Today I am sharing this recipe for a Red Grapefruit-Syrup Loaf Cake. Although a visually plain cake, it hits-the-spot on the flavour front perfectly: buttery, melt-in-the-mouth sponge with a fresh citrus zing. Perfect when enjoyed with a warming mug of tea.

Red Grapefruit-Syrup Loaf Cake

Serves 8 - 10

125g soft unsalted butter

175g caster sugar

2 large eggs

zest of 1/2 a red grapefruit

175g self-raising flour

Pinch of salt

4 tbsp milk

juice of 1 red grapefruit

100g icing sugar

Preheat the oven to 180C / gas mark 4, and butter and line a 450g loaf tin well, ensuring that the lining comes up a good centimetre or so above the top of the tin.

Cream together the butter and sugar, and add the eggs and grapefruit zest, beating them in well. Add the flour and salt, folding in gently but thoroughly, and then the milk. 

Spoon into the prepared tin and put in the oven and bake for 45 minutes or until golden, risen in the middle and an inserted skewer comes out clean.

While the cake is baking, get on with the syrup. Put the grapefruit juice and icing sugar into a small pan and heat gently until the sugar dissolves. 

Once the cake is done, remove from the oven and puncture the top all over with the cake tester. Pour over the syrup, trying to let the middle absorb it as well as the sides. Leave the cake to soak up the syrup and cool completely before removing from the tin.

Recipe adapted from Nigella Lawson's lemon-syrup loaf cake.