Irish Mead Citrus Loaf Cake

• temps total: 1 hour 55 minutes

Ingrédients

This is the very first cake I ever baked for my wife and honestly, I think it’s the one that made her fall in love with me. I wrapped it up in tinfoil and brought it all the way on the Eurostar with me to visit her.

Don’t forget to save this recipe for later. ✨🙏📌

It’s a buttermilk and citrus cake, but it’s made extra special with lots of Irish mead. A golden honey liquor that’s been drunk in Ireland for thousands of years (we used the one from Bunratty castle in Co.Clare, our local favorite).

It’s soft, sweet, and bursting with citrus. This one is a winner.

To quote my wife: “If I were to have one cake for the rest of my life, that’d be it”.

For 2lb loaf tin

1¼ cups plain flour

½ teaspoon baking powder

¼ teaspoon bicarbonate soda

¼ teaspoon fine salt

zest from 2 lemons

zest from 1 orange

1¼ cups sugar

2 large eggs

¾ cup olive oil

½ cup buttermilk

¼ cup Irish mead (or dessert wine)

1 ½ tablespoon poppy seeds

Glaze

¾ cup icing sugar

juice from one lemon

juice from half an orange

zest from one orange

We also added a little shot of mead here, but it’s optional :)

Instructions

Preheat oven to 180°C. Lightly grease a loaf tin with nonstick spray and line with baking paper.

In a medium bowl, mix the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate soda, and salt.

In a large bowl, rub the lemon and orange zest into the sugar to release the oils. Whisk in the eggs until smooth.

Add the olive oil, buttermilk, and Irish mead, then whisk to combine.

Stir in the dry ingredients gradually until you have a smooth batter. Pour into the prepared tin.

Bake for 40–50 minutes, or until golden and a skewer comes out clean (ours took 45 mins). Cover with foil halfway through if browning too quickly.

While it bakes, whisk the icing sugar with the citrus juices until smooth, then stir in the orange zest.

Let the cake cool slightly in the tin. When warm, poke holes in the top and pour over the glaze.

We use all the glaze: it soaks in and makes the cake extra soft and flavourful. Leave to absorb for 20–30 minutes, then remove from tin, slice, and enjoy. ✨