Blake Makes

(A Blake Bakes post) Let it be known that I am not a fan of lemons. I don’t even care for the super-sweet summery lemonade. Now, with that officially out there for all of you to judge, I must share a secret. I like Nigella Lawson’s subtle lemon essence in her Mother-in-law’s Madeira Cake (from her book How To Be A Domestic Goddess). It’s basically a lovely butter loaf cake with the purest lemon flavor. Sadly this cake is Madeira free. Sorry folks, maybe next time.

I thank you, Nigella, for opening my eyes to the possibility of a lemon being something I actually like enough to share! The batter for this cake is like nothing I’ve seen before. It really is more like the consistency of nice fluffy icing. I had my doubts when I started smoothing out the blob of batter in the pan. After an hour of wondering if I wrote down a recipe for icing instead of cake I opened the oven door to find a perfectly done buttery rich cake. Just for me! I hope you try this one. It really surprised me.

Nigella Lawson’s Mother-in-law’s Madeira Cake

The Recipe:

• 1 cup softened unsalted butter
• 3/4 cup sugar (plus about 2 tablespoons for sprinkling)
• zest and juice of 1 lemon
• 3 large eggs
• 1 1/3 cup self-rising cake flour (I couldn’t find this so I substituted self-rising flour)
• 1/2 cup all purpose flour

To Make:

1. Pre-heat the oven to 350 and prepare a 9×5 loaf pan (I sprayed some nonstick spray and lined it with parchment paper- another first for me).
2. Cream the butter and sugar until fluffy, add the lemon zest.
3. Add the eggs one at a time with a teaspoon of flour after each addition.
4. Gently mix in the rest of the flour followed by the lemon juice.
5. Pour the batter into prepared pan.
6. Sprinkle about 2 tablespoons sugar on top of smoothed out batter.
7. Bake about 1 hour or until a test stick comes out clean.
8. Cool in pan before turning out. (good luck with waiting till it’s cool to get a taste)

Vickie is a full-time pharmacy technician at a veteran’s hospital. She is currently pursuing her RN degree. She is also a self-proclaimed cookbook addict. Somewhere in between work and school she manages to bake… and spend time with her husband. He may not understand all of her passions but definitely puts up with them and nurtures her through the endless frustrations that come with being obsessed. What a good man.