Mini lemon loaf cakes

I can’t believe it is nearly the end of February already! January whizzed by and I actually didn’t bake all month! February has been more productive but it has taken me until now to get around to writing things up! At the start of February, I decided it was about time to try out one of my Christmas presents – the Lakeland mini loaf baking tin. I’m a bit obsessed with little things generally and love my mini sandwich cake tin (but actually don’t use it nearly enough!), so this baking tin was near the top of my wish list this year! After a scour of Pinterest and the internet generally, I realised that there aren’t many recipes out there for mini loaf cakes. I was going to go with a general loaf cake recipe and adapt the baking times, but I found that Lakeland had a few recipes specifically for this tin, so decided to give the lemon loaf cake recipe a go!

The recipe is fairly easy to follow and quick to make. The only slightly frustrating thing is that it uses medium, rather than large, eggs. I only ever have large eggs and so had to lightly whisk three large eggs, weigh the mix and then spoon out the right amount (medium eggs are defined as those that weigh (still in their shells) between 53g and 63g and large are those that weigh between 63g and 73g; egg shells tend to weigh about 6-8g, so I aim for about 160g of whisked egg for this recipe).

If you don’t have ground almonds, you can replace with the same amount of flour, but be aware that the cakes will probably rise more. If you do this, I would suggest not using all of the mix in the cake tin.

When it comes to greasing the mini loaf tin, I find the easiest way by far is to spray it liberally with cake release spray and then just use your fingers to ensure that all sides are coated. This means that the cakes come out smoothly and perfectly!

The mini lemon loaf cakes are very cute! I topped mine with a piped zig-zag drizzle of the lemon icing but you could simply spoon the icing on, or water the icing down a little more and use it as a glaze rather than an icing. The cakes were moist and zesty and kept really well (in a cake tin) for about 5 days. They would be fab for an afternoon tea party, with lots of other mini cakes and treats! Definitely a recipe that I’ll be using again!

Mini lemon loaf cakes

Ingredients

1. 200g unsalted butter, softened, plus extra to grease
2. 175g golden caster sugar
3. 2 unwaxed lemons
4. 3 medium eggs, beaten
5. 200g plain flour
6. 2 level tsps baking powder
7. Pinch of salt
8. 50g ground almonds
9. 2 tbsp milk
10. 150g icing sugar, sifted

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F.
2. Lightly grease the loaf tin (ideally, spray with cake release spray).
3. Cream together the butter and caster sugar until pale, light and fluffy.
4. Grate the zest from the lemons, reserve 2 tsp zest to decorate, and add the rest to the mixture. Gradually add the beaten eggs, mixing well between each addition.
5. Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt.
6. Fold these dry ingredients into the cake mixture.
7. Fold in the ground almonds.
8. Add the milk and the juice from one lemon and mix until smooth.
9. Divide the mixture between the Mini Rectangular Loaf Tin and level with a teaspoon.
10. Bake on the middle shelf of the oven for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown and springy, turning the tin after about 18 minutes to ensure that the cakes bake evenly.  
11. Leave the cakes to cool in the tin for 10 minutes then ease out onto a wire rack and leave until completely cool.
12. Meanwhile, squeeze the juice from the remaining lemon.
13. Mix the lemon juice into the icing sugar a little at a time, until the icing is smooth and runny and will coat the back of a spoon (it will need to be thicker – about the consistency of toothpaste – if you want to pipe the icing).
14. Drizzle the icing sugar over the cakes and sprinkle with the reserved zest.

Sticky Ginger Cake with lemon drizzle icing

It’s been a busy baking weekend! It was the Ever Hungry Husband’s (EHH) birthday last week while we were on holiday, and so, as tradition goes, he has to take cakes into work. The trouble is, there are over 60 people to feed at his work! The easy (and cheaper) thing to do would have been to get him to buy 6 bags of 10 doughnuts from the supermarket. But I like a challenge!

So, after a lot of deliberation and searching of the recipe books and files, we decided on Sticky Ginger Cake, flapjacks, Apple Amazing Cake, Raspberry Bakewell Slices and a Caramel Layer Cake.

The great thing about my Sticky Ginger Cake recipe is that it keeps for up to 2 weeks – the flavour keeps developing and it keeps beautifully moist and sticky. I’ve had the recipe for ages – no idea where it came from originally! However, if you follow the instructions carefully, it comes out beautifully every time and tastes fantastic!

Sticky Ginger Cake with lemon drizzle icing

Ingredients

1.    225g self-raising flour

2.    1 level tsp bicarbonate of soda

3.    2 tbsp ground ginger

4.    2 tsp ground cinnamon

5.    2 tsp ground mixed spice

6.    115g butter, cut into cubes, plus extra for greasing

7.    115g dark muscovado sugar

8.    115g black treacle

9.    115g golden syrup

10. 250ml whole milk

11. 85g drained stem ginger, finely chopped

12. 1 egg 

For the icing

1.    100g icing sugar, sifted

2.    Finely grated zest of 1 lemon

3.    Lemon juice

Method

1. Preheat the oven to fan 160C/conventional 180C/gas 4. Butter and line an 18cm round, 7cm deep cake tin with parchment paper.
2. Put the flour, bicarbonate of soda and all the spices into a large mixing bowl.
3. Add the butter and rub it into the flour with your fingertips until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs.
4. Put the sugar, treacle, syrup and milk in a medium saucepan and heat, gently stirring until the sugar has dissolved.
5. Turn up the heat and bring the mixture to just below boiling point. (It will split and go lumpy at this point – don’t panic! This is normal!)
6. Add the stem ginger to the flour mixture, then pour in the treacle mixture, stirring as you go with a wooden spoon.
7. Break in the egg and beat until all the mixture is combined and it resembles a thick pancake batter.
8. Pour this into prepared tin and bake for 50 minutes-1 hour, until the cake springs back when touched.
9. Leave to cool completely in tin before turning cake out. (To freeze: wrap in greaseproof paper, then in cling film. Freeze for up to 1 month.)
10. To make the icing, mix together icing sugar and lemon zest, then gradually add lemon juice until you have a smooth, slightly runny icing, adding more juice, if needed.
11. Put icing into a disposable piping bag and drizzle icing in a zig-zag pattern over surface of cake, turn cake around and drizzle again to create the cross-hatched finish.
12. Cake keeps for up to 2 weeks stored in an airtight container.