Amalfi lemon drizzle loaf cake

2 HOURS 15 MINUTES + COOLING | SERVES 12 | EASY

Lemon drizzle cake is a classic and it’s a favourite for a reason. Amalfi lemons from Italy have an intense aroma and flavour that makes this cake even better, but you can use regular ones, too. Dress it up further with some tart candied peel.

Amalfi lemons 2

butter 175g, softened, plus extra for the tin

golden caster sugar 175g

self-raising flour 175g

ground almonds 50g

baking powder 1 tsp

eggs 3

LEMON DRIZZLE

Amalfi lemons 2, zested and juiced to get 75ml golden granulated or caster sugar 100g CANDIED PEEL

Amalfi lemon 1

caster sugar 100g, plus extra for coating

1 For the candied lemon, peel the lemon, then slice into thin strips. Heat the caster sugar with 100ml of water until the sugar has dissolved, then simmer the lemon peel until softened. Drain, then immediately toss in plenty more sugar to coat and leave to dry.

2 To make the cake, put the whole lemons in a pan and cover with water. Bring to the boil and simmer for 45 minutes (topping up with more water if needed) or until the lemons can be pierced easily with a knife.

3 Drain the lemons, cool, then cut into quarters, removing any pips. Tip into a food processor and blitz to a smooth purée.

4 Heat the oven to 160C/fan 140C/gas 3 and butter a 900g loaf tin (about 7cm x 9.5cm x 19.5cm), then line the base and sides with baking paper. Put the cooled lemon pulp, butter, sugar, flour, almonds, baking powder and eggs in a large bowl and whisk together until smooth. Scrape into the tin and bake for 1 hour or until a skewer poked into the centre comes out clean.

5 Cool the cake in the tin for 20 minutes, then carefully turn out onto a wire rack. Poke the top with a skewer a few times, then mix together the drizzle ingredients and immediately spoon over the top to coat. Leave to cool completely, then serve in slices topped with the candied peel.

PER SERVING 310 kcals | fat 15.9G saturates 8.2G | carbs 36.7G | sugars 25.1G fibre 1.1G | protein 4.4G | salt 0.5G