Lemon Drizzle Traybake

Method

• step 1

  Heat the oven to gas mark 4 (well, GM5 if its my oven, which is always a bit o the cool side) and grease and line a 28cm x 18cm shallow cake tin. I use a tin I normally make flapjacks in.

• step 2

  The batter for this is quite soft and halfway to pancake batter, and although you are welcome to try it as a "throw everything in and mix is together", my experience is that the butter always ends up in lumps and doing things in stages makes it much easier: so, cream together the sugar and the very soft butter. You can even microwave the butter a little: having it al most melted will not hurt.

• step 3

  Add the eggs in one go and beat briefly. Stir in the lemon curd.

• step 4

  Roughly fold in the flour and baking powder, then similarly roughly stir in the milk. The batter will look lumpy and horrible at this point, but have faith. Beat hard but briefly (quick whizz with the electric beaters) - the batter should miraculously become smooth and fluffy. Finally, stir in the lemon zest (I find that putting it in before this just means it all sticks to the beaters)

• step 5

  Pour into the cake tin and smooth, making a shallow dip in the centre to get a flat top in baking. Bake for 40-50 minutes until golden brown and springing back when pressed.

• step 6

  Make the drizzle a little before the cake comes out. Measure the lemon juice into a jug and stir in the icing sugar. Heat in the microwave for a minute (this can also be done on the hob, of course).

• step 7

  Almost as soon as you take the cake out of the oven, prick it all over with a fork and pour the drizzle over, gently working it into the cake with the back of a spoon. Allow to cool in the tin.