"Cheer-Up" Lemon Drizzle Sponge Loaf

Hello again honeys
I'm so sorry I've been missing for the past week, I really haven't been feeling well. Changes in the weather, as all Spoonies know can play havoc with a person's joints, breathing & don't even start me about headaches!  Enough complaining Rosie! On with the recipe!

So today, needing cheering up,  I felt in the mood for something zesty, zingy & lemony, just because 😊 and this happened...

It's sooooo soft and moist and it smells so gooood!

As you can see from the photo above though,  not content with the loveliest, softest lemony sponge I decided it needed to be even more lemony and I covered it with a sticky, sweet, lemony cream cheese frosting!

Who cares about calorie counting, I need cheering up 😊  So honeys, here it is, a "cheer-up" Lemon Drizzle Sponge Loaf, enjoy!

Ingredients:

For Cake:

165g self raising flour
165g caster sugar
165g butter (or margarine will do)
3 medium sized eggs

For Lemon Syrup to Drizzle

60g of granulated sugar
Juice of two lemons
OR
Use 2-3 tablespoons of bottled lemon juice, as I did. Guess who forgot to buy lemons :)

For Cream Cheese Frosting:

NOTE: This is the same cream cheese frosting I used on my giant cupcake recipe, which you can see here. Although I made half the amount (which was more than enough) and substituted lemon juice for the vanilla essence:

25g butter or margarine
50g Philadelphia cream cheese
100g Icing sugar
one teaspoon of lemon juice

Directions:

1. Pre-heat your oven to 160C/320F and prepare your baking tin. I used a loaf tin because I wanted to try out the new liners I bought recently, but use whichever tin you want to use honeys. Make sure it's greased, unless you're using a liner. Now I'm not sure about these liners but it says on the pack that they don't need greasing, because they're silicone lined, so I'll give it a try :) Here is my loaf tin, with a liner inside:

2. Place your caster sugar and butter (or margarine) into a bowl and mix until fluffy

I used, as I always do because of my painful wrists, my little electric mixer, but a wooden spoon would do too honeys. Once the butter and caster sugar are beaten/mixed together....

3. Crack your 3 eggs into a bowl and lightly mix until beaten together. Add around half of your egg mixture to your butter & caster sugar and mix gently.

4. Sift around half of your flour into your mixing bowl and mix through until combined with the caster sugar, butter and eggs. Continue until all of your eggs & flour have been combined.

5. Pour your cake mixture into your prepared tin. I use a silicone spatula to help, it's great at scooping every last bit of cake mixture out of the bowl :)

6. Carefully place into the pre-heated oven, on the middle shelf for 25-30 minutes or until it's golden brown. You should be able to poke the centre with a knife and it should come out clean.

7. Once cooked, remove your cake from the oven, but leave it in the tin (and liner if you're using one) for now. Set it aside on a cooling rack to cool.

8.  Now, we fetch our granulated sugar and lemon juice, honeys.

9. Place your granulated sugar into a saucepan. Add the juice of two freshly squeezed lemons or if you've forgotten to buy lemons as I did 😊 2-3 tablespoons (I used 3 tablespoons) of lemon juice.

Place your saucepan on the stove, switch on the heat to medium high and stir until the sugar dissolves. Don't leave it for a second, it won't take long and you don't want it to burn. When your syrup is ready take it off the heat and continue to stir for a few seconds. Place to one side.

10. Your cake should have cooled a little by now. Carefully, using a knife, poke the knife into the top of the cake all the way down to the bottom of the tin.  Be careful not to damage your cake, you just want to allow your syrup to drain all the way through your cake.

11. Pour your syrup over the top of your cake a little at a time, taking care not to "flood" it and allowing the syrup to soak in, before pouring any more. Use your spatula to push the syrup across the top of your cake, to make sure it's equally spread.  Your cake should look "glossy."

OK, so now you have a choice honeys 😋 you can make some coffee, dive in & munch on a lovely big slice as is...

OR you can lightly dust the top with caster sugar

OR you can make the cake even more lemony and add some cream cheese frosting and drizzle it all over.  Warning though, this frosting is super sweet (and delicious) but again, it's very, very sweet 😊

So, just in case you want to try the frosting.....

12. Into a mixing bowl, sieve 100g of icing sugar.  Add your butter (or margarine) & cream cheese to the bowl. Gently, mix together being careful because that icing sugar likes to escape from the bowl :)

Beat together (this is where the little hand mixer is useful again) until you have a smooth, not runny, mixture.  Add a teaspoon of lemon juice.  Remember your lovely sponge is already very lemony honeys so you won't need so much lemon juice in your frosting.

13. Mix well to make sure your lemon juice is mixed well through. Allow to sit for a few minutes to let your icing "rest."

14.  Using a spatula or a flat knife spread your cream cheese frosting over the top of your cake.  Place into the fridge to chill and allow the frosting to settle.  It won't take long honeys.

Then all you have to do is....

Enjoy :)

So, that's it honeys :) This cake is soooooo good, the perfect comfort food, especially great when you've had not such a great week.  I hope that it's sunny where you are (the rain just won't quit here) that you're all well, and having a great week.

Till next time dear ones, keep smiling. Sending you heaps of hugs xx