A Sweet Something for Mother's Day

One of the things we love about our work at fig1.co.uk is that the business is so rooted in our community in Totterdown, Bristol. As well as our local customer base and all our staff, who are active members of this creative part of Bristol, our business is a real family affair.

I am often calling in photography help from my Dad, graphic design help from my brother, my sister sells her illustration work in the shop and I have been known to babysit my niece at work after school. But my mum we really couldn't do without. She helps buying stock at shows, unpacking stock as it arrives, assisting with photo shoots, styling the shop, business planning ... pretty much anything and everything. But then that's Mums isn't it?


We thought this lemon cake recipe was a particularly good and easy way to say thank you. My Mum loves zingy, citrusy tastes and this cake is great for that. A few years ago we made a giant version of this cake for a  friends wedding, which we decorated, at the time, in a summer fashion with icing bunting, fresh flowers and birds. So while making the prototype for the blog we decided to have the happy couple, Seth and Sara, and baby Bea over to help eat it, along with my niece Rosa. It turns out that Bea approves of the recipe.

Easy All in One Lemon Drizzle

Ingredients

225g butter

225g caster sugar

280g self raising flour

2 tsp baking powder

4 eggs

4 tbsp milk

Grated zest of 2 lemons

For the syrup:

The juice of the 2 lemons
225g granulated sugar

Oven: 180 centigrade or gas mark 4

This recipe is a particularly good one to make with the kids for Mum or Gran as it is an all in one recipe, but we do find that the ingredients combine together best if the butter and eggs are at room temperature. Ideally you need an electric hand blender too as it needs a good amount of beating.

Start by zesting the lemons. Weigh out the butter and sugar in the bowl - you can choose to cream them together a little first if you are worried about it combining. Add the lemon zest and weigh all the other dry ingredients into the bowl. In a separate bowl mix together the lemon juice and granulated sugar - set aside for when the cake comes out of the oven. Finally prepare your tin by lightly greasing a 9 inch cake tin or a loaf tin. Once all this is prepared you can start making the batter. 

Pour the egg and milk mix to the dry ingredients. You can whisk the eggs and milk lightly together first if you like. Using the hand blender, blend the ingredients together for a good time until all the lumps of butter have gone.

Spoon the mixture into the tin and bake for around 40 minutes. Check the cake is cooked by putting a skewer into the centre. If the skewer comes out clean it is cooked.

While the cake is hot and still in its tin, pour over the sugar and juice mix. You must do this while the cake is hot as it slightly cooks the juice and crystalizes the sugar. After 15 minutes of cooling you can take the cake out of the tin.

Items in this photo shoot include rose loaf tin by Rice, multi-coloured whisk by Rice, bird gift wrap decorations by Rice, yellow jug by Rice and love, care and attention by fig1.co.uk