Gwen Morris' Crispy Lemon Cake

Next week I am going to my first Clandestine Cake Club meeting in Dunham Massey. The theme of said event is "Fabulous Family Recipes" so I immediately turned to my Nan Gwen's trusty recipe binder which is full of loads of old school treats that I am yet to try.

Photo taken by Terry McNamara 11/08/13

Her Crispy Lemon Cake really appealed to me, not only because it sounded yummy but also because she appeared to have written the recipe out twice so it must be good!

Seeing as my cake is going to be shared with members of the general public, I thought I would do a practice run and take the results in to school. As my cake is full of ladies who bake, I thought I could get some constructive criticism about how I could improve before the main event.

I had to double the quantities from my Nan's original which was only supposed to be a small cake and I really felt I didn't have the confidence to put all the ingredients in the bowl at once as the recipe instructed but other than that I totally stuck to it.

The feedback from my colleagues was very pleasing. Hayley said it was "unreal". One of the science technicians said the crispy lemon topping "reminded her of a pancake". Everyone said I should keep it exactly as it is and not add anything to it so as not to complicate the flavours. I personally wasn't very happy with the colour of it so am going to bake the cake at a lower temperature next time. Also one of the science teachers thought the bottom layer was a little "too moist" so I might try and make sure the cakes cool a little more before I sandwich them together.

So, much like The Amazing Christmas Cake from last year my lovely Nan has come up trumps again with her fab recipes so I am again feeling very grateful that I'm the lucky one to have ended up with her binder! Can't wait for the Cake Club now and I will be sure to tell everyone about my ace Nan when I am there!

Recipe:

For the cake:
225g butter
340g caster sugar
4 eggs
The zest of 2 lemons
340g self-raising flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
8 tablespoons milk

For the icing:
225g caster sugar
The juice of 2 lemons

Preheat the oven to 160 degrees C. Start the cake off by creaming the butter - which should be at room temperature - and sugar together in a mixing bowl.

Add the eggs to the bowl and mix well. Add the grated lemon zest.

Sift the flour and baking powder into the bowl.

Mix in the flour before adding the milk which will make the mixture a wee bit more liquid. The cake mix tastes and smells really yummy! Split the cake mix between two 20cm cake tins. As I'm a pauper I only have one tin so had to do mine separately.

Put the cakes into the oven for around 25 - 30 minutes, or until risen and light golden brown on top.

In the meantime, prepare the icing. Squeeze the lemons.

Mix the lemon juice and sugar together to make a sugary lemony sauce - very much like what you have on pancakes!

When the cakes come out of the oven, prick both all over with a skewer and drizzle each layer with the lemon drizzle and leave to cool.

If desired, decorate the top layer with a few more sprinkles of lemon zest. Sandwich both cakes together before leaving to cool.

Cut the cake when cold and enjoy.

EDIT 13/08/13: This cake has been on a long journey since I first made it! The recipe has been featured in The Clandestine Cake Club Book and I also recently made it for Forget-Tea-Not afternoon tea to raise funds for the Alzheimer's Society (which is when the lovely photos were taken by Terry McNamara)!