| Serves: 12 people | Recipe course: Dessert | Total time (min.): 55 minutes | Complexity (1 to 3): 1 |
For the cakes:
200g butter, cubed and at room temp
200g caster sugar
Zest of 1 lemon
4 eggs, beaten
200g ground almonds
45g plain flour
1 tbsp poppy seeds
¼ tbsp baking powder
Salt, to taste
40ml lemon juice
1 tbsp milk
For the candied lemons:
200ml water
200g caster sugar
2 lemons, thinly sliced
For the icing:
200g icing sugar
25ml lemon juice
5g fresh thyme, destalked
1 - Start by making the cakes.
2 - Preheat the oven to 160ºC, grease and lightly flour a muffin tin.
3 - Fit the creaming beater to the mixer.
4 - Add the butter and caster sugar into the mixing bowl, then attach it to the machine. Mix on speed 3 for 2 minutes until light and fluffy.
5 - Add the eggs, almonds, flour, poppy seeds, lemon zest, baking powder and salt to the bowl. Start the machine on speed Min, then gradually increase to speed 2 for 1 minute.
6 - Add the lemon juice and milk, then mix on speed Min for 30 seconds until well combined.
7 - Spoon the mixture evenly into the prepared muffin tin.
8 - Bake at 160ºC for 25-30 minutes, or until the edges are slightly golden and a skewer comes out clean.
9 - Remove the cakes from the oven and allow to cool for 5 minutes in the tin. Then remove the cakes from the tin and place them upside down on a wire rack. Allow to cool completely.
10 - To make the candied lemons, add the water and sugar into a wide frying pan. Bring to the boil and cook until the sugar is dissolved.
11 - Carefully add the lemon slices into the pan and spread the slices out in one layer in the syrup.
12 - Simmer until the lemon slices are translucent, roughly 30-40 minutes.
13 - Remove the lemon with a slotted spoon and place onto a piece of baking parchment. You can keep hold of some of the remaining lemon sugar syrup to drizzle over the cooled cakes.
14 - Allow the lemon slices to cool and dry. To speed up the drying process, preheat the oven to 100 ºC then transfer the lemons to a lined baking tray and dry in the oven for 1 hour, this will result in less sticky candied lemons.
15 - Sprinkle the candied lemons with some granulated sugar for added crunch (optional).
16 - To make the thyme icing, set up the machine the mixing bowl and creaming beater.
17 - Add the icing sugar, lemon juice, and thyme to the bowl. Mix on speed 2 for about 1 minute or until smooth.
18 - The icing should have a thick, pourable consistency (it should not run down the sides of the bowl).
19 - Spoon the icing over the cooled upside-down cakes.
20 - To decorate, top the cakes with lemon zest, a slice of candied lemon and finish with a sprig of thyme.
21 - Serve.