St Clements Cakes

Oranges and lemons say the bells of St Clements

Look at that. Are they not the most badly iced cakes you've ever seen in your life? There are, aren't they. I don't care because these cakes are AMAZING.  I'm not going to apologise for the haphazard way I have splodged (yes, that's the technical term folks) on the icing. I could make excuses, after all I was cooking a roast beef dinner at the time and at the very crucial point of needing to mash the potatoes but the truth is I'm lazy and whilst I like the baking part and the eating part (very much) I'm not so mad about the icing and decorating part.

It really doesn't matter anyhow because these cakes weren't designed to leave the house. They were designed to be eaten quickly by me.  And Mr M.  And the kids.  Yes, we all loved them and with reason - they truly were delicious. The sponge came out perfect and you can clearly taste the zest in there and the icing is lip-smacking good.  

I hadn't baked in quite a while but felt the urge for cake and nothing tastes better than freshly baked homemade cake - especially with eggs fresh out of my little chooks in the garden.  As usual I made these using my KitchenAid stand mixer so they took no time at all - I love just chucking the ingredients in, makes the beating part so much easier and the mixer is great for making icing too. Only snag is I could really do with an extra bowl to save having to wash up in between, might have to start hinting to Mr M. (Well he does benefit from the produce...!)

Don't take my word for it, try them!    This recipe makes 12 cakes and is adapted from a recipe by Jo Pratt.

St Clements Cakes

Ingredients

175g caster sugar

175g unsalted butter, softened

Finely grated zest of 1 lemon

Finely grated zest of 1 orange

3 large eggs

175g self-raising flour

For the icing;
200g unsalted butter, softened

400g icing sugar, sifted
Finely grated zest and juice of 1 lemon


Method

Preheat the oven to 180c/gas mark 4. Pop 12 muffin cases into a muffin tin.

In a large bowl beat together the sugar, softened butter, lemon and orange zest until it is fluffy.

Mix in one egg at time along with a spoonful of the flour, then mix in the remaining flour.

Divide the mixture between the 12 muffin cases and place in the oven for around 20 minutes, until the cakes have risen and are golden.  When ready, leave to cool on a wire rack.

To make the icing, beat together the butter, icing sugar and lemon zest until its light and creamy.  Once the cakes are cold, spread or pipe the icing on top.

If you want you can add food colouring the icing if you want it to come out richer, however it does come out a nice pastel yellow anyhow which I think suits the cakes quite well. You can also add other decorations as you so wish!

love & kisses

Mrs M x