Easy Sugar-Free Lemon Drizzle Cake

Prep Time - 15mins
Cooking time - 1 hour
Cost - £5.70 
(all ingredients from Tesco)
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Serves 8-10
Calories per portion - 280kcal

I was lucky enough to be invited down to The New Forest with my best friend Olivia's family for a few days this week and I made this sugar-free lemon drizzle cake as a thank you. Olivia's mum has diabetes and this cake was a great surprise for her on my arrival! Its sweetness comes from natural sweeteners xylitol and sucralose, both of which are suitable for diabetics and contain far less calories than regular cane sugar. This recipe was based on one from bbc good food and can be found at the link below, however my version is a little simpler and a little cheaper!

Notes for shopping list

- Xylitol is sold most commonly in packs of 225g and ranges from £2-£3, so I have used Sucralose to make up the other 75g required for this recipe as this is conveniently sold for approx £1 for a 75g pack.

















- Tescos conveniently sells 0% fat Greek Yoghurt in pots of exactly 200g for 50p.

- This recipe requires the zest of two lemons and then the juice of one, however I find that I never get enough juice from a lemon and its a messy job, so I was extremely lazy and bought a 'Jiff Lemon' for 50p and used the juice from there and I can then save my real lemon to add to my summer cocktails!
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Ingredients

225g Self-raising Flour
1 Level tsp Baking Powder
155g Xylitol
75g Sucralose/Splenda
2 Lemons (zest only)
2 Eggs
1 tbsp Milk
200g Greek Yoghurt (0% fat)
125ml Sunflower Oil

For the Drizzle
Juice of 1 lemon/Half a 'Jiff Lemon' (juice)
70g Xylitol

Method

This recipe really is simple and consists of mixing the wet and dry ingredients in seperate bowls before combining them together but before you start any of that you must pre-heat your oven to 160C/Gas 4.

Line a 1.2Ltr loaf tin (22cm x 13cm width, 7cm depth) with greaseproof paper or a purpose loaf tin 'case' like I did. This cases are like huge cupcake cases that fit perfectly in the loaf tin and you can find them at any home-ware shop such as Lakeland or in larger supermarkets such as Sainsbury's.

Mix together all of your dry ingredients; the flour, baking powder, xylitol/sucralose and lemon zest in a large bowl.

Then in a separate bowl mix together all of your wet ingredients; the eggs, sunflower oil, milk and yoghurt. Now combine both in one bowl, stirring thoroughly until you have a smooth batter and finally pour the mix into your lined tin.

Once the mix is in the tin, place in the centre of your pre-heated oven and leave for 45mins before checking, thus allowing the cake to rise. After 45 mins check that the top of the cake isn't becoming too dark in colour and if it is more than a golden brown, cover with foil. 

These last minutes of cooking time give you plenty of time to make your drizzle. slightly heat your lemon juice in a small pan and add the remaining 70g of xylitol until it has fully dissolved.

Continue to cook the cake for another 10-15minutes until there is a rich golden brown crust and a distinctive 'crack' down the top of the cake.

Once the cake is cooked, take it out of the oven and pour over the drizzle. I recommend you do this slowly and with a spoon so that you allow time for the liquid to absorb into the cake and not just flood over the edges of the tin.

Wait until the cake is cool before turning out, especially if you haven't used a loaf tin liner as the greaseproof paper won't come away from the cake as easily if it is still warm.

Finally, put the kettle on and enjoy this fabulously zesty and guilt-free cake with a nice big cuppa!

Adapted from BBC GoodFood

Exploring the coast from The New Forest

The Spit at Hurst Castle Keyhaven

I was lucky enough to be invited along to The New Forest to stay with my best friend Olivia's family last week (4th-7th July) and aside from some horrific sunburn it was a beautiful couple of days. We ate, drank and indulged in all of the pleasures of being at the sea.

We stayed in a town inland called West Wellow which meant a scenic drive through the forest to the beach each day and of course ultimately I read the map wrong a handful of times and we ended up reversing down a bridleway but hey what's life without an adventure right?

Muddeford

I realised once I'd got home that I had in fact been to Muddeford when I was a lot younger with my family, but while we were there, everything felt new and exciting and beautiful as if I was seeing it for the first time. While on the sandy beach, I also took my second dip of the year into the cold English sea, having already tried out the water in Suffolk the week before, which although seems like an ice bath when you first dive under, it's a feeling from ones childhood you can only really get from diving straight in! I love the English seaside and swimming in the less than tepid waters is a vital part of the experience for me!

Swimming with Lucy at Muddeford

Muddeford beach-huts

Olivia loving the sun in Muddeford

My Last Day

Christchurch, Keyhaven & Hurst Castle

After suffering the worst sunburn of my life, (entirely my own fault for not wearing sun cream, I mean look at the sun in the photos!) I was rather hesitant about spending another day out in the sun, but I'm glad we went anyway as it turned out to be another jam packed day.

We started off at Christchurch marina with picnic in hand ready to hire a couple of boats for a trip up the river. Rather concerning for me was the sun, but it made for a gorgeous little cruise captained by Olivia, and I wore Ali's scarf around my blushed shoulders while I tucked into a sandwich and some lemon drizzle cake! The boats were around £20 to hire for the hour and totally worth it if you every find yourself down by the river, not only to enjoy the water, but to be nosey and enjoy staring at all the extensive riverside homes and their grounds!

Once we had exhausted the parks and bars next to the harbour, we moved on in convoy along the coast to the small harbour of Keyhaven where the view of the Isle of Wight is as clear as it could possibly be from the mainland. There isn't much in terms of amenities at Keyhaven but an ice cream van and a footpath to walk upon is all one really needs and that's exactly what we did, walked around the little port, before making our way up to the spit to look out onto the open sea. As one can imagine, up on the spit we were fighting against the wind to tame our hair and stand up straight, but it was definitely worth it for the view which included Hurst Castle in the distance and a faint glimpse of Yarmouth on The Isle of Wight.

Girls boat trip up the river in Christchurch

Lucy at Keyhaven

Fighting against the wind on the spit at Hurst Castle

The spit separating the sea and Keyhaven harbour

Watching kite surfing
(And yes the guy was totally showing off!)

Time to say goodbye!

After a mere three nights, I had to leave the family and head back home to my own family to celebrate my Grandma's birthday, but it was more than enough time to enjoy great company and even better views. I rediscovered a childhood love of the game UNO Extreme and a familiar dislike to ancient editions of Trivial Pursuit which only those above the age of 50 had a chance of winning, as well as cementing a hatred towards those darn UV rays of the rare English sun! Mark my words, I will be back and next time I shall devote myself to a pair of walking boots and I will discover what the forest has to explore!

Saying goodbye to Suffolk for another year

Bye to the beach!

It's July again and it has come around so fast in the same way it always seems too now we're all at uni but this time July marks our last 4 month summer until we resume our studying for one final year come September. Although it may be a hindrance for the majority of the time, having friends dotted around the country does provide some great chances for a couple of weekend mini breaks to previously unvisited places of the country, and no more peaceful than the Suffolk coastline where Olivia studies at University Campus Suffolk.

Windy and raining but still loving Aldeburgh beach

We eat in all weather conditions!

True to form the English weather decided to somewhat disrupt our plans for three days in the sun by the sea, so our first day on the east coast was spent exploring Aldeburgh and Shotley rather wrapped up and battling the rain!

Abandoned jetty at Shotley, so photographically beautiful

As we embraced the rain we also embraced another English tradition, eating fish and chips on the beach and the reputation of the shop in Aldeburgh lived up to its expectation and definitely warmed us up!

Road-trips to the coast with this beautiful human

The princesses get to go to the ball!

Aside from helping Olivia pack up her room, the reason for our trip at the weekend was to go to her end of year ball or in other words an excuse to wear a long dress and drink a few too many with her friends!

I did Olivia's hair for her but she looked fabulous all by herself, and my dress was one I picked up in Paris in April. Luckily for us the sun shone for the evening and we had a great night especially by making use of the free photo booth!

Me and Olivia outside Ipswich town hall

So many pictures in the photobooth! These are the 'normal' ones!

Papped unaware at the ball

Finally the sun came out! 

Thank god the sun finally made an appearance so that we could lap it up on the beautiful sandy beach we found at Covehithe. Knowing how secluded the beach was, we parked up on top of the cliffs in the little village and got to take a wander around the ruins of the church/cathedral there.

Covehithe Cathedral ruins

Olivia loving the beautiful beach we found!

Sand for miles!!! The sea may have been classically English in its murky brown colour, but had it not been for that, we could have pretended we were in the Mediterranean the sand  was so perfect and the beach so empty!

Doesn't she look amazing!

OMG it's England and I'm wearing a bikini in public!

I cannot believe this is in England, such a tranquil deserted beach

We stayed for a few hours on the beach and Olivia watched while I took the plunge and went into the sea, it was freezing but amazing! Among the sand were some great pebbles and shells so we walked along, heads down in search of some treasures, unfortunately to no avail, but we did find a dried out baby starfish! A gorgeous afternoon and some mild sunburn later, we went for a second portion of fish and chips at Aldeburgh with Olivia's flatmates where we sat on the shore line.

I am yet to end my love affair with the sea and luckily for me, Olivia has one more year at uni so I shall be back to visit! See you soon Suffolk!