These past two weeks we’ve had two young guests spending time with us on the beach. It was an interesting experience to see the different eating habits that other kids have. My guest this week doesn’t like recipes that combine tastes.   My family’s favorite banana bread was not a big hit for her. This nice and simple vanilla cake,though,  made my young guest very  happy and it’s guaranteed to please your kid, too. This is a non-adventurous and sweet tasting cake.  Maybe a little too sweet, if you ask me. Next time, I will reduce the sugar.  To make it  I used a basic vanilla cake recipe, adding only some lemon zest to enhance the aroma of the cake and reducing the amount of vanilla.

Recipe

Ingredients

• 1 cup butter at room temperature
• 1 1/2 cup sugar (use less, it came out too sweet)
• 4 eggs
• one vanilla powder tube  (if in Greece) or 1 tsp vanilla extract (if in the U.S.)
• 4 cups self-rising flour
• 1 cup milk
• zest from 1 lemon

How to make: Use a mixer to beat the butter with the sugar. Add the eggs and beat until smooth. If you are in Greece using vanilla powder, mix it with the flour. Gradually add the flour and the milk while keeping the mixer beating at low speed. Finally, fold in the lemon zest, pour the dough in a buttered pan and bake at pre-heated 175 C/375F oven  for about an hour. Did you say yum?