let them eat cake

Using up: half a lemon, dried cherries
I fancied a cake - both making one, and consuming it. We don’t have them often, but last night I decided I would. And it would use up the half a lemon that was in the fridge :)
This is based on a Nigella recipe, and works really well.
Cream 250g marge or butter, then beat in 200g golden caster sugar. You really do need a food mixer for this - or a very strong arm.
Sift 210g of self raising flour, and 90g of plain (or just use plain with 3tsp baking powder - less faff).
Add three eggs to the butter/sugar mix, one at a time, following each with a tablespoon of flour (does that make sense?). Then fold in the rest of the flour. Add 1 tsp of vanilla extract.
The recipe says 4 tablespoons of milk at this stage, but I don’t bother measuring - just pour it in slowly until you get a soft, dropping consistency. Then I added a handful of dried sour cherries (I bought a big bag full in Costco, and forgot about them), and the juice of the aforementioned half lemon.
Put in a loaf tin, and ust the top with more caster sugar if you like - it gives a nice shiny sugary finish. Bake at gas 3 / 170° for an hour, or until a skewer comes out clean.
Tip: I buy loaf tin liners from Lakeland - I’m not very good at cake, and this means the beasts emerge from the tin with no hassle. Well worth it, IMV.
Tags: baking, cake
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