I’m currently embarking on the next part of my education as I head off to university! I couldn’t leave without doing a final bake and I chose to make a variation of my Mini Glazed Lemon and Almond Loaves. You can find the original recipe for the Glazed Loaf Cake or the Mini Glazed Loaves by clicking on the posts!
The original recipe had ground almonds in it which gave it a soft and crumbly texture. This variation uses custard powder to lend a sweeter taste and a soft light crumb and the addition of almond extract gives the almond flavour.
Unlike the original version, I use the creaming method to make this cake batter, which involves creaming the margarine with the sugar until it is a few shades lighter, adding in the eggs and flavouring and then the dry ingredients before beating in the lemon juice. I finish the cakes with a good drizzle of lemon glace icing which adds even more lemon flavour.
Instead of fully glazing the tops, I chose to leave the flaked almond surface exposed slightly and just drizzle over the icing. This is much easier than spreading the thick icing over the top but also looks better than the full glazed surface.
For the cake mixture:
200g margarine
225g granulated sugar
3 eggs
Zest of 1 lemon
1 tsp almond extract
275g self raising flour
25g custard powder
80ml lemon juice
30g flaked almonds
For the lemon icing
75g icing sugar
3 – 4 tsp lemon juice
Preheat the oven to 160°C. Grease the inside of four 15 x 8 x 5.5cm loaf tins well.
In a large bowl, cream together the margarine and sugar until it turns a few shades lighter and is fluffy and soft. Then add in the lemon zest and the almond extract and continue to beat for another 30 seconds, which will start to extract the lemon flavour from the zest. Add in the eggs one by one, adding the next one only when the previous has been incorporated. Don’t worry if it curdles.
Sift in the self-raising flour and custard powder and beat again starting on a low speed before mixing on a higher speed for 10 seconds until it is smooth, light and resembles a cake batter. Add in all of the lemon juice and beat once again until incorporated.
Divide the cake batter between the loaf tins; it’s around 225g per loaf tin. Level out the tops in each tin and sprinkle over generously the flaked almonds.
Bake the cakes for around 25 – 30 minutes until the tops of the cakes are risen and have a crack on the surface, the cakes are starting to come away from the edges and an inserted skewer comes out clean. Leave the cakes to cool in the tin for 20 minutes before running a palette knife around the edges and inverting onto a cooling rack.
Make the icing by adding the lemon juice gradually to the icing sugar until you end up with a thick icing which takes around 3 seconds to fall out of a bowl held at 45˚.
Spoon it into a piping bag and cut off a small hole off the end. Drizzle over the icing slowly and diagonally over the loaves so that some of the icing stays to the sides and hangs off slightly. Leave the icing to set before slicing up the loaves.
Andrew in the Kitchen 