We had a bit of a crisis and it was all-hands-on-deck, as friends and family came on board to support my youngest daughter, Maude.
Yael and Maude made this cake as part of Maude’s rehab.
I provided the recipe from my 30-year-old copy of The Complete International Jewish Cookbook by the late and wonderful Evelyn Rose.
It’s a great cake to make. You mix everything together in one bowl and once baked, you prick holes in it then pour-in a homemade lemon syrup for tangy-taste heaven.
I used to bake this cake a lot for our West Country Childbirth Group cake stall in the 1980s until I overdosed, vowing I would never bake another fundraising cake again.
We were aiming to improve maternity services. In 1982 we invited the water-birth obstetrician, Michel Odent, to give a talk and over 1,000 turned up. This demonstrated parents’ wishes for a gentle birth and led, eventually, to the UK’s first birthing room in the Royal United Hospital, Bath.
So maybe all that cake baking was worth it.
Put in one bowl: 100g softened butter + 150g caster sugar + 150g self-raising flour + 4 Tbs milk + grated rind of one lemon + two large organic eggs.
I substituted the self-raising flour for plain and used an extra egg instead, on one occasion – it worked well.
Line the bottom of an oiled loaf tin or 15cm square tin with oiled/greased greasproof paper. Evelyn Rose says this extra insulation from the greaseproof paper is important. So heed the cooking maven (Yiddish for expert).
Put the oven on Gas 4/350F/180C to heat up.
Beat all the ingredients in the bowl with a wooden spoon or electric beater, then turn the smooth mixture into the well-oiled baking tin.
Bake for 45 minutes.
Watch the animated movie, Flushed Away, while waiting, as Yael and Maude did.
Take the cake out of the oven and let it cool, still in its tin.
Now make the lemony syrup. Heat the 75g icing sugar with the juice of 2 large lemons (about 4 Tbs) until it gets all-syrupy.
Prick the cake’s surface with a fork then gently pour the syrup over it.
Once the cake is cold, turn out and dust with caster sugar. Share with friends.
Thank you, Yaelski.
Real Food Lover 
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Sounds fab ! Wish I could have some! I always liked Evelyn Rose’s cookbook. Here’s wishing good things to Maude.
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oh sometimes there is nothing like cake……sticky cake for sticky situations eh yum………:-)
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And what wonderful reward that (I heard on the grapevine) that after your pioneering work helping to bring water births to the UK, your own granddaughter was lucky enough to be born into water! In what was apparently a wonderful experience, with great appreciation to the Birthing Suite at Southmead hospital in Bristol, a very progressive unit.
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Michel Odent, now that takes me back! My mother was a midwife and would have been an alternative one if they’d had them in her day. So I well remember us alternative types routing for Michel Odent back in the 80s – scary to think I’m so old. Hope Maude is OK.
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Hi Choclette, glad to hear you were/are a fellow gentle birth afficianado, and your mum was a midwife.
I worked with the Association of Radical Midwives in the 1980s. I was so happy to meet up with the current group at Buddhafield Festival this year where the midwives had a yurt for pregnant women. Thought of becoming a midwife myself but the journalism took over….
As for old-age, hey, it’s all relative…Thinking about relatives (joke), I am indeed, as Ingrid Rose attests, an adoring grandmother of a water-birth baby. Yes, it is a beautiful circle. Who would have thought?
Maude is much better now, thank you.
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Thanks, Lynne, for your comment – great to hear your sassy voice again.
Thanks, Phils, for reassuring me this blog was OK (I do worry, you know). And Ingrid Rose, so pleased you read this blog mentioning Odent and water births – and I did not even harass you to visit!
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hello its me Gertrude aka maudie or maude or whatever you want to call me i just want to say that i Gertrude thought that the lemon cake of all lemon cakes was gert Lush and i enjoyed every bite every taste every morsel. most delightful sensation in my mouth of sweet lemon sause folowed buy the softness of the cake it was so lovely i enjoyed every bit and the company was also exceedingly good also thanks to yaelsky for being such a greate tonic .Toodle pip bye for now
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O, Gertrude, how wonderful your comment is on such a spiffing subject.
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My daughter’s birthday falls on next week. So I think I can prepare this tasty Lemon Cake on her birthday. So far I have not tried this cake. Definitely I ll try this and let you know how it taste
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I tried this cake and it was OK. My advice – definitely sift the flour and try to get self-raising flour, I forgot to sift and I used the extra egg and it was too heavy in my opinion. I’d recommend mixing the wet and dry ingredients separately and then adding wet to dry.
Tastes great though, Evelyn is always a winner!
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What serendipity! My married life depended on Evelyn Rose and I just referred to this recipe as I couldn`t find her book (I think it must have fallen to pieces from over-use). But my childbirth experiences depended on NCT and for 45 years I have been a prenatal teacher/breastfeeding counsellor. I helped found a similar movement in Israel and of course Michel Odent supported us. Full circle. Amazing – so was the cake.
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Evelyn Rose AND Michel Odent – amazing synchronicity indeed!
I was a NCT teacher (for ten years) too!
Wow!
Thank you for letting me know, Wendy.
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