Casual Monday in my kitchen

Monday became a “Cake Day” since I started to work for a small shop on Spitafield Market.

Some of you already know that shop called Verde either for all the fantastic products sold in there (Marcolini chocolate, jams, vinegars, fresh veg or fruits…..) or just for the eat-in/take-away lunch they provide to the City hard workers…..

http://www.verde-and-company-ltd.co.uk/

Every Monday is now about making 6 types of cakes for the following day.

I already gave you the recipes for most of them but there is still 3 missing ones:

• the coco-choco tart
• the hazelnut & honey cake
• the lemon cake

The one you already have in my previous add are the following ones:

• the chocolate fondants
• the pistachio financiers
• the cannelés

As I don’t want to discourage you from cooking, I’ll tell you about only one recipe, the most summery and also easy one: the lemon cake one and some of its variations.

Lemon Cake

• 225 g of butter at room temperature
• 225 g of sugar
• 4 eggs
• 1 lemon zest grated
• 225 g of self-raising flour

For the syrup

• 120 g of sugar
• 1 to 2 lemon juice

Preheat your oven at 180°

In your Kitchen Aid, with the paddle beat together the butter and the sugar until light and fluffy.

Add the grated lemon zest. Usually, the recipe says you have to get a finely grated zest but I prefer when it is a bit thicker because of the surprising flavor it brings when you taste it.

Add the eggs one by one then the flour.

As the mix is pretty thick, you won’t be able to pour it in your mini mold.

For the mini cakes mold, pour a tablespoon of the mixture in each compartment.

Cook it for about 15 min.

While waiting, prepare the syrup:

Pour the sugar and the lemon juice in a pan and bring it to a boil. Let it simmer a few minutes. The syrup mustn’t get brown, it just has to thicken a bit.

Once the cakes are ready, don’t get them out of there case. Pour the syrup on top of them while they are still hot. They will react like real sponge and absorb all of it.

Let them cool down and then take them out of the mold.

Thanks to the syrup you will be able to keep them 5 to 6 days in a box  without loosing their moist.

The variations….

A thousand of variations exist…

You can substitute orange or lime to the lemon or mix them

You can add some poppy seeds or any other seeds you want

You can substitute part of the flour with nuts flour such as coconut, almond, pistachio…. depending on your taste

You can add (finely if you make minis) chopped dried fruits to the mix

You can also put some spices or herbs in your syrup.

For the spices, don’t put too much, drain the syrup and ALWAYS taste it before pouring it on the cakes. It might be too strong then you’d better start again.

For the herbs, infuse a bunch of fresh mint, basil or any herb you like only once your syrup is ready and set aside to cool down. Leave only a few seconds so that it does not color your syrup (it will get dark otherwise) taste it and infuse a bit more if not strong enough.

I will suggest: Lime & Coconut with Mint syrup or Orange with Orange & Cinnamon syrup

Enjoy…