and cooled butter
- 180g plain flour
- 160g sugar
- zest of two unwaxed big lemons
- 1 teaspoon vanilla esence
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 150g candied cherries
- 3 eggs
- pinch of salt
Ingredients for lemon syrup:
- 50 ml lemon juice
- 60g caster sugar
Ingredients for lemon icing:
- 1 cup icing sugar
- around 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 50g candied cherries
1. Heat oven to 180C/fan 160C/gas 4. Beat together eggs and sugar until pale and creamy.
2. Add salt, vanilla essence, zest of 2 lemons.
3. Sift flour and baking powder and add to batter.
4. Slowly add melted butter. Mix well.
5. Sprinkle cherries with flour and add them do batter.
6. Line a loaf tin (8 x 21cm) with greaseproof paper, then spoon in the mixture and level the
top with a spoon.
7. Bake for about 40 mins until a thin skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean.
8. While the cake is in the oven, make the lemon drizzle syrup. Simply heat 60g castor sugar with 50g lemon juice in a small saucepan until the sugar has dissolved & melted completely. (Beware! The liquid easily boils over if you’re not watchful!)
9. When the cake has baked, quickly de-mold from the tin & place upside down on an oven tray. The bottom will be the top of the cake. This way, you’ll get a level top surface perfect for achieving flat icing.
10. Skewer the sponge & spoon the hot syrup over it & let it soak in to the hot sponge.
11. Leave cake to cool completely.
12. Make the paste from lemon juice and icing sugar.
13. Pour the white icing in the middle, all in one go. Let some (but not all) drip to the sides.
14. While the icing is still wet, garnish the top with cherries.
Smacznego :)
Thanks Alecksandra for a simple and delightful recipe! It's truly a break from the norm for me. Can't wait to try it. Also, if you have any recipes for Kutya (I do believe there's a Polish version of the dish) that would be great! Much of Polish cuisine is largely unexplored in the U.S. and the U.K. Thanks for being on the forefront of a very important culinary mission. Being a chefB is about much more than making good food. We're cultural embasadors too!
ReplyDeleteHi Liya :) Thank you for your lovely comment! I have recipe for kutia and I will post it very soon for you :). I agree that food is a part of our cultures and it should be shared with other people.
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