Discovering my adopted Italian family's roots one meal at a time

Passport & Plate - Polly's Lemon Syrup Cake

Italy | Saturday, March 8, 2014 | 5 photos

Ingredients
What you’ll need:

- 1 tbsp butter (for basting)
- 200g plain flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 200g caster sugar
- 4 eggs
- 150ml natural yoghurt
- grated rind of 1 large lemon
- 4 tbsp lemon juice
- 150ml of sunflower oil

Syrup
- 4 tbsp icing sugar
- 3 tbsp lemon juice

 

How to prepare this recipe
Then follow these simple steps:

- Lightly grease a 20cm round cake tin with butter and line with baking paper.
- Sieve the flour and baking powder into a large mixing bowl. Stir in the caster sugar.
- In a separate, smaller bowl combine the eggs, yoghurt, lemon rind, lemon juice and sunflower oil. Whisk together.
- Pour egg mixture into flour and mix thoroughly until evenly blended. Mixture will be quite fluid.
- Pour batter into prepared tin and cook in a 180°C preheated oven for 45 minutes, or until golden brown on top and cooked through.
- About 5 minutes before the cake is due to come out, combine the icing sugar and lemon juice in a pot over a low heat. Stir until sugar has dissolved then take off the heat.
- As soon as cake comes out of the oven, prick the entire surface of the cake with a fork. Paste the hot syrup over the entire surface of the cake.
- Leave cake to cool and have for breakfast with tea, or eat warm beside rich crema gelato and stewed raspberries for a delectable dessert. Buon appetito!

 

The story behind this recipe
A delicious recipe this may be, it could never be as sweet as the person who I learnt it from. I first tried this delectable cake as I was sitting under the pergola shading me from the mid-day Italian sun. There was not a cloud in the sky which made the view of the mountains even more breathtaking. A warm breeze swirled around me as I pinched the lush grass with my bare toes. The only thing that made this moment more perfect was seeing Polly carrying over a golden cake shimmering in the sun. It was hard to hard to believe how well I was being treated in return for only a few hours of volunteering work in the garden each day.
The cake was perfectly balanced; it was neither too sweet nor too tangy. While the body was delicate and moist, the outer crust was chewy and intense in flavour. Once I had discovered this recipe, I began making it for everyone I visited. Sometimes I made it for friends I had known for years, sometimes I made it for families that I had only known for a few days. On one occasion I made it for a group of Sicilians who apparently weren’t very fond of cake. Soon after I put the lemon-flavored delight in the center of the table, the room was filled with the type of moans you only make when you are enjoying something truly delicious. I think they appreciated the simplicity of flavours which is the essence of Italian food. This non-verbal enjoyment continued as people went back for their second and third pieces.
That’s the magical thing about food; it really does bring people closer together. Just the smell of something can transport you to a particular time and place or remind you of a particular person. It is a pleasure for me to make this cake, not just because of its taste, but because it reminds me of the kindness Polly showed to me even though I had only known her just two short weeks. Most of all it reminds me of one of Polly’s comforting hugs which warms me up from the inside, just like a piece of this lemon syrup cake fresh out of the oven.