Its time to break away from those heavy stuffs or too over the top cakes. It was a very quick decision to make this cake. I said I was going to try out the oven to see if its working properly, so I managed to squeeze in some time and whip up a very quick and simple cake; Damp Lemon and Almond Cake.

I adapted the recipe from my favourite domestic goddess. (yes, it’s also time to take a break from pastry chefs like Pierre, Hidemi and Paco) Time for some homemade goodness

Its a very plain cake compared to the complicated layered cakes I used to make. It’s a one off thing, just one element, which is the cake itself. The lemon was rather intense but given its a dense and damp almond base, it was just right.

Damp Lemon and Almond Cake
(Nigella Lawson, How to be a Domestic Goddess)

225g soft unsalted butter
225g caster sugar
4 large eggs
50g plain flour
225g ground almonds
1/2 tsp vanilla essence
grated zest and juice of 2 lemons

Preheat oven to 180 C. Cream butter and sugar until almost white. Make sure the sugar is melted otherwise the texture of the cake might be harder than its suppose to be. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, adding a quarter of the flour after each addition. When all the eggs and flour have been incorporated, gently stir in the ground almonds with your hand. Then add in the zest and juice and essence. Pour the mixture into the cake tin and bake for about 50 mins depending on ovens. Check with skewer, if it comes out clean it is done. Remove the tin when its cooled.

I missed out on covering the tin with alu foil after 30 mins of baking, so my top was abit dark. So I turned over the cake and served it downside up which was a no-problem at all.

I left it to cool a couple of hours outside while we went out to … bump around. Hah. The cake was just intime for after dinner dessert. So I quickly made some glaze by mixing sifted icing sugar and lemon juice. And just just lazily drizzled around the cake, pop in some strawberries (actually the other way round, berries first, then glaze). It really is a no-brainer kinda thing. all in all, the cake was nice. It was a good “home-style” cake. Not cafe or bistro style

So, my oven is working perfectly fine (fingers crossed)

btw, where can I get flexipan moulds?