On summer days there’s nothing like the sharp, zingy taste of lemons. And while some cakes can seem too heavy during the warmer season, a Lemon Drizzle Cake is always welcome with a glass of iced tea of even some fizz.
The key to this cake is the drizzle. It needs to really soak into the cake and give it that unique texture and extra flavour. This is where so many prepackaged versions of this cake fall down. They don’t have the fluffy texture coupled with the moisture and crunch on top.
This is such a quick cake to make and makes 12 good size pieces. It’s brilliant for picnics as it can be boxed up so easily or you could even repack it into the tray you cooked it in. I use a brownie tin which makes a nice deep cake but you can also use a traybake tin or a 30cm by 26cm roasting tin.
Lemon Drizzle Cake
Ingredients
- 225g butter , softened
- 175g caster sugar
- 275g self-raising flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 4 eggs
- 4 tablespoons milk
- 2 lemons, finely grated
- For the Drizzle
- 150g granulated sugar
- juice of 2 lemons
Directions
- Step 1 Line your tin with baking parchment/greaseproof paper. Preheat oven to 160°C/325°F/Gas 3.
- Step 2 Place all the cake ingredients into a bowl and beat for a couple of minutes until thoroughly combined. An electric whisk is great for this.
- Step 3 Put the mixture into the tin and smooth level so it’s even all over.
- Step 4 Bake in the centre of the oven for 40mins, when ready the cake should be coming away from the sides and spring back in the middle. A knife inserted into the centre should come out clean. If not give it another 5mins and check again.
- Step 5 Remove from the oven and allow to cool in the tin for 10minutes, then remove from the tin and peel off the baking parchment. I keep the parchment for the next bit which is to place the cake on a wire rack, put the parchment underneath the cake to catch any drizzle which doesn’t soak in.
- Step 6 Using a skewer pierce the cake all over, the drizzle can then dribble down these gaps and get further into the cake.
- Step 7 Make the drizzle by combining all the ingredients in a bowl or jug. Slowly pour over the cake making sure that you go right to the edges and allow the liquid to go down the holes. Spoon any remaining sugar over the top to almost ice it.
