Recipe 14: Lemon Sour Cream Cake

I readily admit that sometimes I give blondes a bad name and  today might be one of those days. For the past fortnight I have been wondering why my husband has been sitting there saying that perhaps I should only do one recipe a week, other than the fact that he is one who dreads coming home to see what concoction I have come up with that day. I seem to be okay at making sweets and cakes, but the main dishes are failing me - something I clearly need to work on.

So what do I do for recipe number 14? I go back to a tried and true cake recipe I use numerous times, because a) it lasts in the fridge for weeks as well as freezes beautifully and b) its citrus so my husband actually eats it.

This is another adaptation from the Edmonds Cookbook  I add more sour cream than the original recipe, as well as use the whole lemon (original recipe calls for only 2 tsps of lemon rind), as I hate wastage.

Lemon Sour Cream Cake

125g softened butter

1 lemon

1 cup sugar

3 eggs

1 cup plain flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 cup sour cream (approx 250ml)

METHOD

1. Preheat oven to 160c (I use 140-150c on bake, as I find that my cakes tend to get a burnt bottom when left for a while to cook at greater temperatures, no matter how high I put the cake in the oven!)
2. Grate half the lemon finely, beat butter, lemon rind, sugar and eggs together until light and fluffy. 
3. Squeeze all of the lemon into the egg mixture stirring quickly to avoid any curdling.
4. Sift baking powder and flour together and fold the ingredients into the egg mixture alternately with the sour cream so you get a nice smooth mixture.
5. Pour mixture into a greased and lined 20cm round cake tin. Bake at 160c for 45 minutes or until the cake springs back when lightly touched.
6. Leave in tin for 5 to 10 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack.

The cookbook recommends for this cake to just be dusted with icing sugar, but I like to ice it with Cream Cheese Icing (Recipe for that can be found on the 3rd of January).

Now I should really start focusing on Main dishes again, as much as my husband dreads it, I really need to learn how to cook!