Lemon and Poppy Seed Loaf

This was a late Mothers Day bake I made on Monday and I'd never tried it before, its a really easy recipe, as long as you have an evening free to watch the oven!

It is a Hummingbird Bakery recipe, the first one kind of is the Bible but their new recipe book 'Cake Days' is basically the New Testament. It is very similar to my Banana Loaf recipe.

You will need:

190g unsalted softened butter
190g plain flour
190g caster sugar
3 large eggs
1tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
4 tbsp poppy seeds
2 tbsp lemon zest
25ml whole milk
80g ricotta cheese (you can replace it with yoghurt!)

FOR THE SYRUP:
Juice of 1 lemon
50g caster sugar

You need to do:

1. Preheat oven to 170 degrees and grease and flour your loaf tin. You pretty much need a Kitchen Aid for this recipe otherwise your arm will die. Cream the butter and sugar together.

2. Add the eggs one by one and push the sides down with a spatula. In a separate bowl measure the flour, baking powder, salt, poppy seeds and lemon zest. Now the lemon zest is tricky to measure into a spoon so I just grated the whole lemon in there.

3. You have to add these dry ingredients in thirds, mixing well each time on a low speed. After the second go add in the milk. Once its all in whizz it on high for a bit until its completely mixed in. Then add the ricotta cheese (or yoghurt)

4. Pop it all into your loaf tin and level it out. Put it into the oven for 50-60 mins, mine took longer than that but just keep it in there until your skewer comes out clean through the middle and its nicely browned on top.

5. About 10 minutes before it's all cooked make your syrup by putting the sugar, lemon juice and 100ml water into a saucepan and bring to the boil and let it reduce by half.

6. Once the loaf is cooked, prick a few holes in there with your skewer and pour your syrup over while the cakes still hot. Leave the loaf to cool a bit and then turn out onto the wire rack to cool it. Cut it into yummy chunks and eat away with a glass of cold milk. Enjoy!