Vegan lemon and camomile drizzle cake

My friends Ellie and Ruadhan are getting married in June on the tiny island of Sark, and I’m honoured that they’ve asked me to make their wedding cake!  Ellie is vegan so I wanted to make sure that at least one tier is a vegan cake.  I tested this recipe when I went for a picnic and walk in the Forest of Dean with Ellie and Ru this weekend.  You’d never know it was vegan!  But it definitely needs the drizzle – without it I think it might be a little too dry.

Ingredients

7 oz self-raising flour

2 oz ground almonds

7 oz caster sugar

1 tsp baking powder

Zest and juice of 1 lemon

100ml vegetable oil

170ml cold water

For the drizzle
3 tbsp golden caster sugar
2 tbsp water
2 camomile tea bags
Juice of 1 lemon

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 200°C.  Line the base of a deep, 6 inch round springform cake tin and grease the sides with olive oil.
2. In a large mixing bowl, sift in the flour, ground almonds, sugar, baking powder and lemon zest and mix well.
3. Add the oil, lemon juice and water, and mix thoroughly to make sure all is combined well.
4. Pour into the lined cake tin and bake for 30 minutes until a cake tester comes out clean.
5. While the cake is cooking, prepare the drizzle. Place the sugar, water and camomile tea bags in a small pan over a low heat. As soon as the sugar has dissolved, take off the heat and set aside. Add the lemon juice when the sugar syrup is cool.
6. Remove the cake from the oven, leave it in the tin and prick it right through to the bottom with a skewer so that it is covered in lots of little holes.
7. Drizzle the camomile lemon syrup over the cake while the cake is still hot and at its most absorbent.