Vegan Lemon Cake Slices

Hellooo from the land of Theresa... where I've been hiding for nearly a year...

Seriously, it's been that long since I blogged something it's quite embarrassing...though I'm pretty sure each post I make after a hiatus I also say the same thing.  I probably average a post a year now- good job I don't do this for a living-I'd be terrible! Work is manic and by the time the weekend comes round as much as I would like to bake something with the intention of sticking it on the bloggo I always remember that I have a load of laundry to do, or the ceiling still needs painting, the bathroom needs cleaning, or the house needs a good vacuuming for fear that I will eventually get buried under all the dust.

But back to these lemon slices! The UK is enjoying some glorious sunshine these past few weeks - it's so hot that going abroad for sun almost seems a bit pointless and fingers crossed it's looking like it's going to be more of the same the next week or so! With this beautiful weather it seems quite fitting to introduce these citrusy cake slices. Perfect with a cup of tea (what cake isn't, to be honest?!), a one bowl (ish) concoction topped with a layer of tangy lemony icing. And surprisingly vegan too! The texture is soft and doesn't at all fall apart at all with the absence of eggs.

(See- super sturdy!)

The original recipe for this was a loaf cake but my issue with loaf type cakes is, as much as I like them... they just take so long to bloody bake! And I don't have patience hence I've tweaked the recipe ever so slightly and baked in a brownie pan (cooks in like, half the time hurrah!)- poured a load of icing on top, feathered in some yellow icing (optional), sliced and devoured. (And when I say devoured I mean I ate two for breakfast, took some photos and shipped the rest off to my brother at work...)

I've made these lemon slices several times now and they've consistently turned out good. It's worth noting that it's not a super lemony lemon cake so next time I might try adding the zest of another lemon with a touch of lemon extract to give it a bit of extra oomph!

Mr Kipling- eat your heart out.

VEGAN LEMON CAKE SLICES

Recipe from BBC Good Food

Yields approximately 12 slices

For the lemon cake

100ml vegetable oil

275g self raising flour

200g caster sugar

1tsp baking powder

1 lemon zested, 1/2 juiced

170ml cold water

1. Preheat oven to 180°C and line an 8" square cake tray with baking paper.
2. Place sugar and lemon zest into a large bowl and mix, making sure to squish the zest into the sugar with the back of a spatula to release the lemony flavour.
3. Sift in the flour and baking powder. Add the water, lemon juice and oil. Whisk together until smooth.
4. Pour the mixture into the prepared cake tin and bake for 25-30minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the centre comes out clean. 
5. Cool for 10-15minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

For the lemon icing

Juice of 1/2 lemon

150g icing sugar

1. Sift icing sugar into a bowl and add enough lemon juice to make an icing to a just pourable consistency. Spoon onto the cooled cake and spread to cover the top. Note: if opting to feather yellow coloured icing over the top, reserve some icing and add a tiny amount of yellow food colouring before piping over the top. See how to feather icing here.
2. Allow the icing to dry before cutting into rectangles/ squares.