Taking lemon drizzle cake to another level

When it comes to tasty treats, a luscious lemon drizzle cake is pretty hard to beat – or is it?

Well no, not if you give it a special Easter twist by adding a layer of marvellous marzipan to turn it into a Lemon Drizzle Simnel Traybake

Which is exactly what Sue Jackson has been doing in the kitchen of The Magnolia Tree Cookery School just lately!

If you love marzipan as much as June does, the good news is that Sue will be on the phone to the studio again next weekend and, after the two of them have had a quick catch-up, she’ll be sharing the recipe with everyone listening in.

Make sure you’re tuned to 107.8FM or listening online from just after 11.10am to find out what Sue The Cook has been up to since she was last on the show, what’s in the pipeline for the coming weeks and months – and of course for all the information you’ll need if you want to celebrate Easter Sunday in style.

But don’t worry if you haven’t got pen and paper nearby to jot down the details there and then…

You’ll find everything you need to know here and on the Girls Around Town Facebook page shortly after the show, giving you plenty of time to gather the ingredients – including that all-important marzipan – ready to make teatime extra special on Sunday 4 March!

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Apple pie order

You heard the interview – you read the recipe –  now here’s your chance to watch Sue at work in the The Magnolia Tree Cookery School kitchen, making that apple pie!

The icing on the cake

The new Magnolia Tree Cookery School in Newark isn’t open for bookings quite yet…

But it won’t be long before Sue The Cook – otherwise known to listeners as former Girls Around Town presenter Sue Jackson – opens her kitchen for a series of relaxed, friendly courses designed to give everyone the skills needed to cook at home.

In the meantime, who better to road-test her baking skills than June and Tina during this morning’s show?

Taking her inspiration from The Queen of Cakes herself, Sue arrived armed with with something for them to do just that – and let’s face it, who’s going to say no to a piece of Mary Berry’s Lemon Drizzle Traybake?

“I believe cooking should be fun and eating certainly is,” she says. And as the show drew to a close, the verdict was unanimous – it definitely was.

Welcoming Sue and Tina back to the studio was a treat in itself but tucking into that traybake was quite simply the icing on the cake!

Want to give the recipe a go? Help yourself – when you serve it up, everyone else certainly will…

Mary Berry's Lemon Drizzle Traybake

  • Servings: 8
  • Difficulty: easy
  • Print


Ingredients

  • 225g / 8oz butter or margarine, softened
  • 225g / 8oz caster sugar
  • 275g / 10oz self-raising flour
  • 2 level teaspoons baking powder
  • 4 large eggs
  • 4 tablespoons milk
  • Zest of 2 lemons

For the topping

  • 175g/6oz granulated sugar
  • Juice of 2 lemons

Directions

  1. Grease a 30 x 23 cm (12 x 9 in) foil tray and line the base with baking parchment.
  2. Heat the oven to 160° C/Fan 140° /gas mark 3.
  3. Place all the ingredients in a large bowl and beat until well blended.
  4. Turn into the foil tray, ensure the mixture is level using a spatula.
  5. Bake in the oven for 30-40 mins or until the cake is golden brown and springy to the touch.
  6. Leave to cool in the tray for a few minutes and then place on a cooling rack.
  7. Mix the lemon juice with the granulated sugar and using a teaspoon or pastry brush, cover the cake with the topping while it is still warm. Place the tray under the cooling rack to catch any drips.
  8. Cut into squares when cold.