Photo from http://www.bbcgoodfood.com

I’m trying to be more adventurous with my baking and has come to the realisation that I don’t have to include chocolate in everything I cook.  It has taken me many years to reach this point and I sometimes decide that only chocolate will do, but on this occasion I wanted something fresh and summery.  A colleague from work was retiring and we decided to have a fuddle n the last day of term. This phrase seems to be a Derbyshire term for everyone bringing something to a shared meal – kind of like an American pot luck.  I’ve just looked up ‘fuddle’ on Google and been slightly shocked by some of the results – no wonder people who live outside of Derbyshire give you funny look when you say it!

I decided that Tana Ramsey’s lemon drizzle cake would be perfect for this occasion, I was also keen to cook it as it was a fairly easy recipe and it needed 45 minutes in the oven and, having been on a school trip to the zoo with my class that day I was feeling utter exhausted, this would be a good excuse opportunity to put my feet up!

For the cake you will need:

225g butter,

225g caster sugar,

4 eggs,

finely grated zest of a lemon,

225g self raising flour,

Preheat the oven to 180°C and line and grease a loaf tin.  Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy, add the eggs one at a time mixing well in between.  Sift in the flour and add the lemon zest and mix well. Pour the mixture into the loaf tin and bake for 45-50 minutes. This is my favourite moment of baking – the opportunity to lick the spoon!  I know some people are a bit funny about eating raw cake mixture, but I seem to have a strong constitution and have got away with it for the past 34 years!  The cake’s cooked when a skewer pushed into the middle of a cake comes out clean.  Leave the cake in the tin to cool.

For the drizzle:

juice of 1 1/2 lemons,

85g caster sugar,

Mix the lemon juice and sugar together.  Prick the cake all over the top and pour the mixture over.  Leave in the tin until completely cool then store in an airtight container.

I’d love to show you a photo of my own, but I managed to delete it from the memory card when we were on holiday thinking I’d already uploaded it!  Honestly!  I’d be dangerous if I had a brain!