Isn't it strange the difference that a week can make? This time seven days ago, all I wanted was comfort food. Rich risottos, warming spice cakes, pasta overload. All I can think about now is bright colours and light, spring-like foods.
It might be because of what I saw when I opened the blinds this morning.
It is a perfect morning here in London. Sunny and crisp with a sky that makes a million promises. True there aren't any leaves on the trees yet but I'm hoping they won't be too far away.
The other reason I might be feeling brighter is this pile of glistening yellow lemon zest that I was grating at some ridiculous hour this morning (= before 10am). I knew as soon as I opened the bag of lemons and was overwhelmed by the smell of summer that this cake would be good.
This afternoon I am going to visit my grandmother for tea. My mother was never much of a cake baker so my grandmother's homemade cakes form some of my earliest cake memories. As my father has been a coeliac since before I was born, her cakes were always gluten-free although you'd be hard pushed to know.
This cake could, obviously, very easily be made non-gluten free by using self-raising flour rather than the gluten-free flour and baking powder.
Gluten-free lemon drizzle cakeAdapted from a recipe by Tana Ramsay
For the cake:225g unsalted butter, softened225g caster sugar4 eggs225g all-purpose/plain gluten-free flour (I used Dove's Farm)2 tsp gluten-free baking powder Zest of 2 lemons
For the drizzle:Juice of 1.5 lemons85g caster sugar
1. Pre-heat the oven to 180oC and grease a baking tin.2. In a bowl, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs, one at a time.3. Sift in the flour and baking powder and add the lemon zest. Fold in until all the ingredients are combined. 4. Pour into a baking tin and bake in the oven for 40-50 minutes, until a knife comes out clean.5. When the cake is cooked, leave it in the tin. Mix together the lemon juice and sugar. Using a fork, make a series of small holes in the cake and pour the lemon/sugar mix over it. Allow it to cool in the tin so the lemon juice sinks through the cake and the sugar hardens on top.
Now I just have to work out how to transport it on a bus, tube and train...