LEMON DRIZZLE LOAF

I love lemon drizzle cake and this recipe is adapted by one from How to Be a Domestic Goddess, Nigella's wonderful book. I always adapt recipes to reduce the amount of sugar. Most recipes have far too much IMO and that results in super sweetness. I love sweet things but don't want to feel icky after eating cake. I also substitute some or all of the flour with spelt flour. I like spelt's denseness but didn't want this cake to be too dense either. Anyway, it turned out gorgeous: properly lemony, nice and sweet, and sticky on top. In fact, it is calling to me from the tin: Eat more of me!

Ingredients

125g caster sugar
100g self-raising flour

75g spelt flour
125g butter

pinch of salt
zest of 1 large lemon

2 eggs

4 tblsps cow's or soya milk

Drizzle

75g icing sugar
juice of 1 large lemon (4 tblsps)

·        Preheat oven to 180˚C

·        Grease and line a 2lb loaf tin

·        Cream the butter and caster sugar

·        Add the eggs and zest and beat well

·        Add flour and salt and fold in completely

·        Mix through the milk

·        Pour into the cake tin

·        Make the syrup while the cake is cooking by gently heating the lemon and icing sugar until the sugar is melted

·        Bake for 45 minutes or so, until golden on top, make sure it is cooked through with a cake tester/skewer

·        Using your skewer, puncture the top of the cake and pour the syrup evenly over the cake

·        Cool completely in the tin before turning out

SWEET VEGAN BUNS

Good old Nigella - she can always be relied upon for simple, sweet cakes and so it was that I turned to her for a bun/fairycake recipe. I haven't made these since I was a kid but want to make & decorate them for my new baby's Christening, instead of a cake. (I'm not sure the kids in attendance would appreciate my healthy spelt ones...) So we had a practice run this morning - making a vegan version of Nigella's buns - and oh, yum yum!

I'm not sure how Nigella would feel about the veganising of her recipe - she is notoriously disapproving of vegetarians - but these buns are perfectly sweet little mouthfuls. I use Pure's new sunflower spread with Omega 3 & 6 where Nigey uses butter but I doubt if this alters the scrumminess of these buns.

I don't think I'll get to ice them today - my boys are grabbing them from the rack while they are still hot. I'll post the iced ones from Juno's Christening after the 2nd August.

125g caster sugar
125g self-raising flour
125g vegan merg, melted a little (softened)
½ tsp vanilla essence
2tsp NoEgg mixed with 2tblsps water (or 2 eggs for non vegans)
2 tblsps soya milk

Preheat oven to 200˚C
Line a 12-space bun tin
Throw all the ingredients into a bowl, except the milk; beat well with a wooden spoon
Add the milk slowly and beat in gently
Plop the (quite runny) mixture into the bun cases
Bake for 18 to 20 minutes, until golden on top
Cool on a wire rack