Well the baby has not arrived yet so I am taking a break from trying every cliche under the sun to encourage labour and made this cake for our street party tomorrow! At the risk of sounding like Nigella Lawson (whose recipe this is), how could you resist a very moist lemon and almond cake? My friend Agnes recently tried it too and agrees that it has a satisfying texture with a smack of lemon, which goes beautifully with the comforting flavour of the ground almonds. It is my favourite recipe so far from Nigella’s How To Be A Domestic Goddess as it is foolproof and everyone who tries it is impressed.
How To Be A Domestic Goddess contains a great selection of cakes, biscuits, puddings, Christmas ideas, kids treats, breads and one amazing sounding Egyptian dessert called Om Ali (look out for this on a future blog if it turns out well!) It is a good time to buy the book as it is on offer a lot – I got it for £7 from WH Smith.
Here is a link to Nigella’s website (I prefer to look at her recipes in a book/online than watch her felate vegetables on tv…):
And here is the cake recipe:
Ingredients
225g soft unsalted butter (I cheat and melt mine in the microwave)
225g caster sugar
4 large eggs
50g plain flour
225g ground almonds (I buy packs of 200g and add a little extra flour, which seems to work)
1/2 teaspoon almond essence
Zest and juice of 2 lemons
Butter a loaf tin or 21cm springform cake tin. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees / gas mark 4. Cream together the butter and sugar until almost white (or be lazy like me and stir together for about one minute). 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, then the almond essence, lemon zest and juice.
Pour the mixture into the cake tin and bake for about 1 hour. The time it takes can vary quite a bit. Cover with foil after about 30 minutes, once the top is lightly browned, to prevent it from burning. The cake is ready when the top is firm, and a skewer, inserted, comes out cleanish – you want dampness, but not gooey batter. Take the cake out and let it stand for 5 minutes or so in the tin. Then turn it out on a wire rack and leave to cool.
This cake lasts well, and even possibly improves, over the next two days, if wrapped well in foil.
katielovescooking 
Hi Katie,
I tried this albeit with wholemeal flower (which I did accidentally) and it turned out great. You are right, it is better the following day. Amazing. Thanks.
Glad you liked it! It’s probably my favourite cake recipe xx
This one was lovely. It had a great texture. Xxx
Glad you enjoyed it – ;probably my favourite xx