Almond and lemon loaf

When the sun comes out after a week of cold, rainy weather it makes such a difference. Everything looks and feels better. This loaf is light and summery: perfect for that break in the clouds when you can really imagine that summer is on its way at last.

I have made a few changes to the original recipe I found in the Hummingbird Bakery’s Cake Days, which was for an orange, almond and yogurt loaf. I didn’t have any orange or yogurt and I changed a few quantities but apart from that it’s the same! I think the original recipe would be very good as well and next time I have the right ingredients I will be giving it a go.

The recipe said to butter and flour the loaf tin but as I have never had a problem with my loaf tin I skipped that and just greased it as normal. Which was a really bad idea as I couldn’t get the loaf out in one piece and the base stayed in the tin. Hence my carefully positioned slices of cake in the photos. I would recommend lining at least the base with greaseproof paper, if not the whole tin.

Recipe

Ingredients

190g butter

190g caster sugar

3 large eggs

Zest of 1½ lemons

Juice of half a lemon

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

45g crème fraîche

190g SR flour

60g ground almonds

20g flaked almonds

Method

Set the oven to 170°C.

Grease and line a 2lb loaf tin.

Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.

Add the eggs, one at a time.

Add the lemon zest and juice, vanilla extract and the crème fraîche and mix well.

Add the flour and ground almonds and fold in.

Pour the mixture into the prepared tin and sprinkle with the flaked almonds.

Ready to bake

Bake for around 50 minutes to 1 hour or until well risen and browned and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.

Allow to cool in the tin for a while before turning out onto a wire rack.

Allow to cool in the tin for a while

Enjoy in the sun or dreaming of the sun.

Categories: Baking, Cakes, Fruit, Recipes

Tags: almonds, baking, cake, coffee morning, creme fraiche, flaked almonds, fruit, ground almonds, hummingbird bakery, lemon, recipe, vanilla, yogurt