Today has been a grey day so to cheer myself and my boyfriend up I made a tasty lemon drizzle cake. My boyfriend's mum gave me this recipe and it's too delicious not to share - the cake is so light and fluffy and goes crunchy on top when the lemon icing sets. Nom nom nom. 


You will need (sorry the weights are in ounces, I've never bothered to work out the equivalents!):


4oz margarine/butter
6oz sugar
2 eggs
6oz self raising flour
2-5 tablespoons of milk
2 lemons
3oz icing sugar


Preheat your oven at about 160°c (for fan assisted ovens, about 180°c for standard). Cream the margarine and sugar in a mixing bowl. Sift in the flour and beat in the eggs (I like to put both eggs in a mug first and mix them up so it's easier to add them a bit at a time) and stir until smooth. Grate the lemons and add the rind to the mixture (but don't throw away the lemons themselves as you will need them later) and add 2 to 5 tablespoons of milk to give the mixture 'dropping consistency'. Now I'm no baking expert and have never asked anyone what this means so I have always gone with adding the milk until the mixture drops gently off the wooden spoon and this seems to work fine. Once the mixture is ready get yourself a deep rectangular baking tin and line with baking/greaseproof paper. Spoon the mixture in and pop everything in the over for about 1 hour.


Just before the hour is up, take the lemons and squeeze the juice into a bowl. Add the icing sugar and mix together to give a delicious sugary lemony mixture - I like to give it a whiz with a electric hand whisk to get out any lumps. Once the cake has risen and is golden brown and still a little soft to the touch, grab yourself a knitting needle or kebab stick (or anything long, thin and pointy) and poke the cake evenly all over about 10 times, pushing the needle down to the bottom of the baking tin. Pour the lemon icing sugar all over the cake and allow to cool. It tastes particularly good if you leave it for about an hour and have a slice when the icing sugar is just starting to set and the cake is still warm!


It seems to have a huge amount of sugar in it for a smallish cake, maybe that's why it tastes so good?