British Tea Time

English Lemon Cake
(Serves 10-12 slices)

A delicious yellow cake with a sweet-tangy lemon glaze Perfect for cutting into finger-sized portions for tea.

Cake
1 C sweet butter (softened)
1 C sugar
2 eggs
1 ½ C flour
1 tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. salt
½ C milk
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Lemon Glaze
1/3 C sugar
1/4 C lemon juice
2 tsp. lemon zest (grated)

Batter: preheat oven to 350. In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar together. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking powder, and salt. Add this, alternating back & forth with milk, to butter/sugar mixture.

Glaze: combine all 3 ingredients and, stirring, bring to boil. It should be thick and syrupy.

Bake & glaze: pour batter into a greased 9 x 5 loaf pan and bake 50-55 minutes. Remove from oven and immediately poke a few holes in top with fork tines. Pour hot lemon glaze over cake and leave to cool in the pan.

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Tips & Glossary

Clotted Cream: a thick yellowish cream made from unpasturized cow's milk. You can make your own, although it's hard to find unpasturized cream in the U.S. Still, you'll find 3 recipes under Scones. All use pasturized cream; try to avoid "ultra" pasturized.

Ploughman's Lunch: sounds romantic, like a peasant dish from medieval times, but it's a marketing gimmick from the 1970's! It's become a popular lunch in Britain now: a piece of bread, hunk of cheese, with onion, gherkin, and an apple. Our Ploughman's Soup is a take-off on that name.

Roux: (“roo”), paste-like mixture of melted butter and flour, into which liquid is gradually added. Used as a thickening agent for soups and all classic French sauces. Basic Roux: melt 1 part butter and add 1 part flour. Stir continuously till it becomes paste-like. Slowly add whatever liquid your recipe calls for.

Tea Time: Afternoon tea became fashionable in the mid-1600's. A light snack with sandwiches and sweets, it's served from 3-5 in a sitting room. High tea, is a light meal served from 5-6 in a dining room. ("High" because the dining table is higher than the low ones in a sitting room.)

Yorkshire Pudding: from the northern county of Yorkshire, originating in the early 1700s when flour was more readily available. A pancake like batter is spooned into the drippings of a roast as it cooks. Eaten alongside the roast or as a separate course.