Lemon & Nettle Cake - Untested

Lemon cake link

(makes one 2lb loaf)

100g nettle (pick the top four to six leaves of the plant, they’re the most tender)

175g butter

150g caster sugar

3 eggs

Pinch of salt

225g plain flour

85g ground almonds

2 tsp baking powder

Zest of x2 lemons

Juice of x1 lemon

50ml milk

For the icing & decoration:

A couple of small blanched & dried nettle sprigs

1 egg white

50g caster sugar

A few dried lemon slices

Juice of half a lemon

150 – 250g icing sugar

1. Grease and line a 2lb loaf tin with baking parchment
2. Begin by blanching the nettle, bring a large saucepan filled with water to the boil & using gloves, add the nettles to pan & boil to 5 minutes
3. After 5 minutes, remove from the heat & rain the nettle before setting aside to cool
4. Once cool enough to handle, squeeze any excess water from the nettles
5. Take half of the nettles & roughly chop them before setting aside for later
6. With the remaining half of nettle, either place into the bowl of a food processor or use a hand blender to blits them into a vibrant green puree
7. In a large bowl, beat together the butter & sugar until pale & fluffy
8. Next, add the eggs to the bowl one at a time, beating with each addition
9. Sieve the flour, ground almonds, baking powder & salt into the bowl & mix until just combined
10. Add the lemon zest, lemon juice, pureed nettle & milk to the bowl & mix everything together until the batter turns a vibrant green colour & everything is well combined
11. Finally, add the reserved chopped nettle & fold this through the batter until evenly distributed
12. Pour the mixture into the prepared tin and bake in the oven at 180C for 50 minutes – 1 hour, until the centre springs back when pressed lightly or until a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out cleanly when removed
13. Leave the cake to cool in its tin for 10 minutes before removing & allowing to cool fully on a cooling rack
14. To make the crystallised nettle, begin by laying out the nettle onto a piece of baking parchment
15. Next, using a small brush, brush both sides of the nettle with the egg white
16. Sprinkle over enough caster sugar to cover the nettle before carefully flipping over & repeating
17. Set the crystallised nettle aside to dry out for a couple of hours
18. To make the icing, simply combine the lemon juice with enough of the icing sugar to make a pourable but not too thin icing & drizzle over the cake
19. Place the decorations on top of the lemon & nettle cake whilst the icing is still wet