Lemon Drizzle Cake

Lemon Drizzle Cake is a classic cake, eaten at any time of the year, but it is especially good in the Spring and Summer and it is a traditional cake made in many parts of England for Easter Sunday. Drizzle cakes are simple to make, and nearly everyone enjoys them, so why not bake two at once.

Adapting the cake: Some people also add a lemon butter-icing on top of the cake, as well as the drizzle, this can be made using icing (powdered) sugar, butter and grated lemon zest; although I find this extra step too over-powering, instead I prefer and enjoy the simplicity of this moist cake as it is – however it should also be noted that if the cake batter is made in exactly the same way, with the lemon drizzle, but instead the batter is baked in individual muffin tins, the butter icing added on top (in a piped swirl) gives each smaller cake a modern ‘cup-cake’ look and feel.

Lemon Drizzle Cake Recipe

Tips: The trick to this cake is not over-beating the cake batter when mixing, it needs to be light, so use a ‘folding’ technique rather than a mixing one. Buy good quality un-waxed organic lemons for this cake, not the ‘waxy’ shiny ones, as we need the skin for the zest.

Recipe Ingredients:

• 300g plain flour (sifted)
• 250g unsalted butter, (softened)
• 250g caster sugar
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 4 eggs
• 2 lemons (finely grated zest only)

for the drizzle topping

• 2 lemons (juice only)
• 100g caster sugar

Recipe Method:

Pre Heat the oven to 180C

In a large mixing bowl beat together the softened butter and sugar until pale and creamy, into this mixture add the zest of 2 lemons. Crack the eggs into another bowl and whisk together, then slowly add the whisked eggs into the creamed sugar, whisking them in. Sift in the flour and baking powder and fold into the wet ingredients (do not over-beat, or the cake will be tough).

Lightly butter a good quality loaf tin (8 x 21cm) or line it with greaseproof paper, then spoon in the cake mixture, and level the top off with the back of the spoon. Bake the lemon drizzle cake for 45-50 minutes at 180C, until a thin skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean. Once baked, remove from the oven and allow to cool in its tin.

While the cake is cooling in its tin, in a pan gently heat (do not boil) the lemon juice and dissolve the sugar into it to make the lemon drizzle (syrup). Once made and the cake has cooled (with the cake still in the tin) slightly prick the warm cake all over with a skewer or fork, then slowly pour over the lemon drizzle – the juice will sink in and the sugar will form a clear, lovely crisp and sticky topping.

Leave the cake in the tin until completely cool, then remove and serve in slices. This Lemon Drizzle Cake will keep in an airtight container for 3-4 days, or, if you want to freeze it, for up to 1 month.