People know that I bake, and that I’m pretty good at it (and modest), so when it’s their birthday or a special occasion, they like to request cakes from me! This one is no exception: lemon drizzle cake, requested by a colleague in honour of their birthday. I’ve made loaf-shaped lemon drizzle cakes before but although they turned out reasonably well, they just didn’t have that ‘wow’ factor. So this time I decided to try doing it as a traybake, following the recipe from the Queen of Baking, and judge on The Great British Bake Off, Mary Berry. Although I’ve used her basic recipe, I’ve made some little modifications to it here and there.
Ingredients
275g self raising flour
225g butter, softened
225g caster sugar (I used 110g golden caster sugar and 115g normal caster sugar)
2tsp baking powder
4tbsp milk
4 large eggs
grated zest of 2 lemons
For the topping:
Juice of 2 lemons
175g granulated sugar
1. Lightly grease and line a 30 x 23cm tin. Preheat your oven to 160°C.
2. If you have an electric mixer, mix all the ingredients together in a large bowl. If, like me, you don’t have an electric mixer, start by creaming the butter and sugar together, add the eggs and milk and mix well, then add the flour, baking powder and lemon zest and continue to mix well for a few minutes.
3. Empty the mix into the tin and level the top with the back of a wooden spoon or spatula.
4. Bake for approximately 40 minutes, until golden and the sponge springs back when pressed lightly.
5. Leave the cake to cool in the tin for a few minutes. (I didn’t remove my cake from the tin but if you want to then you can remove it from the tin using the baking paper. Carefully remove the paper and allow the cake to cool on a wire rack.) Prick the cake all over the top with a fork. This will allow the topping to sink into the cake a little way and imbue it with lovely lemony sugary mmmmm-ness!
6. While the cake is cooling, mix the topping ingredients together in a small bowl. Drizzle the topping over the cake while it’s still slightly warm. When the cake cools, this ‘syrup’ forms a crunchy lemony sugary glaze.
7. Cut into squares once completely cooled. Grab some for yourself before it all disappears!
What’s your favourite go-to cake recipe, or your favourite cake?
Becky
Becky Button 
Mmm, I love lemon drizzle cake – very intrigued by it as a tray bake. When I move I might have to give this one a go!
giving this recipe a go right now! looks good so far x
Just made this, absolutely lovely even though I added the lemon juice to the cake batter instead of the sugar topping! Oops! Will be one of my fave recipes from now on. Delicious.
Fantastic cake but my topping does not go crunchy
Have made this today as had family over. It went down a treat, absolutely yummy. This is definately my favourite cake now. I served it with a little creme fraiche on the side, delish!
I’m glad it was a success! It’s certainly very popular every time I make it 🙂
I am in Canada and I don’t like the self raising flour here so I am going to have to try and use plain flour with lots of baking powder. I will let you know if it works!
Ooh, yes let me know! I have occasionally had to do that myself in emergencies when I’ve run out of self-raising 🙂
It works!
This cake is very easy and absolutely delicious.
Hurrah! 🙂 I’m glad to hear that it was a success!
Hi Again, it worked well with the extra baking powder- the general rule is 2 tsp of baking powder for every 150g/6oz/1 cup of all purpose or plain flour. So I think a little extra baking powder is ok!
That’s great! I love a bit of successful improvisation in baking – recently discovered that you can substitute an egg with a spoonful of natural yoghurt (dairy free if necessary) 🙂
Do i need to boil the sugar and the lemon juice for the toppings
Hi Vas, nope, just mix them together! 🙂
I’ve made lemon drizzle cake 2hrs ago and I must say how delish the cake is it’s so moist and lemony
Have made this twice this week,it’s so easy & gorgeous.
Lovely sponge,zesty taste throughout & lovely zesty top
Oh, I’m glad you like it! 🙂