Ma Barnard’s lemon drizzle loaf…

Last year my great friends Nic & Will got married (blog here) and as is the wont of mothers all over the world, Nic’s Mum turned up at the venue laden with a plethora of goodies that she’d been baking and freezing for months in preparation. It was safe to say that no one would be going hungry and I that I would be one very happy camper with that much cake around! 🙂 One of these home baked treats was an amazing tangy lemon drizzle loaf. I just couldn’t get enough of it and think I even managed a slice for breakfast. She was kind enough to share the recipe with me and now, to me, it will forever be called Ma Barnard’s lemon drizzle loaf…

It appears that I’m a bit of a butter purist and was a bit unsure about using marg, but having tasted the cake myself I knew that it worked very well in this recipe. On doing a little butter vs margerine research on t’internet I discovered this statement from Delia, the baking goddess herself…

Fats Flavour-wise it is said you can’t beat butter in baking. And certainly for purists that’s probably true – I see one leading chain store proudly advertises ‘made with all butter’ on its wrappings! My own opinion is that margarine – now it has improved so much in flavour – is very good for baking, and with the advent of soft margarine and the all-in-one method of making sponges I actually hardly ever use butter for baking. Very occasionally I use lard. Fats should usually be at room temperature for cake-making. Allow 1 hour to soften butter, block margarine and lard. Soft or whipped margarine can be used straight from the fridge (although in practice I usually allow half an hour at room temperature), but it is vital that any margarine that is high in polyunsaturated fats is always used straight from the fridge.

So with Delia’s words to reassure you, just give it a try and see what you think. But now over to the other baking goddess and in the words of Heather Barnard herself…

It is extremely easy to make, the most difficult part being grating the lemon! When the recipe says ‘put in a cold oven’ it means it! A warm oven will spoil it.

To make Ma Barnard’s lemon drizzle loaf you will need…

170g (6oz) Self Raising Flour

114g (4oz) Soft margarine

170g (6oz) Castor sugar

2 Eggs

4 tbsp Milk

Grated zest of 1 lemon

Topping: 114g (4oz) Icing sugar. Mixed well with the juice of the lemon

Simply…

Place all the ingredients in a bowl and mix well.

Put the mixture into a 2 lb loaf tin and place in a COLD oven on middle shelf. (Heather uses a liner for the tin, as she says it looks better and it allows the lemon topping to soak in more. I didn’t have a loaf tin liner so I greased and lined my with greaseproof paper).

Switch the oven on at 190 degrees (10 degrees less for a fan oven) and cook for approx. 50 mins. Test the loaf by inserting a skewer into the middle, if it comes out clean, it’s ready.

When you’re happy that it’s cooked to perfection, remove it from the oven and prick the top all over with a skewer.

Pour the topping slowly all over the cake, making sure that it goes down all the cracks and holes, and leave in the tin until cold. This not only acts as the delicious gooey ‘drizzle’ element of the cake but also leaves a gorgeous crunchy layer on top!…

Heather also told me that you can vary the recipe by using an orange or limes, but lemon is a firm fave in her house. She suggests making two at a time as they keep for up to a week and will freeze well. The ones at the wedding had previously been frozen and were delicious! I have been making this cake a lot recently and it works like a dream every single time!

Thank you Heather (AKA Ma Barnard)!