You see, the cake was a birthday cake, and you can't have a birthday cake without candles. Unfortunately where there are candles there is fire, and when that fire is inside a building it is often followed by an unsolicited cold shower. Perhaps not if the birthday boy or girl requires only one or two or three candles, but this one required considerably more... which is, after all, why the celebration took place in a pub in the first place.
In this edition of Pop-up Tŷ, I set up shop in a friend's borrowed caravan. He assured me that the caravan was equipped with a cake pan and an oven, so all I needed to do was purchase ingredients. In the name of simplicity (and because I was working with a loaf tin), I opted for a recipe by Ina Garten for lemon yogurt cake. A lemon drizzle cake is an easy option for baking in a loaf tin, but the idea to use yogurt was inspired by the delicious natural Llaeth y Llan I'd picked up the day before. Mixed with a bit of jam and muesli and you'll almost forget about cake... just kidding. It's good, but nothing is that good.
This was my first go at making a cake with yogurt, and it was also the first time I opted to use self-rising flour. I did so with much trepidation. With self-rising flour you simply don't have the same control over your ingredients that you do when adding the rising agent or agents yourself, but since baking powder alone would have cost as much as the flour, and there would have been far more of it than I needed for my Pop-up Tŷ, I picked up the self-rising flour and popped it in the basket.
In the end I altered Ina's recipe in part intentionally, in part incidentally (the self-rising flour) and in part accidentally. My version can be found in the Recipe Box. Note the addition of a raspberry swirl (intentional) and the removal of salt (accidental). Because I used butter and not oil, as called for in the original recipe, I also changed the method. I began by creaming the butter and sugar together, which I hoped would also give the cake an extra boost if the self-rising flour failed. Creaming creates tiny air pockets in the butter, which adds volume to the cake. I don't know if it actually had any hand in the success of the raising of this particular cake, however, as I left the bowl too close to the hot oven and the butter began to melt fairly rapidly. Next I added the zest, and then beat in the eggs followed by the yogurt. Finally, combine the self-rising flour with this mixture.
Pour one third of the batter into the prepared tin; I lined the tin with parchment in addition to greasing it, but simply greasing and flouring it is an option. On top of this layer, dollop about a tablespoon or so of raspberry jam. I tried to dollop it in a pattern that I thought would enhance the swirl, but it's not necessary (and perhaps not effective...). Pour a second third of the batter on top of this layer, and repeat the jam process. Top it off with the final third of batter.
After all the batter was in the tin, I swirled a skewer through it. This process did create a bit of a swirl, but the technique needs perfecting. While the cake is baking, prepare the drizzle by measuring out approximately 1/3 cup of confectioner's sugar and mixing it with the juice of your lemon. I used the juice of about one half of the lemon; the drizzle should be runny, but you also do not want it to be too thin if you want it to drip nicely and hang on the cake.
Despite my apprehensions, the self-rising flour seemed to do a fine job of raising the cake. The caravan oven also produced a nice result; any unknown oven can turn out to have unexpected quirks, but this one seemed to be a steady worker and didn't cause any problems with the bake. I wish I could say the same for my dormitory oven, but that's a story for another time... I also learned something new at this Pop-up Ty: the Gas Mark is indeed a scale that people use (it was a first for me!), and if you want to bake a cake, chances are you'll want to be set to mark 4 - maybe mark 3 if you're taking the low and slow approach.
A Pop-up Ty, a car delivery through the windy roads of Wales, fire in the pub, and no trafferth... Iechyd da!
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