Classic Lemon Drizzle Cake

When life gives you lemons make lemon drizzle cake. This classic bake is sure to put a smile on your face.

What could be nicer than a classic lemon drizzle cake? A bite of the soft sponge cake brings the tang of lemon and the crunch of sugar. Perfect with a cup of tea to brighten up an afternoon.

I haven’t made a lemon drizzle cake for ages. My last attempt at a drizzle cake was a lovely raspberry and blackberry drizzle cake which was perfect to use up my bumper raspberry crop. On finding that I had three lemons that I had to use up I thought a lemon drizzle cake would be perfect. Don’t you hate it when you have to buy a bag of lemons when you only need to use one? It did give me an excuse to make cake though and that is never a bad thing. Normally I would make lemon and sultana biscuits but they only need one lemon.

A classic lemon drizzle cake

Before I could make a lemon drizzle cake I had to find a recipe. Searching on-line I found several recipes for lemon drizzle cake. Strangely one of these requires one and half eggs. I am still trying to work out how you measure half an egg. Is there some gadget that slices an egg neatly in half that I am missing from my life? Even more weird how did someone discover that the recipe tastes best with one and a half eggs? I mean who would even try this? It is mind boggling.

When I need a classic recipe I always have a look though my gran’s cookbooks. I inherited a number of books from her. Some of these have strange names like the Radiation Cookbook and they take you back into the past. The recipes are substantial and use a lot of ingredients that are not so familiar today. Inside each of these books my gran has inserted hand written notes of recipes that she tried and liked. Some of these are cryptic with just a name and list of ingredients. Others have more detail but none have pictures. Looking though these I found a recipe for lemon drizzle cake. I have fond memories of eating this and other home made cakes with my gran when we went to visit. I thought I would try it for myself.

Lemon Drizzle Cake Recipe

A classic lemon drizzle cake is really easy to make. It starts with a basic sponge recipe. To make a basic sponge take the weight of an egg and add the same weight in flour, butter and sugar the. To make a bigger cake you can double and triple the amounts. It is an easy way to remember how to make a sponge without a recipe book. The secret to a lemon drizzle cake adding the lemon drizzle whilst the cake is still warm. Mix together some lemon juice and caster sugar until it is smooth. Let the cake sit for a few minutes when you remove it from the oven. Holes should then be made in the cake with a skewer and pour on the drizzle. The holes allow the drizzle to sink into the centre of the cake spreading the lemon heaven all though it.

Classic Lemon Drizzle Cake Recipe

Classic lemon drizzle cake

A light lemon sponge drizzled with lemon juice and sugar to make a lovely tangy cake

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Prep Time 15 mins

Cook Time 40 mins

Course Dessert

Cuisine British

Servings 8

Ingredients

  

For the cake

• 3 large eggs
• 170 g self raising flour
• 170 g caster sugar
• 170 g butter
• Zest of two lemons

For the drizzle

• Juice of two lemons
• 110 g caster sugar

Instructions

 

• Preheat the oven to 180C, Gas Mark 4
• Grease a loaf tin
• Cream together the butter and sugar until smooth.
• Add the flour, eggs and lemon zest and mix
• Pour the mixture into the loaf tin
• Bake for 30 – 35 minutes until a skewer put in the middle comes out clean
• Mix together the sugar and lemon juice for the drizzle
• Make holes in the cake with a skewer
• Pour the drizzle over the top
• Leave to cool

Why not pin the recipe to make later?

When was the last time you made lemon drizzle cake? Why not make some today?