This winter we had an especially grey & dull time (my private experience). The sky was so grey (most of the time), the days were grey & filled w/ rain (too often), it was cold & humid about 5° C (… & sometimes below zero) – and we had some snow (for about 3 days!). I felt winter blues …
In addition … after living in the Mediterranean area for most of 2023 I missed the sun & the lightheartedness. I never was a fan of winter – and especially November and January are the cruellest months of the year.
After returning in October we started flat hunting … having been successful to find a new home where we can move in during February. We are now, better since some weeks, planning what to do with our furniture and all the other stuff chilling so far in moving boxes, managing renovation work. In addition we look for some new pieces … visiting furniture stores … Time flies!
Usually – after Xmas break – I brim w/ approaches for creating new recipes, reading cookbooks, making plans for my blogs, investigating booking possibilities for the next trips. When during December all zooms in on Xmas & the Xmas holidays take form I usually can relax & start thinking about the next year & what to do, what to try … This time I was mainly occupied w/ our moving – overwhelming any other activities.
Winter blues … I decided to dig up the recipe for a glorious lemon cake which will come into life as soon as I can lay hands on my kitchen equipment.
In short:
- Preheat the oven to 160° C & line a loaf tin w/ baking parchment.
- Grate the lemon zest & squeeze the lemon juice.
- Mix the eggs, the sugar, the olive oil & the milk.
- Mix the flour w/ the dry ingredients like baking powder … & add to the liquid mess.
- Add lemon juice & lemon zest.
- Whisk everything together & put it in the oven for about 40-50 min.
- Later after cooling down distribute some icing made of icing sugar, lemon zest, lemon juice & melted butter generously over the cake.
It’s a simple, but delicious cake – for any day, for any occasion, especially when you feel you need some support!
Enjoy!
- 250 g all-pupose flour
- 3 tsp baking powder
- a pinch of salt
- 150 g sugar
- 2 eggs
- 150 ml olive oil
- 150 ml milk
- zest of an organic lemon
- 2 tbsp lemon juice
- 150 g icing sugar
- zest of an organic lemon
- 2 tbsp lemon juice
- 2 tbsp butter (melted)
- loaf tin (25 cm)
- electric handheld mixer
- egg whip
- Preheat the oven to 160° C fan.
- Line the loaf tin w/ baking parchment.
- Mix flour, baking powder & salt.
- Grate both lemons & divide the zest. Squeeze the lemon juice.
- Whip the eggs & the sugar w/ the electric handheld mixer; add the olive oil & the milk.
- Add lemon zest & lemon juice.
- Add the flour mix.
- Fill the mess in the loaf tin & let it bake for about 40 – 50 min.
- After 40 min make the famous test w/ the wooden pin … & decide if to prolong the oven session by 5 or 10 min or so.
- Let the cake rest in the loaf tin for about 10 – 15 min; then lift it onto a cooling rack. Let the cake cool down completely.
- Mix the icing sugar, half of the lemon zest, lemon juice & melted butter w/ an egg whip. If too runny add some more icing sugar.
- Distribute the sugar mess generously all over the cake & put the cake in the fridge for about 20 min until the icing is fine.
