St Clement's Drizzle Cake

This is a gorgeous fragrant and citrussy cake for any time of the year but I think it's a fabulous alternative celebration cake too and made it for my family's dessert table this Christmas. We served a small slice with some whipped vanilla cream and some clementine segments and it was lovely.

For an ordinary drizzle cake many people omit from adding zest to the topping or drizzle but I think here it's neccessary to make it look a little more exciting than an average, everyday cake to have with tea - but you can just use the juice of a lemon and orange if you prefer.

If you're after a boozy alternative you could try this Limoncello Drizzle Cake too.

St Clement's Drizzle Cake

Here's how:

• 225g salted butter
• 225g caster sugar
• 225g self raising flour
• 4 eggs
• Zest and juice of one lemon
• Zest of one orange, juice of half

For the drizzle:

• Juice of 2 lemons
• Zest of 1 lemon
• Juice of 1 orange
• Zest of 1 orange
• 85g caster sugar

Firstly pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees and then grease and line a baking tin of your choice (I use a 15cm square tin) with some baking paper.

Now in a mixing bowl, cream together the sugar and the butter until it becomes pale and light and then add the eggs, one at a time, stirring in slowly.

Once combined sift in the self raising flour and the zest of the orange and lemon and stir until it's a nice cake batter. Now squeeze in the juice and stir again to allow the juice to penetrate all parts of the batter. Leave this to stand for ten minutes to allow the juices to infuse.

Then pour into the cake tin and manoevre the tin so the batter is evenly distributed. Then place into the oven for apporximately 40 minutes, or until nicely golden brown. Once you can insert a skewer and it comes out clean the cake is done. Now leave to stand and cool for a bit, but don't remove from the tin.

Now in a small bowl make the drizzle topping by grating in the zest of the orange and lemon and squeezing in the juice and then adding the sugar. Now stir to combine and the result should be a sticky, syruppy, citrus concoction.

By the time you've made the drizzle the cake will be ready to be 'drizzled'. Firstly using a skewer, place a series of holes (at least 8) into the top of the cake and push it down each time at least 2/3 of the depth of the cake. This is creating an easy passage for the drizzle to permeate into the cake and help keep it deliciously moist.

Now pour over the drizzle trying to ensure each part of the top of the cake is covered. Leave to completely cool in the tin and for the drizzle to set, then remove from the tin and take away the baking paper and place into an airtight container where this will keep fresh for up to a week - if it lasts that long.

TIP: Each extra day a lemon or St Clement's Drizzle Cake remains in our house, I add another layer of juice by squeezing over half a lemon or orange each day to help keep the cake moist and delicious.