Shop My Favourites

Lemon Drizzle Cake - Revisited.

25 June 2020 2 comments





Today's post, I'll admit, is a bit of an afterthought.

I shared my recipe for one of my favourite cakes, the lemon drizzle, just over four years ago. And whilst it's not changed too much, I made a lemon drizzle cake the other day and the little tweaks and baking tips I've learnt along the way have made it even better. So much so that I really think it's worth noting this all down in a revisited recipe - if even just for my own benefit?!

You're welcome to look back at the original recipe but I'll just set things out from scratch here.



Ingredients

170g caster sugar
160g butter (add a pinch of salt to cake batter if using unsalted butter)
3 large eggs
170g self raising flour
2 large lemons, or 3 small
120g icing sugar


Method

I'm going to try and add as much detail here as I can. There aren't many ingredients so the result is more dependent on what you do with them.

Preheat an oven to 170C
- I use an oven thermometer as ours runs almost annoyingly hot and 170 centigrade really does seem to be the sweet spot.

Line a 2lb (??? I'm pretty certain it's 2lb and not 1) loaf tin with greaseproof
- I use these liners which makes life easier, or you could use a silicone loaf pan.

Cream together the butter and sugar in a large bowl for between 4-5 minutes.
- make sure that your butter is soft and squidgy. I've found this video helpful for visuals on how your butter should be.
- I also use a handheld mixer on medium-high for this bit.
- it should be pale, light and fluffy by the time you've finished.
- I've tried whizzing up granulated sugar in a food processor if you're in a pinch, it's fine but caster works best.

Add the lemon zest.
- I zest it straight into the bowl.
- I also add it now because we don't have the best micrograter and I prefer the zest to get battered around a bit with the mixer to release the oils.
- no need to mix after this stage, just go straight onto the eggs.
- you can add the zest of both lemons here but I feel it changes the flavour and I personally prefer the lighter, fresher taste of lemon juice rather than zest. I'll leave it up to you!

Slowly add the eggs to the creamed butter and sugar, plus zest.
- my cake mixtures always seem to curdle when adding the eggs in at this point (cold kitchen?) so I personally lightly whisk my eggs in a small bowl and microwave them on a very low setting until they're just about luke warm (270 watts for maybe a minute). Esp handy if you keep your eggs in the fridge for shelf life.
- I add the egg in about 3-4 stages, whisking well in between to create air/a light mixture.

Add the flour.
- for this part of the recipe I refer to the castella cake method of agitating the flour as little as possible - it's this that results in the fluffiest cake texture. I sift it in, in three lots, using the hand mixer for 12-15 seconds per lot.

Decant the batter into your lined loaf tin and bake in the centre of the oven for 45-55 minutes or until an inserted skewer comes out clean.
- I check mine after 45, it's usually done but sometimes it needs another 5 mins.
- I leave it in the tin to cool a little before the drizzle part.

For the drizzle:
- whisk the 120g icing sugar and juice of 2 lemons in a small bowl, it should be whitish in colour so add more sugar if it's more transparent.
- the cake frankly looks better using a smaller utensil to poke holes for the syrup *but* using something with around a 0.5cm diameter (I use a metal chopstick) tastes best.
- I leave the cake to cool in the tin for around 10 minutes then pour over the syrup.


Et voila!

Such a delightfully even, light, squishy sponge bursting with fresh sherbet-y lemon flavour.

A little update on a classic favourite.

xx