Lemon yogurt cake

This post was all ready to go for this morning, but due to the horrific weather conditions the broadband has only just started working again (1st world problems ehh…)!

We’re safe, the dog is safe and as I type this, the house is still dry. However with the stream exploding at the side of the house and the main river rising quickly, dry land is disappearing fast!

Anyway, on a brighter note I’ve made another store cupboard cake. I had lemons sitting in the fruit bowl that wouldn’t last much longer, and too much greek yogurt in the fridge! I decided to make a light fluffy lemon yogurt cake with a sugary lemon crust.

For the cake
250g unsalted butter
275g golden caster sugar
4 eggs
275g self-raising flour
a pinch of salt
1tsp vanilla extract
2 lemons, finely grated zest
Juice of 1/2- 1 lemon (depending on juice content!)
250g Greek yogurt, plus extra to serve
2tsp icing sugar

For the lemon drizzle
2 lemons, zest and juice
150g golden caster sugar

Butter and line the base and sides of a 23cm round, springform cake tin. Preheat the oven to gas 4, 180°C, fan 160°C.

Cream the butter and sugar together with an electric whisk until fluffy and light. Add the eggs, one by one, beating well between each addition.

Fold in the flour and salt to make a smooth batter. Fold in the vanilla extract, lemon zest and juice and 100g of the Greek yogurt.

Pour into the tin, smoothing the top and bake for 50 minutes to an hour, until golden and springy on top.

Spike the cake all over with a skewer.
Combine the lemon zest, juice and sugar for the drizzle and pour over the warmed cake.

Set aside to cool completely in the tin.

Stir the icing sugar into the remainin 150g Greek yogurt. Serve slices of cooled cake with spoonfuls of the sweetened yogurt.

I’m rushing to Angie’s for Fiesta Friday because the rain has made me late! Stay safe…

Melissa xx

Frozen Strawberries

Ahhhhhh, I’ve just lost this post as I went to post it! How bizarre!! This is the re-hashed version.

So…. Where was I?

Firstly, I was thanking Angie over at the Novice Gardener for ‘featuring’ me at Fiesta Friday this week. Most Fridays, I try and attend the blogger party bringing with me all sorts of goodies. Last week I brought tales of my adventures in the Netherlands along with some Dutch bar snacks. Angie’s party’s are a great way of meeting new bloggers, sharing ideas and discovering lots of new recipes.

This week I was going to bring a gorgeous frozen strawberry yogurt, courtesy of a Mr Jamie Oliver. I had thrown a punnet of strawberries into the freezer the morning we flew to the Netherlands, so they were perfect for this recipe (or so I thought). I also had a tub of Greek yogurt nearing its use by date and some store cupboard orange blossom honey.

Jamie’s Ingredients:

• 1 x 500g pack frozen berries
• 150g fresh blueberries
• 1 x 500g tub natural yoghurt
• 3-4 tablespoons runny honey

So, the first mistake I made- I left the stalks on the strawberries, instead of taking them off before I froze them! DOH!

The second mistake was to leave them whole. I should have quartered them before I froze them! OOPS!

Anyway, I threw the tub of yogurt and some honey into the food mixer and whizzed. I then added the strawberries and whizzed, and whizzed and whizzed to try and break them down. It took ages.

Eventually, the strawberries broke down, but so did the yogurt mixture. By the time I’d finished the mixture was all runny, it looked NOTHING like the photographs in Jamie’s 30 minute meal book.

I served Dr Doolittle a portion poured over a meringue, and I ‘drank’ mine! It was cool, fresh and creamy, with a hint of strawberry- quite strange really.

The photographs don’t do the colour justice, it was a gorgeous reddy-pinky colour.

At least after all the messing around, it tasted ok…. Just gutted that it wasn’t perfect!

Melissa xx