Great news: I’ve got three weeks to go until my Masters degree is completed (hooray!).
Not so great news: I am s-t-ruggling to find the motivation.. Truth be told, I’m spending far more of my ‘study’ time deciding what to wear to my graduation ceremony than on writing my environmental impact statement – rather ironic since the chances of me actually graduating are quickly shrinking…
Anyways, in the name of procrastination, I decided to spend this lovely late Sunday afternoon making an ‘it’s almost hot but still sometimes freezing‘ cake in honour of Canberra’s spring weather.
And what better way to capture that than a cake that brings together the citrus tang of lemons and the warmth of olive oil and herbs?
I love the combination of citrus and herbs, and I think any combo of lemons or oranges with thyme, rosemary or lavender are sure to work beautifully.
I also love the fact that this simple cake uses (lemon) thyme from my garden! nothing tastes better than home grown.. (even if it’s just a tablespoon worth!)
my bundt tin isn’t the greatest for for drizzling – achieving aesthetically pleasing drizzling works best in those super curvy bundt tins
Unfortunately the bundt is sugar-plentiful, so no slice for sugar-free Jess.. I think it looks and smells totally gorgeous though, and the olive oil lends to a nice light crumb, so I’m satisfied enough with that! I’ll just have to live through the taste-buds of others.. *sigh*
lemon and thyme bundt cake
- 2 ½ cups plain flour
- 2 tbs fresh thyme, finely chopped
- 2 tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp baking soda
- pinch of sea salt
- 1 ½ cups
- caster sugar
- ½ cup olive oil
- 2/3 cup whole milk
- grated zest of 1 large lemon
- ¼ cup fresh lemon juice
- (1 tbs limoncello liquer, optional)
- ½ tsp vanilla extract
- 3 large eggs + 1 egg white
for the icing:
- 2-3 cups of icing sugar
- juice of 1-2 lemons
- a dash of milk, to thin out if required
Note: if icing sugar isn’t your thing, I’d suggest glazing the bundt by drizzling a nice mellow honey all over it whilst it’s still warm. Delicious.
method:
- preheat oven to 180C. grease inside of bundt tin with butter or spray oil. set aside.
- in a large mixing bowl, combine flour, fresh thyme, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. set aside.
- in the bowl of a stand mixer, place sugar, olive oil, milk, lemon zest, lemon juice, vanilla, and lemon extract in a medium bowl and mix on low until smooth. add eggs, one at a time, beating on medium until will incorporated.
- make a well in the flour mixture, and slowly pour in liquid ingredients, mixing until smooth.
- pour batter into prepared pan and bake for 50-60 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean. cool for 15 minutes in pan. and then allow to cool completely on a wire rack.
- to make icing: combine lemon juice and sugar and drizzle over cake. (the best result comes from icing in 3 batches – popping the cake in the fridge between each batch).
