Raymond Blanc is French. He loves France. He loves French pastry. He loves strolling around Paris talking about French pastry. He loves making profiteroles, terrines, and soufflés. And he lives in England.
Blanc is a great chef-Michelin stars, etc.-and has been for decades, but he’s also great on television, witty, self-deprecating, in short a ham with tremendous skills. He’s unrepentantly French, but with a wink and a nod. With a sly grin, he satirizes the military provincialism of French food culture. Which is probably one reason why he set up shop in England: as soon as possible they’d toss him on the first ferry out of Normandy. Humor and French food aren’t a match made in heaven.
But Blanc can cook, which is all that matters. Check out his BBC series, especially the lamb episode. Even a simple dish like roast lamb leg is cooked in a slightly unfamiliar though convincingly proper manner, ensuring the tastiest possible end result. In this case on a bed of lamb bones. Who woulda thunk?
I chose to do his lemon tea cake for this very reason: a seemingly simple cake lifted by the tricks of a perfectionist chef. Yes, perfectionist, because he’s wry, not sloppy. Aerate, rather than simply stir the batter; glaze with apricot jam prior to the final sugar glaze; being watchful makes for a better cake.
And, true to his adopted home, he serves it with tea. In the show, Blanc jokes about this being a homey family recipe and how “it would be nice to have a little chap to make this with”. As it happens, I do have a little chap-our 4-year-old-and he sat on the counter whisking, dusting us both with a shower of flour. Blanc, the giddy expat, would have approved. Or not; he’s French, after all.
(NOTE: some of the recipe’s by weight. I could have figured out the conversions online and risked the wrath of collapsed cakes. Therefore, I suggest you do it. Better yet, get a kitchen scale. It’s a necessary piece of equipment. We serve it with a simple strawberry compote: cut berries, water, sugar, lemon juice.)
Lemon Tea Cake (from Raymond Blanc)
Makes one cake
For the Cake
5 eggs
11oz sugar
5 oz cream
3 lemons, zest only
1 ½ tablespoons dark rum (optional)
pinch salt
3 oz unsalted butter, melted
8 ½ oz flour
½ teaspoon baking powder
For the Jam Glaze
3 tablespoons apricot jam, warmed in a small saucepan
For the Lemon Glaze
1 lemon, zest and juice
5 oz confectioners’ sugar
- Preheat oven to 350.
- Butter a 10*3*3 loaf pan.
- In a large bowl, whisk eggs, sugar, cream, zest, rum, salt, and butter.
- Sift flour and baking power into a separate bowl, then whisk into the egg mixture until smooth. Use a whisk to aerate a bit.
- Pour batter into the prepared pan and bake in oven for 50-60 minutes, turning halfway through cooking. The cake is done when a knife blade inserted in the middle comes out clean.
- Remove the cake from tin onto a rack and let cool 10 minutes. Keep oven on.
- Brush cake with the apricot glaze and leave for five minutes while your make the lemon glaze.
- For the lemon glaze, whisk the lemon juice and zest with the sugar until smooth. Heat in a small pan or microwave until syrupy.
- Brush glaze all over cake and leave for a few minutes to set.
- 10. Place glazed cake in oven on a baking tray, turn off heat, and let warm 3-5 minutes to dry the glaze. Remove from the oven and leave to cool to room temperature before serving.
