DOVE CAKES RECIPES

Steps:

• Pre-heat the oven. Rub some of the butter around the inside of a 1kg/2lb loaf tin or insert a baking liner. Chop the butter into small cubes. Put the butter cubes and sugar into a mixing bowl and beat until pale and creamy. Beat in the vanilla extract. Break the eggs into the bowl, one a time, beating well between each. Add half the flour to the bowl and beat well. Mash the bananas, add these to the bowl and beat again. Add the remaining flour to the bowl and mix it in. Tip the mixture into the prepared tin and smooth the top. Bake for 55–60 minutes. Leave the cake to cool in the tin for 20 minutes then turn it out onto a wire rack to cool.

Steps:

• Lemon Cake Pre-heat the oven. Rub some butter around the inside of a 1kg/2lb loaf tin or insert a baking liner. Sieve the flour and baking powder into a bowl, stir to combine and set aside. Chop the butter into small cubes. Put the butter cubes into a mixing bowl, add the sugar and beat together until light and fluffy. Finely grate the lemon rind, add it to the bowl and beat it in. Beat the eggs one at a time, into the mixing bowl ensuring each is well incorporated before adding the next. Sieve the prepared flour to the mixing bowl followed by the milk and stir to combine. Tip the mixture into the prepared loaf tin and smooth the top. Bake for 40-45 minutes until cooked. Leave the cake in its tin. Lemon Syrup Squeeze the lemon juice into a jug, add more lemon or water, if necessary, to make 75ml liquid. Pour this into a saucepan, add the sugar and bring to the boil shaking the pan occasionally. Simmer gently for 2 minutes to make a syrup. Prick all over the surface of the warm cake with a BBQ stick or skewer, pressing right through to the base of the cake. Pour the syrup slowly all over the surface of the cake and leave to cool in the tin. Lemon Drizzle Icing Place a chopping board over the cold cake tin and invert it onto the board. Using a zester, peel some strands of zest from the lemon and set these aside. Squeeze the lemon juice. Measure the sugar into a bowl, add the lemon juice and stir to make the drizzle. Pour the drizzle over the top of the cake and spread it around the sides of the cake with a knife. Scatter the prepared strands of lemon zest over the cake. Leave to set before serving.