Lemon and thyme cake
- Prepare
- less than 30 mins
- Cook
- 30 mins to 1 hour
- Serve
- Serves 6–8
- Dietary
- Pregnancy-friendlyVegetarian
A simple, moist lemon sponge soaked with thyme and lemon syrup. Tastes wonderful served with thick, creamy Greek-style yoghurt.
Ingredients
For the cake
- 200g/7oz butter
- 200g/7oz golden caster sugar
- 100g/3½oz plain flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 100g/3½oz ground almonds
- 4 free-range eggs
- 1 lemon, zest only
- 1 tsp thyme leaves
For the syrup
To serve (optional)
- Greek-style yoghurt
Method
Preheat the oven to 160C/140C Fan/Gas 3. Line a 900g/2lb loaf tin with baking paper.
To make the cake, cream the butter with the sugar in a food mixer until pale and fluffy. In a separate bowl, sift together the flour and baking powder then mix with the ground almonds.
Lightly beat the eggs in a jug, then fold them into the butter mixture in two or three sessions, beating them in thoroughly each time. If the mixture looks as if it is about to curdle, stir in some of the flour.
Grate the zest from the lemon into a bowl and mix it with the thyme leaves. Pound the two together with a pestle, or some other heavy weight, then stir into the cake mixture.
Gradually mix in the flour, baking powder and almond mixture.
Spoon the cake mixture into the lined tin and bake for 45 minutes (if dividing the mixture into smaller tins reduce the time accordingly).
To make the syrup, place the sugar and lemon juice in a saucepan over a moderate heat and heat until the sugar has dissolved. Stir in the thyme leaves (a few flowers would be good here too). As the cake comes out of the oven, spike the surface all over with a skewer and spoon over the syrup.
Leave to cool and serve in slices with thick yoghurt alongside, if you like.
