Happy 60th birthday Dad!

I spent most of last week celebrating my Dad's 60th and my (less important) birthday.  A veritable marathon of eating and drinking, including some Michelin stars (Alain Ducasse, The Glasshouse), our old faithful Italian (Brocca Antica), a river cruise, plenty of fizz and, of course, a birthday cake.

Terrible pic, yummy cake.

The recipe is courtesy of Lyle's Golden Syrup.  They took a much better pic of their cake.

Ingredients:
200g butter, softened
200g Tate & Lyle Fairtrade Caster Sugar
1 large lemon, grated zest and juice
3 medium eggs, beaten
200g self raising flour
3 rounded tbsp Lyle's Golden Syrup

For the frosting:
175g cream cheese
40g butter
Grated zest ½ lemon
50g Tate & Lyle Fairtrade Icing Sugar

Method:
Grease and line a 20cm/8" cake tin. Preheat the oven to 180°C/160°C fan/gas 4.

In a bowl, cream together the butter, caster sugar and lemon zest until light and fluffy, gradually beat in the eggs, followed by the flour.

Spoon into the prepared tin, then level the surface with a spoon. Place in the oven and cook for 45-50 minutes or until the cake springs back when lightly touched.

Remove from the oven. Warm the golden syrup with the lemon juice and slowly spoon over the hot cake. Leave to cool in the tin before turning out. **Before pouring over the lemony syrup mixture, I poked lots of little holes in my cake,  using a wooden skewer.  This allows the syrup to permeate the cake better**

For the frosting, beat together the cream cheese, butter, lemon zest and icing sugar until soft and smooth, then spread evenly over the top of the cake and swirl.

Top with pink sparkly bits.  Or not, as you wish.