The Baker’s Dozen – Lemon Cake
¿Y si pudieras practicar uno de tus hobbies favoritos mientras aprendes inglés? ¿Te gustaría? Si te gusta cocinar aquí te dejamos esta receta en inglés.
Welcome back to the Baker’s Dozen.
Food is an essential part of our lives; not only is it necessary for our survival but it relates to so many memories or important moments in our lives. Think of any special day and the food that formed part of that day for you.
For me, cakes and puddings form part of my key memories. Birthdays celebrated with novelty cakes made by sister, rich Christmas cake made by mother and the ultimate cake of all: my wedding cake. Traditionally, wedding cakes in the UK are made from fruit cake, covered in marzipan and icing but as my husband doesn’t like fruit cake, the top layer was a sponge cake made especially for him. After 20 years of marriage he is still reminding me that he never tried it as it was all eaten before it arrived to him!
I have a sweet tooth and so it’s for this reason that cakes and puddings always stand out for me. My mother in law is a fantastic baker and so many of the cakes of my husband’s childhood are now part of our lives. The first cake that she made for me was Lemon Cake and so it is this recipe that is being shared. We have made this cake so many times, especially for school events where there are a number of parents who wait for the cake to arrive and would love to have the recipe.
Lemon Cake
175g self-raising flour
115g butter
115g sugar
2 eggs
4 tablespoons of milk (about 60ml)
1 lemon – juice and rind
3 tablespoons icing sugar (about 85g)
- Preheat oven to 180ºc
- Line a 2lb loaf tin with baking parchment.
- Put the flour, sugar, butter, eggs, milk and the rind of the lemon in a bowl
- Beat together with an electric whisk for 2-3 minutes until it is light in colour.
- Pour the mixture into the loaf tin and bake for 1 hour.
- To check if it’s done, put a metal skewer into the centre of the cake and if the skewer comes out clean it’s done.
- Whilst it is still hot, make little holes all over the cake with the skewer.
- Mix the icing sugar and lemon juice together and drizzle gently over the top of the cake, allowing the juice to go into the holes made.
- Sprinkle a little sugar over the top.
- Allow to cool in the tin
- When it’s cool take it out of the tin and peel off the paper.
- Slice and enjoy…… Perfect with a cup of tea!
Vocabulary
Sweet tooth: to describe someone who likes sweet or sugary foods
Baker: a person who makes breads or cakes
Icing sugar: azúcar glas
To line: this is the action of placing baking parchment or baking paper in the cake tin to stop the cake from sticking. You normally need to help the paper to stick to the tin by using a little butter to on the sides of the tin first
Loaf tin: a type of mould that you use to make a loaf of bread (pan de molde). The 2lb refers to the weight that the tin would make, this weight measurement is the old system and not the metric system used in Spain. 2lb is roughly equivalent to 1 kg.
Baking parchment: papel de horno
Beat together: the action to mix together ingredients vigourously, e.g. batir los huevos.
Rind: the skin of the fruit but not the white part immediately underneath the rind of citrus fruits
Skewer: a stick that is usually used for cooking kebabs (or pinchos). It’s usually made from wood but for baking a metal skewer is needed.
Drizzle: to pour a liquid over food etc. lightly (salpicar)
Sprinkle: the action of scattering something over a surface e.g. sugar on a cake top
