"Com'on boys" i said, dragging them, whinging, from sacrosanct afternoon play time and persuading them to don shoes and coats for a trip to the supermarket.

"I need to buy a new iron" i explain, to the grumbles.

"I know" says the eldest, unable to resist showing off his ultimate knowledge. "The old iron probably broke when it fell of the table".

"Ahh" i say, with new understanding.



Buttery, lemon-scented Maderia Cake. It won't knock your socks off, but will melt your heart.

400g soft butter
400g caster sugar
7 eggs
450g self-raising flour
4 tablespoons lemon juice

1. Line a 23cm round tin (or 20 cm square tin) with greased, greaseproof paper - base and sides. Pre-heat oven to 160ºC.

2. Place all ingredients in a large bow and beat well until creamy.

3. Pour into the tin, level the surface.

4. Bake until firm to the touch and pulling away from the sides of the tin - about 1 3/4 - 2 hours. Cool in the tin for a short while and remove to a wire rack. Slaver with butter icing or fondant. Will keep well for a week or more, if iced.

The only cooking reference i have for these are some brief notes copied from a book read at a friend's kitchen table - i don't remember which book, or even the name of the cupcakes. I changed the principle flavour from orange to lemon, and swopped a flaked almond topping for a juicier icing.



2 eggs
90g caster sugar
grated zest of 1 lemon
80g gluten-free flour
80g ground almonds

Heat oven to 170ºC.

Whisk the eggs and sugar for 15 minutes (seriously), until thick and foamy.

Add the zest, ground almonds and flour and blend briefly.

Spoon into paper cases, and bake for 22 minutes precisely.

For the icing i added 2 heaped tablespoons of Very Ginger Curd to a batch of plain buttercream. The flavour is citrus with small delicate flashes of heat from stem ginger. The entire batch lasted about 20 minutes from oven to belly.

Just like Bakerella, my cooking-for-pleasure tends to be chocolate heavy but recently i have begun to indulge a lemon leaning. It is not enough that i have the easiest lemon maderia, or a perfect damp Lemon & Almond but my new ultimate has to be these Lemon Slices. Reminiscent of dense lemon curd under a sweet, fragile crust of sugar on a barely-there pastry they will satisfy any citrus craving, at least until you need another bite.

I am rewriting the recipe here with UK measurements, but the original recipe, additional notes and delicious photos can be found here.

225g cold unsalted butter
200g plain flour
130g icing sugar



Add the butter, cut into small chunks, to the flour, sifted with the icing sugar. Using the back of a fork, a pastry cutter or the tips of your fingers (cool under a cold tap first) rub butter into the dry ingredients until you have a soft gravel. Press into a greased and floured tin. I used 2 small ones, but, after the success of this batch, i went and bought a 9"x13" specifically for the next time (soon). I have also read a tip to add finely grated lemon zest to the crumb, for extra zing.



Bake at 180ºC for 20-25 minutes until golden brown.

Meanwhile:

345g caster sugar
30g plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
4 slightly beaten eggs
1/2 cup of lemon juice



Put the dry ingredients to a large bowl and mix briefly. Add the beaten eggs and lemon juice and combine well. Easy. Pour into the just-baked pastry case and put back into the hot oven for 25 minutes until puffed and golden.



Leave to cool completely and refrigerate to store. Once cold, shower with a little extra icing sugar. Best eaten 10 minutes out of the fridge - still cold and exceeding unctuous.

Nigella Lawson's Damp Lemon and Almond Cake
Cream together 225g soft, unsalted butter and 225g caster sugar until white and creamy. Beat in 4 eggs, one at a time, adding a quarter portion of 50g of plain flour after each egg addition.




Gently stir in 225g ground almonds, 1/2 teaspoon almond essence, lemon zest and juice of 2 lemons.

Don't do what i did, which is use my handy strip zester rather than a microplanner, otherwise you risk the criticism that the cake is 'not lemony enough'.


Use either a 21cm springform cake, or a loaf tin, lined, and bake at 180ºC. After half an hour cover the cake with foil to stop the top darkening too much. Check with a cake skewer after an hour - it should not be clean, but without buttery batter clinging to the wire. Leave in the tin for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire tray to cool completely.

Wrap well in foil and leave for 2 days, during which it will become more fragrant .. dust with icing sugar before serving.

When in doubt, bake a cake.

I wanted to do something that would keep my hands occupied, so i chose a recipe which needed old fashioned creaming; butter and sugar beaten to a gentle cream colour, then garlands of lemon rind, 3 eggs and a mix of flours added, slowly. Finally, vaguely following Nigella's suggestion, i added an extra lemon's worth of juice and some chopped dried bing cherries.




























A maderia cake; i cut it while still warm, feeding children after school, and the soft crumb fell into big chunks. It is the perfect texture; light but with enough moisture to keep the bite succulent in your mouth. Not too sweet, a good hit of lemon and those huge dark fruits buried like rubies in sand.

I would serve a slice with a glass of Tokay that i brought back from a Margaret River winery, if you were here.