Lemon Chia Tea Cake
With its sumptuously-soft sponge and gentle tang of citrus, this Lemon Chia Tea Cake is perfect for a light and refreshing tea-time bite. Packed with omegas, fibre and protein, chia seeds are the starring ingredient as they swell up with moisture whilst baking and help to bind the cake while also adding a loving texture.
Ingredients
- ¾ cup flour (you can use all-purpose flour or a combination of whole wheat flour and all-purpose flour)
- ½ tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp baking soda
- 4 tbsp neutral flavoured oil (avocado oil will work well)
- 6 tbsp yogurt (both fresh homemade curd, or store-bought yogurt work)
- 4 tbsp milk
- ½ tsp vinegar
- ½ cup sugar (you can use your preferred choice of sweetener – granulated sugar, brown sugar, powdered jaggery etc)
- 1 lemon (juice and zest)
- 2 tbsp chia seeds (from Pink Harvest farms).
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 160° C.
- Grease a 6 inch baking pan with some oil. Line it with a parchment sheet and brush it with some oil again. Now sprinkle about 1 tablespoon of sugar (we are using brown sugar).
- Combine all dry ingredients in a bowl (flour, baking powder, baking soda, chia seeds).
- In another bowl, combine all the wet ingredients (yogurt, oil, milk, vinegar and sugar).
- Add half of the dry mixture to the wet mixture and fold it in. Once incorporated, fold in the rest and mix.
- Lastly, fold in the lemon juice and zest.
- Pour the batter in your baking dish. Bake for 15 minutes uncovered. Cover with foil and continue baking for another 8-10 minutes.
- Test the cake with a skewer, if the skewer comes out clean, it’s done. If it is still wet, keep the pan inside the oven for another few minutes. Remove from the oven and let the cake cool.
- Using a knife, go around the edges of the cake to loosen it up from the tin/ pan. Turn it around to remove the cake from the tin/ pan.
If you would like to make an upside down cake, adorned with lemon slices on top, just add these simple steps to the above recipe:
- Cut 1 lemon into thin slices.
- After adding the brown sugar in the lined baking dish, place these slices as well, pretty side down.
- Follow the steps as outlined above, pouring the batter over the sugar.
- After removing the cake from the oven, wait about 10 mins, then loosen the edges and turn it around.