Beautiful Butter Cake with Lemon Icing

This is a classic cake. Easy, delicious and absolutely fool-proof. The cake itself is moist and beautiful, the icing; tangy and sweet. Perfect for a special occasion....or any occasion really. I make this regularly and it never ever fails.

Ingredients;
1 2/3 cups self raising flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 pinch salt
125 grams butter
250 grams caster sugar
80 mls oil (I use canola)
1 tsp vanilla
zest and juice of 1 lemon
3 eggs
125mls milk
1 tsp brown vinegar


Icing;
2 cups icing sugar
100grams butter
zest and juice of 1 lemon

Preheat the oven to 170C, line and grease a round cake pan and line with baking paper. Combine flour, baking powder and salt in a large bowl. In a measuring cup pour in your milk and add the teaspoon of vinegar, you want the milk to go sour, which creates a similar effect to buttermilk. In a separate bowl mix together oil, butter, sugar, vanilla and zest until the mixture is thick, pale and creamy. Add eggs to the butter mix one at a time ensuring you incorporate each one fully before adding the next. Add half the flour mixture and sour milk and beat until combined, scrape the bowl and then add the rest of the flour mixture. Beat until all incorporated. Pour your batter into the prepared pan and bake for 45 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean. Cool completely before icing.

For the icing, sift the icing sugar into a bowl. Add butter, lemon zest and juice and beat with electric beaters until creamy. Spread liberally over the top of the cake.

Sweet Scrolls

I made these for the first time last week. They were so good that I've made them three times since then. A combination of a fluffy, melt in the mouth dough, a sweet, delicious centre and then dripping with a gooey, sticky icing. These are exactly my idea of a perfect afternoon tea snack. Just the kind of thing to curl up with at around 3pm with a good book and a hot cuppa.............Ahhhh, bliss.

Sweet Scrolls;

Dough-
1 packet of dry yeast (approx 7 grams)
1 cup of milk (warmed slightly)
4 cups of plain flour
1/4 cup of caster sugar
80 grams of butter (softened)
2 eggs (gently beaten)

Firstly combine the yeast with the warm milk in a small bowl. Leave for around 10 minutes - until the mixture goes all frothy.

Sieve the flour into a large bowl. Add sugar and combine. Make a well in the centre and add the butter, milk/yeast mixture and the eggs. Stir until you have a rough dough. Now, here's the fun part; tip the dough onto a floured surface and gently knead for 10 minutes or so - until you have a lovely smooth dough. I really enjoy this part, the whole process is something I find infinitely soothing.

Now leave your lovely ball of dough to rest and prove for a good hour or so. When you return to it, it should have nearly doubled in size.

Once your dough has expanded roll it out onto a floured surface with your rolling pin. I roll it as thinly as possible and into a rectangular shape.

Now, cut your dough into long rectangular strips.

You can now get really creative with whatever you would like in the middle of these. The first time I made a mixture of butter, golden syrup and chopped almonds. Yesterday it was a combination of cinnamon, brown sugar &butter. Today it was melted chocolate & butter. My personal opinion? The golden syrup/butter/almond version was the best.

Mix whatever combination you like the best (or create your own!) into a bowl and paint each strip with your mixture. I put it on quite sparingly as I don't want it to be overly sweet. Now, roll up each strip of dough into a spiral and then squash it between your hands. Place each little (or big - depends what size you would like these beauties!) roll onto a greased, lined baking tray.

Bake in your oven for approximately 15-20 minutes, but please check them after the first 15. It depends on your oven how quickly these cook, in mine it took 20 minutes.

Ideally they should be a lovely golden brown and should sound hollow when you tap them (like freshly baked bread!)

While they are baking, quickly make an icing to top these with. I used about 25 grams of butter mixed with 1/2 cup of icing sugar and a little warm water. Add as much or as little water as you feel you need but you should end up with a runny icing to drip over your scrolls.

Once your scrolls are cooked and have cooled slightly, drip the icing messily over the top of each one.

Best eaten straight away - with the warmth of the oven still upon them and before the little ones devour them all.