Was the super moist necessary? Probably not.
This cake never goes stale. Is that because it is a drenched syrup cake with an almond base and many many eggs or is it because it is so damn delicious there are never spare slices left behind to go stale? No one will ever know. . .
I’ve been trying to write this post since late February. I think I made about six or seven birthday cakes over the course of February and since then I haven’t made a single one, probably out of subconsious protest. The hilarious irony of this particular post is that when I made it lemons weren’t in season and now when I finally get around to posting this lemons will be due to come out in abundance very shortly. This cake happened to be Mum’s birthday cake. While simple and not sixty layers high it is one of my favourites and is super lemony which Mum loves.
This recipe is based on again another one of The Caker’s recipes. I misread the recipe the first time around and just assumed you drenched the entire cake in syrup rather than drizzle a wee bit on at a time as you serve it. Turns out the cake could handle that much syrup and it was a raging success. Over the course of making this cake five or six times (yes I really do love it that much) I have made small changes in each edition. I’ve ramped up the lemon juice in the syrup, added oodles more lavender, and most recently I have switched out the small amount of flour for buckwheat flour.
I also recently discovered skyr which is a sort of soured yoghurt. It is made with an Icelandic culture and it gives the yoghurt a fuller and more sour cream taste to it. Because it has that extra sour but creamy oomph it goes really well with this syrup cake; it can hold its own compared to plain yoghurt or whipped cream which are a feeble match for such sweetness.
So here it is, the part you’ve all been waiting for. Behold this banging cake recipe.
Super Moist Lemon and Lavender Syrup Cake
Makes 1 x 20cm cake
For the cake
225g butter, room temperature
225g caster sugar
1 teaspoon (or a good squeeze/dollop as I measure it) vanilla bean paste
4 large eggs
50g buckwheat flour
225g ground almond
Zest and juice of a lemon
For the syrup
3/4 cup lemon juice
330g sugar
3 tablespoons dried lavender
Splash of water
Preheat your oven to 180 degrees on bake. Grease a 20cm spring form cake tin well with butter and line the base plus about halfway up the sides with baking paper.
Cream together your butter, sugar, lemon zest, and vanilla until pale. Add in the eggs one at a time and beat well after each addition. The mixture will become super voluminous and then start to split slightly once the last egg is mixed in. This is ok. Gently stir in your almond, buckwheat flour and lemon juice until just combined. Transfer the batter to your lined tin and smooth the top down around the tin. Bake for 45-50 minutes until a skewer only just comes out clean. Often I need to place a sheet of tin foil over the top at around the 30 minute mark to prevent over browning (to stop the batter sticking to the tin foil I will grease the cake side of the foil with some butter).
Now make your syrup by placing all of the ingredients into a saucepan and bringing to the boil, stirring lightly to help dissolve the sugar. Once the syrup is the consistency of maple syrup (around 5-10 minutes of strong simmering) it is ready to be poured over the cake.
If you’ve got a cooling rack, place that over a large dinner plate and then place your cake over the top of that. Holding a sieve over your cake, pour the syrup through the sieve and only the cake. Pour about half of the syrup and wait for it to soak in then pour the other half. It will seem like a lot of syrup (it is haha) but the cake will soak it right up and be all the more delicious for it. You can also return any syrup that has dripped through onto the plate back onto the cake. Leave to cool before slicing into it and serving with a good dollop of yoghurt.
Enjoy!
