Truly a delight to have with a mug of hot coffee (whichever way you take it) or tea, a slice of lemon and poppy seed cake is divine.
For all the keen bakers out there, by having all the go-to baking ingredients already – such as soft butter, self-raising flour and eggs – you are always ready to bake a delicious cake.
For Mary Berry’s gorgeous lemon and poppy seed traybake, the recipe can be made in a few simple steps to make 16 delectable squares.
Even better yet, the bake takes less than an hour to make (45 minutes to be precise), so it’s an easy, quick and moreish tea time treat for you, the family, and guests to enjoy.
Thankfully, the traybake doesn’t need to be finished off on the day it’s made, which means it’s ideal with sharing with others when they come to visit.
Method
Pre-heat the oven to 180C/160 fan/gas four. Grease and line a traybake tin or roasting tin with greased parchment paper. Zest one lemon and set aside for garnish. Finely grate the rind from the other lemon.
Measure all the ingredients into a large bowl, add the grated lemon rind and beat well by hand (or with an electric hand whisk for about two minutes) until well blended. Turn the mixture into the prepared tin and level the top.
Bake in the pre-heated oven for about 35 to 40 minutes, or until the cake is shrinking from the sides of the tin and springs back when pressed in the centre with your fingertips. Leave to cool in the tin. Once cool turn out and remove paper.
For the icing
Mix together the lemon juice, sieved icing sugar and mint to give a coating consistency. Spread out evenly over the cake sprinkle with reserved lemon zest and leave to set. Cut into squares to serve.
