Lemon Drizzle Cake

Make Ahead and Storage

Keeps 5 days wrapped at room temperature — it improves on day two — and freezes 3 months.

Making Lemon Drizzle Cake

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1. Heat the oven to 175°C / 345°F. Butter and line a 900 g loaf tin with the paper standing proud of the rim.

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2. Beat the butter, sugar and lemon zest for 5 minutes until pale and fluffy — rubbing the zest into the sugar first releases its oils.

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3. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well, adding a spoonful of flour if it looks like curdling.

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4. Fold in the flour, baking powder and salt, then the lemon juice and milk to a soft dropping consistency.

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5. Scrape into the tin, level the top, and bake 50 to 55 minutes until risen, golden and a skewer comes out clean. Cover with foil at 40 minutes if it is browning fast.

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6. While it bakes, stir the granulated sugar and lemon juice together. Do not heat it — the sugar should stay granular.

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7. The moment the cake comes out, pierce it all over, right to the base, with a skewer.

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8. Spoon the drizzle slowly over the hot cake, letting each addition soak in before adding more.

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9. Cool completely in the tin. Drizzle with lemon icing and zest if using.

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Related guide: Prep, cook and total time.

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Worth Knowing

• Hot cake, cold drizzle. That temperature difference is what draws the syrup down into the crumb.
• Granulated sugar in the drizzle, not caster or icing. The undissolved crystals make the crust.
• Cool it in the tin. Turning it out warm and soaked risks it collapsing.

Some Background

The drizzle must go onto a hot cake: heat opens the crumb so the syrup is drawn down through it rather than sitting on the surface. Using granulated rather than icing sugar in the drizzle is what gives the crunchy top, because the crystals do not fully dissolve.

Good Alongside

A pot of Earl Grey · Crème fraîche, as a dessert · Fresh raspberries

Swaps and Variations

• No self-raising flour to hand? The common home substitute is the same weight of plain flour with 2 teaspoons of baking powder for every 150 g, sifted together well; the rise may not be identical to a bought self-raising flour.

Questions About Lemon Drizzle Cake

Nutrition per Serving

Per serving, calculated from the ingredient list with USDA FoodData Central figures (SR Legacy). A calculation, not a laboratory analysis: brands, cuts and how you measure change the real numbers. How the figures are worked out.

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