Sometimes you need a bake that’s low-effort and high-impact. These lemon cakes are that bake. The recipe is really quick to put together, and uses a simple wet-mix-dry-mix method; I like it for getting kids involved, too. The cakes can be topped with a straightforward lemon juice and icing sugar glaze, but the pomegranate juice helps to brighten them up, adding colour to a February afternoon.
Lemon and poppyseed cakes with pomegranate icing
Prep 10 min
Cook 20 min
Makes 12 cakes
For the dry mix
Butter or oil, for greasing
150g plain flour
1½ tsp baking powder
A pinch of salt
120g caster sugar
Zest of 2 lemons
1 tsp poppy seeds
For the wet mix
2 large eggs
40ml neutral oil – vegetable or sunflower, say
Juice of 1 lemon
70ml double cream
50g unsalted butter, melted
For the icing
150g icing sugar
3-5 tbsp pomegranate juice
Pomegranate seeds, for decoration
Heat the oven to 180C (160C fan)/350F/gas 4 and generously butter a 12-hole muffin tin or grease a silicone muffin mould. In a large bowl, combine the dry ingredients with a fork. In another bowl, whisk the wet ingredients until well combined.
Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and whisk to combine. Divide the mixture between the 12 moulds and bake for 18-22 minutes, until a skewer inserted comes out clean, then remove and leave to cool.
For the icing, sift the icing sugar into a large bowl, add the pomegranate juice and use a fork or small whisk to combine – start with three tablespoons of juice and add more if you need to. If the mix gets too thick, add a bit more juice; if too loose, more icing sugar. Use the icing to glaze the cakes, sprinkle the pomegranate seeds over the top and serve.
