TrendLife Food

This is such a simple treat that is often overlooked in favour of heavily frosted cakes. But as the sun begins to filter through the clouds and we discard our winter warmers this light cake will brighten you up. Serve with Lady Grey or ginger tea.

Ingredients:

170g Plain Flour

170g Caster Sugar

170g Butter

3 Large Eggs

1 Lemon

3/4 tsp Baking Powder

For the drizzle:

80g Caster sugar

Lemon

1.Preheat the oven to 180c and line a 20cm loaf tin with greaseproof paper.

2.Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time until fully incorporated.

3.Slowy sift the baking powder and flour into the mix. Add the zest of the lemon.

4.Add the mixture to the tin and place into the oven for 30-35mins or until light and springy to the touch.

5.Remove from the oven and place the tin on a cooling wire. Whilst this cools mix the juice of the lemon with the caster sugar until fully dissolved.

6.Using a cocktail stick push it in the cake at various points this will allow the drizzle to seep in to the cake and make it lovely and moist.

7.Remove from the tin when completely cool. I like to keep it in the parchment as I think it looks pretty, just trim to size.

Tips: For something different add 50g of poppy seeds to the mixture or swap the caster sugar in the drizzle for icing sugar.

"Sweets for my Sweet, sugar for my Honey." Ditch the predictable and surpise with a cookie card!

Got a sweetheart but don't know how to tell them? These beautifully iced chocolate biscuits will easily spell it out to your amore and Nigella is a fan so they get a foodie seal of approval. We are in love with "Fleur" the little gingerbread man clutching a big bunch of blooms and sporting a winning smile and we predict the mysterious "Guess Who" cookie card will be an office winner.

You can get them from their lovely little website: http://www.biscuiteers.com

Whether it be breakfast, builders or earl grey, with one lump or three, we think it's time that tea got the star treatment and brewed with love and care in the best of all vessels, the teapot. But apparently the sales of teapots are down? How can we British, in a year full of such momentous occasion (Olympics and Jubilee), neglect the humble tea pot? We love that #savetheteapot is trending on twitter and have selected some of our favourite tea pots to share with you. Lets ditch the mug and bring back proper tea ettiquette.

Emma Bridgewater £75
Red Candy £75
Sweet William £25
The Contemporary Home £69.99
The Gifted Penguin £19.99
Drift Living £39

Just the mere mention of this vegetable makes me a dribbling mess. My dad was a huge leek fan and master at cooking them, his simple baked leeks to accompany a chicken roast were out of the world. So I'm glad to announce that the mighty Leek is in season this month and therefore at it's best. 
Versatility is a great quality of the humble leek, buttery and comforting in a ham pie or light and fresh in a smoked haddock risotto. It's also packed with anti-oxidants, so as the country freezes over meals packed with the veg will help stave off colds too. A great reason to incorporate leek into your food.