Honey and Lemon Cake Recipe! Pistachios optional. :)

I have been struggling recently with finishing my projects. There’s a few reasons why – for starters I seem to have started a few longer projects at once. The other thing is, I am currently experimenting with some lace weight yarn, and I’m getting a lot of wrist ache. I had to stop for a few days and it still hurts! However, I’m pleased to report that the lace is nearly finished (I’m hoping it will be ready to blog by next week’s post…) If you are feeling down this is a lovely comforting kind of cake. It has just the right amount of zest to be cheery, but is made syrupy and soothing by the honey. It came about because, as is not uncommon, I had left over lemons. You can try using oranges instead if you prefer though!

Honey and Lemon Cake with yummy lemony icing

Recipe: For the cake:

• 170g sugar
• 170g butter
• 3 large eggs
• 260g self-raising flour
• 1 tsp ginger
• 1 tsp baking powder
• Zest of 1 lemon
• 40g honey (3 good tbsps) – melted if not runny to begin with

For the Glaze:

• 2-3 tbsps lemon juice
• 1tbsp honey
• 2tbsp icing sugar

For the Icing:

• 100g butter
• 300g icing sugar
• 4 tbsps lemon juice
• 1 tbsp honey
• Pistachios and honey, to decorate

Begin by pre-heating the oven to 180°C and greasing and bottom lining an 8” round cake tin (or similar sized heart shaped version like mine). Cream together the butter and sugar, and mix through the zest. Now alternately add in the eggs and flour, and mix in the baking powder and ginger. Finally stir through the honey. IF the mixture feels a little stiff, add a spot of milk to loosen it (it should be a dropping consistency). Scrape the batter into the cake tin and bake for 40-50mins until a skewer comes out clean and the middle is springy. In the meantime, make the glaze by mixing together all the ingredients. As soon as you take the cake out of the oven, pour the glaze evenly over the cake. Then let the cake cool for a good 15mins before removing from the tin and cooling on a wire rack. Make the icing by combining all the ingredients except the pistachios, until smooth. Spread this over the cake and then finish with some chopped pistachios and drizzle with some more honey.  Yum!

Honey and Lemon cake with drizzled honey and pistachio decoration

What comfort foods do you make to cheer yourself up?