Lemon Drizzle Cake

This recipe is from Mary Berry's Ultimate cake book

Lemon Drizzle Cake

4oz (100g) soft margarine (I used butter as I never have margarine)
6oz (175g) caster sugar (see note)
6oz (175g) self-raising flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 extra large eggs (I used three normal-sized ones)
4 tablespoons milk
zest of 1 lemon

For the topping:
juice of 1 lemon
4oz (100g) caster sugar (see note)

Pre-heat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4, and line and grease a 7in deep round cake tin. Other recipes I found recommended using a 2lb loaf tin for this purpose.

Combine the sugar and margarine, then add the eggs and milk. Sift in the flour and baking powder and beat the whole lot together. Add the lemon zest and tip into your prepared tin. Bake for 40 minutes. To check if your cake is done put an ear near it. An underdone cake will make tiny pricking noises. A done cake will be silent.

When you’ve taken the cake out of the oven mix the lemon juice and sugar together. Prick the cake surface with a skewer or fork then spread the sugary lemon (or lemony sugar, however you want to look at it) over the top, and leave the cake in the tin to cool.The lemon juice will soak into the cake, leaving a crunchy lemony topping. Turn out and serve.

Note: Castor or caster sugar is the name of a very fine sugar in Britain, so named because the grains are small enough to fit though a sugar "caster" or sprinkler. It is sold as "superfine" sugar in the United States.

Because of its fineness, it dissolves more quickly than regular white sugar, and so is especially useful in meringues and cold liquids. It is not as fine as confectioner’s sugar, which has been crushed mechanically (and generally mixed with a little starch to keep it from clumping).

If you don’t have any castor sugar on hand, you can make your own by grinding granulated sugar for a couple of minutes in a food processor (this also produces sugar dust, so let it settle for a few moments before opening the food processor). You can also purchase castor sugar online.