Lemon Drizzle Bundt Cake

It’s all about the bundt. I have a growing obsession with bundt tins, which appears to have extended to any shaped tin. Here I am again. I find myself in receipt of the latest eBay purchase… a savarin pan. These lovely tins make a really impressive cake with very little effort. This cake looks as beautiful as it tastes, and is a perfect centre piece to any table. 

 My three top tips for shaped cake glory:

1. Prepare your tin with cake release spray and a dusting of flour.
2. Use an oven thermometer - this is much more accurate than relying on dials.
3. Leave the cake to cool fully in the tin. It means it’s much firmer on ‘release’. 

This recipe is based on one I found in the Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook (Ryland, Peters and Small, 2009). It just has a few tweeks which I find makes it a little more reliable!

Makes about 12 decent slices.

You’ll need a 25cm bundt or ring tin.

Ingredients:

Sponge 

• 85g unsalted butter, softened
• 245g golden caster sugar
• Zest of 2 unwaxed lemons
• 10g poppy seeds
• 165ml milk
• 235g plain flour
• 2 level tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 3 egg whites

Syrup

• Juice and zest of one unwaxed lemon
• 50g golden caster sugar

Lemon glaze

• Juice of 1 lemon 
• 250g icing sugar

Method:

Prepare your tin - this is the bit that prevents poor results. Get this bit right and you’re laughing. You can grease it with butter, but I find the only fail-safe option is to spray the tin with Dr Oetker Cake Release and dust with flour. 

 Sponge

• Mix the butter, sugar, lemon zest and poppy seeds.
• Add the milk a bit at a time - it’s going to look a bit curdled, but fear not. Trust the cake…
• Mix the flour, baking powder and salt in a separate bowl.
• Slowly add this to the main mix and beat until pale and fluffy.
• In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form. It probably isn’t necessary to hold it over your head to check, but I always do… Take care to ensure the bowl and your whisk beaters are scrupulously clean, dry and free from grease (unless you want a damp squib…).
• Mix about a tablespoon of the egg mix into your main mix. This gets the party started.
• Add the rest of the egg whites in three goes, each time folding the mix in. Don’t beat it to death, or your lovely creation will be as flat as a pancake…
• Gently pour the mix into your tin, and level off slightly.
• Pop in the oven at 170c/Gas 3 for about 45 minutes, or until a skewer comes out clean. It’s really important that it’s cooked through, or the cake will come out in pieces.

Syrup

• Whilst the cake is doing its magic in the oven, you can make the syrup.
• Put the sugar, juice, zest and 100ml of water in a saucepan on a low-medium heat and bring to the boil.
• Whack up the heat and reduce by half.
• The finished result should be syrupy but not gloppy (too thick).

The Transformation

• When the cake is out, leave it in the tin and prick it all over with a skewer.
• Spoon over the syrup. Try to avoid the edges as it makes the cake stick to the tin a bit…
• Leave the cake to cool completely in the tin.
• When cool, run a knife round the cake, just to loosen any bits the syrup got to.
• Pray.
• Then put a plate over the cake tin and turn it upside down!
• Don’t be tempted to faff with it if it doesn’t fall away straight away. Gravity is a powerful thing. It’ll come free!

Glaze

• Mix the icing sugar with the lemon juice to make the glaze. This should run off your spoon easily.
• Decorate as you so desire. I used a teaspoon to flick the glaze back and forth to make this pattern.

Bloggers: Please respect the fact I am sharing my own ideas and recipe. Blood, sweat and many tears have gone into getting this right, so you may enjoy a perfect bundt. If you wish to re-blog a recipe from these variations, please credit my blog and link to this original post rather than pasting the recipe on your own page. 

Please see my Creative Commons Copyright information for more details. Thank you.

Enjoy! As always, let me know how you get on and feel free to ask questions x