Lemons, clementines and poppy seeds

Despite the best of intentions to get through my usual mountains of clementines over Christmas, there a number that are looking a little tired in the fruit bowl. They are still perfectly edible, it's just that their peel has dried to an almost resistant leathery coating making the act of peeling a particularly frustrating process. With several lemons also left over and a half used bag of ground almonds from Christmas baking I thought they would be the perfect ingredients for a citrus scented sponge to brighten January afternoons.

Lemon and poppy seed cake (gluten free)

175g unsalted butter, softened

175g golden caster sugar

pinch of salt

1 unwaxed lemons, zest 

3 free range eggs, beaten

100g gluten free self raising flour

75g ground almonds

1 tbsp black poppy seeds

citrus 'drizzle' to top the cake

3-4 clementines (or other small citrus fruit), juice only if not unwaxed

1 unwaxed lemon, zest and juice

50g demerara sugar

Heat the oven to 160 degrees celsius (180 degrees if not a fan oven) and line a small loaf tin with baking parchment. Beat together the butter, sugar, pinch of salt and zest of one lemon until pale and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one by one, then fold in the flour, almonds and poppy seeds. Loosen the mixture a little with a tbsp of clementine juice, reserving the rest for the drizzle. Spoon the mixture into the tin and bake for 45-50 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean. Mix together the demerara sugar, remaining clementine juice, lemon juice and zest in a small jug. Prick the cake all over with the skewer whilst still in the tin and poor the juice and sugar all over the still warm cake. Remove from the tin when cold. The cake will be very damp and fragile and should keep well in a tin for 2-3 days.