Guilt-free Lemon Drizzle - chloescorner

I'm a bad blogger, I know! I've been so busy with crazy overtime at work I've barely had time to think let alone blog although sometimes I think it's good to let off some steam and return to my little corner of the internet and what better way to do that with a delicious - yet completely guilt-free - cake recipe? Plus I'm currently obsessed with The Great British Bake-off and wanted to make something to satisfy my unbelievably sweet tooth.

My older Cousin and his girlfriend came round for tea earlier for a well needed catch-up and yummy food. I've recently gone on quite the health kick but decided that no family meal is quite right without a cake. After scanning a few of my Mum's healthy (mostly WeightWatchers) cookbooks I found the perfect, healthier version of a lemon drizzle cake recipe. (Recipe taken from the 'Fabulous and Filling' WeightWatchers book although original was a lemon and passion fruit drizzle - I adapted it to just lemon).

Ingredients:

- 100g self-raising flour

- 1 tsp of baking powder

- 125g of caster sugar

-75g of low-fat butter

- 150g of apple sauce

- 2 eggs (separated)

- the zest and juice of one lemon

1) Pre-heat your oven to Gas Mark 4/180 degrees. Grease your cake tin with a thin layer of butter or line it with parchment paper (non-stick) and then leave this to one side whilst you prepare the mixture.

2) Sieve your flour and baking powder into a bowl and then add 100g of the caster sugar, all of the butter, apple sauce, just the yolks of your eggs and the zest of your lemon and then whisk this together using an electric whisk (mostly for ease of use but do feel free to use a non-electric if needs be) for 2-3 minutes or until it is fluffy and pale in colour. Don't worry if the mixture seems a bit runny and thin as it soon thickens during the next step.

3) Add your egg whites into a separate bowl and whisk these until they create soft peaks. Once the peaks are forming you can then add this to the rest of the mixture, folding it in rather than beating - this makes the mixture thicker and even fluffier in texture.

4) Pour your mixture into your cake tin and pop it into the oven for 25 minutes or until it is golden brown and fully risen with a bouncy, firm middle.

5) Add the remainder of your sugar (25g) to a bowl and then squeeze the juice of your lemon in with it and stir till the sugar has dissolved. Be sure to remove the pips if any fall into the bowl in the process! You can then leave this to one side till the cake has baked.

6) Once the 25 minutes is up and the cake is fully cooked, take it out of the oven and leave to cool for a little bit (maybe 10-15 minutes). You can then prick the cake with a fork several times and then drizzle your sugar and lemon mixture over the top. Don't panic (like I did) if the cake starts to look overly moist (oh how I hate that word!) as when left to one side for an hour or so the cake absorbs the drizzle making the perfect lemony cake.

Et Voilà! An unbelievably tasty Lemon Drizzle with nothing but compliments all round. I highly recommend you to recreate this easy recipe! If you do then be sure to take a picture and tag me on Instagram or Twitter - my username is @chloecotgrave. 

I'm getting my arse in gear and getting more posts ready to share within the next few weeks so do keep your eyes pealed!

All my love,

Chloe xo