Is that more cake I see?
I was reading Suelle’s Mainly Baking blog and admiring her lovely chocolate sponge cake recently; I clicked on her link to the recipe and found myself on the Carnation website. With me so far? I stayed a bit and found this recipe for a lemon drizzle cake on the same site.
This was the first one that matched what I had in the cupboard and looked like it might make enough batter for my very glamorous cake tin. I had left over lemons galore from marmalade making as well as the condensed milk so I took this as a sign.
I baked the cake for 50 minutes at 180 C (top/bottom heat). I think it could have done with coming out of the oven maybe five minutes earlier, but it survived and was doused in lemon syrup while still warm, and then drizzled with lemon icing once cold. I used a little extra special lemon essence as well to give it a bit of oomph as B would say.
Cake went off to friends for dinner and was acceptable. I was so happy that it had come out in one piece. Dense and lemony, it went well with the fabulous homemade icecream my host had made.
I wasn’t convinced by the instruction to mix it all in one go, condensed milk and butter don’t mix together particularly easily. So if anyone more cake experienced than me knows the best order to put the ingredients together I would love to hear from you! I left the poppy seeds out. Now to find a buttermilk lemon 10 cup in grams/ounces recipe, because that’s the one I really want to make! Anyone got one out there?
Zeb Bakes 
That looks really good – such sharp edges! I admire your restraint with the icing – less really is more here!
If your all-in-one cake mix seemed a bit difficult to mix, it suggests to me that the butter wasn’t quite soft enough. An all-in-one mix should give results as good as any other method. You can soften butter in the microwave, but only do a few seconds at a time – if it melts to any great extent, you’ll have to start again with fresh butter.
It was pretty soft but I’m sure you’re right, it just went into little blobettes in the condensed milk. I was just wondering if I mixed it with the flour first it would give a smoother result, more like bread making.
I am so bad at icing, that random drizzling is my default style! I made the Nigel Slater frosted orange marmalade cake as well. That’s the one we kept, more drizzling… :)
Lovely!
I love lemon cake- and your pan makes the cake a work of art!
Sorry, I don’t have your recipes.
I am making pies for the hungry natives that inhabit my house.
I learnt all about those lovely pans from Celia of course ;) They are great fun and I should use them more often.
I bought a proper pie dish too the other day, so pie will be happening soon !
Hi Joanna, I click onto your blog regularly and reading it and hearing about your latest baking exploits but I don’t often comment! However, I just had to today because I have the very same bundt tin and love using it because the cakes made in it look so good even when just dusted with icing sugar! I must check on that recipe because your cake looks VERY good.
Hello Jeannette! Thank you for visiting and commenting, great to hear from you :)
– I was following the recipe but I think you’re right and a simple dusting would look spectacular – I think I might try the Carnation chocolate sponge recipe in there too and see how it comes out. Do you have any favourite ones?
I use Rose Levy Berenbaum’s baking books quite a lot for cakes, she seems very fond of bundt tins, you will find lots of recipes in her books for this type of tin. I was lucky enough to meet her when she was visiting this country in 2009 so a I am a big fan of her books, The Cake Bible and Rose’s Heavenly Cakes.
I can’t buy any more cake books right now, the shelf in the kitchen is bowing, but I will keep my eye out for these ones, I’ve heard other people rave about her too, thanks Jeannette :)
Oh, stunning Joanna! I would love one of those Bundt tins but haven’t yet found a way of justifying it to myself. I will soon though because it just looks absolutely fabulous!
Sometimes they are on sale…though I don’t think this one was. Lakeland has smaller ones which aren’t so dear and they had them in the sale recently I think.
Oh so gorgeous, Jo! And you’ve used my favourite bundt pan – the Nordicware Heritage. Big Boy bought me that for Christmas one year! Were you tempted to try and cut it into spiral slices? We tried that once.. :)
Hee hee, do you know how stupid I am? In my mind this tin produced a cake that looks like the tin looks upside down…. only when it got tipped out did I clock that I had seen the finished cake before on your blog in one of your fabulous cake posts. I have very poor spatial skills. I don’t think I could manage to even contemplate spiral slices…
Edited:
and I’ve just put a link in below to your Bundt post, and look there indeed is the tin and that must have been when I put it on my birthday list because i got it this year. Just as well we have these blogs, my memory is complete rubbish…..
Very swish cake tin/cake!… I think I might hyperventilate just a little tipping that one out.
It slid out like a hot knife through butter, I think the reason it is so brown on the outside is because I greased the tin so earnestly, it fried a little :D
What a gorgeous cake! I would hyperventilate already while putting the batter in the tin, knowing it would have to come out in one piece! :-)
The miracle of cake :D I think I hyperv’d a fair bit too, Sally, my main worry was whether the batter would up and over and cascade onto the oven floor – that’s my usual favourite trick with unfamiliar tins!
Hummm … and the sweets roll on, … and on, … and on. Oh that I might eat these luscious morsels so regularly!
I love that pan – never seen one of those before.
Hush now :) Luscious they are, do not linger on my cake posts Doc! I will write some bread ones soon enough.
If you like that pan go and check out Celia’s magnificent collection of bundt tins here. My inspiration.
Gorgeous tin Joanna, a real centrepiece! very eye-catching, where did you get it?
Az I can’t remember, from someone or other online – I have a couple of others, but I think this one is destined to be my favourite – It’s called a Nordicware Heritage bundt tin
Oh you are a bundt tin guru….and you are a beginner with them too? Sigh. Totally jealous. I got onto them via Celia as well – after being totally blown away by her pictures. Bought a couple of tins but NEVER been able to get them to work. Asked the original guru (Celia) and she said spray with Canola oil, not rice bran oil or olive oil like I tried before. Still no good. It just sticks and breaks off. I have tried butter only, butter and flour, various oils….I never get those lovely sharp edges and fine crumb. I have seriously contemplated ditching the pans such is the level of disaster. Would love to be able to get it to work like you guys do.
I used something called Cake Release which came in a bottle…. but it’s very manufactured.
Just racked my brains because I have SEEN a post all about this and while I am incapable of remembering where I left my keys…. yes…. here it is….
from Paul’s Yumarama Bread Blog Homemade pan release recipe I haven’t tried it but I reckon it sounds like what’s in my cake release stuff more or less.
Guru?? I think I just had beginners luck ;)
Never heard of such a thing. Thanks! Will def give it a try. The pans get to live for another day….! :)
Cake Release is made by Wilton. I am pretty sure it is available in Australia if you google it but I think if I didn’t already have a bottle I would try Paul’s recipe, because then you know what goes in it ;) I’ll keep my fingers crossed for you…. I used a silicon pastry brush to coat the tin.