Kathy Paterson's Lemon Syrup Cake

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Kathy Paterson's Lemon Syrup Cake

This recipe is from Kathy's book Meat & Three, featuring photography by Tam West. Use a tart variety of lemon to give this cake a good citrus flavour. Elderflower cordial has a distinctive flavour which I really enjoy, but you could substitute with 1 teaspoon vanilla extract. Serves 8–10

INGREDIENTS

Cake 
350g caster sugar 
2 free-range eggs
 250g natural, unsweetened yoghurt
200ml sunflower oil 
finely grated zest of 3 lemons
 250g self-raising flour.

Lemon syrup
4 tablespoons caster sugar
4 tablespoons lemon juice

Mascarpone Elderflower icing
 250g mascarpone, at room temperature
125g traditional cream cheese, softened
50g icing sugar, sifted
 2 tablespoons elderflower cordial
1 lemon

METHOD

Cake
 Preheat the oven to 180°C. Line a 22cm or 23cm round cake tin with baking paper. Place the caster sugar, eggs, yoghurt, oil and lemon zest in the bowl of an electric mixer. Mix on low speed until the mixture is just combined. Sift in the self-raising flour, then mix until just combined. Pour the cake mixture into the prepared tin and place in the oven to bake for 40–45 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the centre of the cake comes out clean. Remove from the oven.

Lemon syrup
 In a small bowl, mix together the caster sugar and lemon juice until the sugar dissolves. Spoon the syrup over the hot cake and leave to cool in the tin.

Mascarpone elderflower icing
 Place the mascarpone, cream cheese and icing sugar in a bowl and mix gently using a wooden spoon or spatula to combine. Add the elderflower cordial and gently stir through.

To serve
 Remove the cooled cake from its tin and place on a serving plate.