Captain Cakes

"Strings, why are your cakes so delicious?"

Well, baking a cake is very much like making love to a beautiful woman. You need soft hands, patience and a working oven. Next weekend I will be making a lemon drizzle cake for Christmas (not traditional but there you go) and will be asking Parkes' to video the experience so that I may share this creative time with you all.

INGREDIENTS
2 1/4 cups cake flour
1 1/8 cups white sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 tablespoons lemon zest
4 1/2 tablespoons poppy seeds
1 1/3 cups unsalted butter, softened
5 eggs
3/4 cup white sugar
3/4 cup lemon juice


DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 175 degrees C. Grease and flour one 9 x 5 inch loaf pan. Sift together the flour, 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons white sugar and salt. Then mix in the lemon peel, poppy seeds and butter. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Pour batter into the prepared pan.

Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 1 hour and 15 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. In a saucepan over low heat cook 3/4 cup white sugar and the lemon juice until stirring until sugar is dissolved. Let cool to just warm or to room temperature.

Remove the cake from the oven and place the pan on a wire rack-place a cookie sheet underneath this rack. Prick the top of the cake several times with a toothpick. Brush the top of the cake with the warm or room temperature syrup, allowing lots of the syrup to run down and soak into the sides and bottom of the cake. Cool slightly in the pan before removing the cake to the wire rack to cool completely. When completely cooled, wrap the cake in foil or plastic freezer wrap and let the cake rest at least one day before eating it in one go.