Lemon Drizzle Cake with poppy seeds

Place the butter, golden caster sugar and lemon zest in a bowl and beat until light and creamy.

Add the eggs, one at a time and beat well. Before the last egg, add a tbsp. of flour to prevent the mixture from curdling.

Sprinkle in the poppy seeds, fold in the flour and ground almonds and spoon into the tin. Smooth with the back of a spoon or spatula and gently knock the base of the tin on the work top to take out any air bubbles.

Bake in the oven for about 50 minutes - (start checking after 40 mins) - until risen and golden and a cake tester comes out clean.

Whilst the cake is baking in the oven, make the lemon syrup. Gently heat together the caster sugar and lemon juice in a pan until the sugar has dissolved. Leave to one side.

Remove the cake from the oven and leave in the tin. Prick holes all over the top of the cake (your cake tester is ideal for this or use a fine skewer).

Immediately drizzle over teaspoons of the lemon juice and sugar, letting it soak in and then adding a little more until it has finished. I find it is better to run the back of the teaspoon over the cake, letting the juice gently fall off the spoon, this way the juice doesn’t run towards the edges but soaks in evenly over the whole surface. Now leave the cake to cool

When the cake is cool and has absorbed the lemon syrup, make the icing. Sift the icing sugar into a bowl, add the lemon juice and zest and stir until smooth.

Take the cake out of the tin and put onto a cake rack, placing a plate underneath to catch any drips. Now pour the icing carefully over the top and let it drizzle down the sides.

Because this is a moist cake, after a day or two store in the fridge. Ideal for freezing.

Serving suggestion:

It can be split in two and sandwiched with a layer of lemon curd before drizzling over the lemon icing.