Lemon Drizzle Cake

Lemon Drizzle is my son’s absolute favourite cake. I tried a few recipes before finding Paul Hollywood’s one (sorry, Mary) and it makes the most delicious, moist cake. It ‘aint pretty, but it’s divine.

lemon drizzle cake

 

To make this tablet of lemony gorgeousness you need to preheat your oven to 180ºC (160 fan).  Butter and line a 2lb loaf tin with baking parchment.  Then beat together 75g soft unsalted butter and 125g caster sugar until light and fluffy.  This can take a long time, so keep going with it.  Mixing all the time, add 150g self-rasing flour, 1tsp baking powder, 2 medium eggs, 1 tbsp lemon curd and 2½ tbsp full-fat milk.

Pour the mixture into the tin and bake for about 40 mins or until a skewer comes out cleanly from the mixture.

For the drizzle, mix the juice and fine zest of one unwaxed lemon with 2tbsp granulated* sugar.  Pour this over the hot cake when it comes out of the oven and leave to cool completely before removing from the tin.  Sometimes I skewer a few holes over the cake top to help the drizzle sink in.  Other times I just leave it to get even more topping the cake.  I’ll leave that conundrum to you.

* You can also use icing sugar instead of granulated. Same amount or judge it by gloopiness…you know what I mean…

Addendum

Jackie’s suggestion from the comments to this post and my son’s demand for smaller cakes, called me to try this recipe as muffins.  The mixture made 10 muffins (1 ice cream scoop per case) and I baked them for 18-20 mins.  I let them cool before I poured on the lemon glaze.  To make this I warmed the juice and zest before adding 3 tbsp icing sugar.  They turned out pretty well and, if you’re interested, come in at 192 calories per muffin.  Not too bad for the cake world!  Now, I have to say my personal preference is a slice of the loaf cake, but these are great for taking to village fetes and the like and still taste just as wonderful.  Oh, and my kids preferred them but that’s because I let them squirrel them off  to the playroom with a bowl rather than make them sit up to the table.  So fickle…..

Addendum 2: Try orange curd and orange drizzle….

Lemon drizzle cake

Yum

15 Replies to “Lemon Drizzle Cake”

  1. I love this cake too but for some reason it always sinks in the middle, any tips or thoughts? :)

    1. Hmm…oven too hot? I have a fan oven and mine was fine but a lot of people say fan ovens can be the culprit…also sometimes over mixing can knock the air out too much.

      Different recipes can get different results too…it seems to be a bit of a lottery.

      Not much help, am I?! X

    2. My first attempt sunk too! I then used a food processor and put all the ingredients(wet & dry) pulsed for 5 seconds scraped around the bowl and pulsed for a further five seconds. Then into the lined loaf tin and forty five mins later gorgeously risen and golden………so easy……no beating for ages. I think the sinking was due to overbeating when the flour was added maybe knocking the air out.

    3. I also had this happen – on both of the two attempts I’ve tried so far in fact – once in loaf tin and then also in a square cake tin.

      I think there’s maybe too much raising agent in the recipe? The batter against the hotter sides of the tin rise too quickly and leave the middle behind. This might just be down to my fan oven temperature being inaccurate of course

      I however had good results with another recipe which used 2 tbsp of veg oil – plain flour and 1tsp baking powder. So for next attempt at this Paul Hollywood ‘lemon curd included’ recipe I’m going to try adding 1tbsp veg oil and use plain flour with 1tsp baking powder and bake for a little longer (5 or 10 mins).

      Not really worried about any attempts that don’t work 100% as the results are always delicious regardless of how they look!

  2. I have made
    a few Lemon Drizzles lately and this one is easily the winner so tasty. I also added a lemon drizzle topping to it ( Icing sugar, Lemon juice and rind)

    1. Ooh – I am going to try that next time, great suggestion! I have had loads of compliments about this cake, it really is a great recipe. Thanks for commenting!

  3. Lidl are great for unwaxed lemons and often have them on offer, and they are very good quality!

  4. I made double quantity of Paul’s lemon drizzle cake and it has been the best I have baked! Lovely and light, not ‘eggy’ which I have had with another recipe, so this is the ONE in future.

  5. I love that Lemon drizzle cake recipe, every time I make it it goes so quickly.

    I really like the how to bake book, we actually have 2 copies but 1 is signed x

  6. try this – once cold slice it through the middle then sandwich it with a layer of good quality lemon curd and whipped cream. If you want an even richer desert use half whipped cream and half lemoncello cream (Marks and Spencer’s now sell this in their cream section). It’s a real winner, but very calorific, so beware!

  7. I will try this one……just made one without lemon zest 4 tbsp of lemon juice…disappointed not very lemony is it the lack of zest

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