butter cake and a gigantic lemon...

We were picking lemons off the tree at Ian's parent house when this gigantic lemon was seen hanging on a low branch, Ella just had to have it. Boy she was excited, of course in her hands "it's a giant lemon Mum."

I automatically thought great, we could all make Lemon Meringue Pie together, you know get them involved in the kitchen. But what was I thinking! I was promptly told no, they wanted to take it to "news" at school. So off it went the next morning. In the meantime I made butter cake all by myself. Good old plain butter cake. Simple and delicious.

butter cake from Donna Hay

125g (4 oz) butter, very well softened

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup caster (superfine) sugar

3 eggs

1 1/2 cups plain (all-purpose) flour, sifted

1/2 teaspoon baking powder, sifted

1/4 teaspoon bicarbonate of

soda (baking soda), sifted

1/2 cup (4fl oz) milk

Preheat the oven to 150 C (300 F). Place the butter, vanilla, sugar, eggs, flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and milk in the bowl of an electric mixer and beat on a low speed until combined.

Increase the speed to high and beat the mixture until it is just smooth.

Grease a 20cm (8 in) round cake tin and line with non-stick baking paper. Spoon in the mixture and bake for 1 hour 5 minutes or until cooked when tested with a skewer. Allow to cool for 5 minutes then turn onto a wire rack. Serve plain or spread with basic icing. Serves 8.

I know that with five of us in this house I should really cook a main meal for all of us, but that just wouldn't happen. This is what we did when the girls were at school, hang out with the camera in the kitchen.

These forks are from my childhood, I love the fact that I can pass them onto my children. Do you have something from your childhood to be passed on? I'd love to hear about them.