by Jo Pratt from the Flexible Family Cookbook (Frances Lincoln)
Photography: Malou Burger
Think of this as a modern-day lemon drizzle cake. It’s ideal for anyone who can’t have dairy and is totally vegan friendly, you can even go gluten-free (see Flexible below). What I really want to make clear is that it tastes soooo good. The sponge is light, fluffy and exceptionally lemony, and the topping is wonderfully vibrant in colour.
But it’s the intense raspberry flavour that’s the real showstopper. So, move over lemon drizzle, there’s a new cake in town!
Time taken 50 minutes / Serves 12
Ingredients
275g/9¾ oz self-raising (self-rising) flour
200g/7 oz caster (superfine) sugar
1 tsp baking powder
grated zest and juice of 2 large lemons
75ml/2½ fl oz/¹/3 cup soya milk
100ml/3½ fl oz/scant ½ cup sunflower or rapeseed (canola) oil, plus extra for oiling
50g/1¾ oz fresh or frozen raspberries
100g/3½ oz icing (confectioners) sugar, sifted
1 tbsp freeze-dried raspberry pieces
Method
Preheat the oven to 200°C/180°C fan/400°F/gas 6. Brush a 450g/1lb loaf tin with a little oil and line the base with baking parchment.
Mix together the flour, caster sugar, baking powder and lemon zest.
Put the lemon juice in a jug and top up with milk to 175ml/6 fl oz/¾ cup. Pour into the dry ingredients along with the oil. Mix to a smooth batter and pour into the prepared tin. Bake for 40 minutes, until the top is light golden, firm to touch and a skewer comes out clean when inserted in the middle.
Cool the cake for 10 minutes in the tin before removing and cooling completely on a wire rack.
To make the icing, blend the raspberries to a purée then sieve to remove the seeds. Pour the raspberry purée into the icing sugar in stages, mixing well after each addition until you reach a thick pouring consistency. Slowly spoon the icing on top of the cake, allowing it to drip down the sides, and scatter with freeze-dried raspberries to finish.
Flexible
Gluten-free: swap the flour to a gluten-free self-raising (self-rising) flour.
Flavour swap: use blackberries instead of raspberries for a lemon and blackberry loaf. Switch the lemon zest and juice for orange and make the icing using pomegranate juice and a splash of rosewater for an orange, pomegranate and rose loaf. Scatter with fresh pomegranate seeds to decorate.
