Butter, walnut, lemon syrup loaf

You can decorate the loaf simply with a few walnut halves and a few slices of crystallised lemon rind if wished. For a delicious sharp lemon flavour, use thick-skinned lemons.

Ingredients

250 g	Unsalted butter, softened, but not melted (Main)
1 cup	Caster sugar
1 tsp	Vanilla essence
4	Eggs, they must be at room temperature (Main)
3	Lemons, grated rind for loaf, the juice used for syrup (see below recipe) (Main)
1 cup	Creme fraiche
2 cups	Flour
½ tsp	Baking powder
½ tsp	Baking soda
1 cup	Walnuts, chopped (Main)

Directions

1. Heat the oven to 170C and place the oven rack in or below the centre. Grease and line the base and sides of a large (25cm x 10cm) loaf tin. The paper should come above the sides of the loaf tin by about 2.5cm.
2. Beat the butter and sugar and vanilla essence until the mixture is pale cream in colour and very light and fluffy in texture; an electric beater is best. Beat the eggs together and add a little at a time, beating into the creamed mixture, which should be voluminous. Stir in the lemon rind and creme fraiche.
3. Sift the flour, baking powder and soda together twice and fold carefully into the creamed mixture with the walnuts. Transfer to the prepared tin.
4. Bake in the preheated oven for about 60 minutes or until a cake skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Pierce the cake all over with a skewer and brush the syrup (see below) over the cake allowing enough time between each brush for the syrup to soak in. Cool in the tin for 20 minutes before turning out on to a cake rack to cool thoroughly. Serve sliced and spread with a little extra butter if you feel like it.

Lemon syrup

Squeeze the juice from 3 lemons and measure. Place in a saucepan with the same quantity of sugar. Warm over low heat until the sugar has dissolved.