Lemon Drizzle Cake
Thick golden slices with a crackly, sugar-crusted top, the crumb soaked through with sharp lemon syrup and a fresh flurry of zest catching the light.
Ingredients
Serves 8- 4large eggs
- 200 gself-raising flour, sifted
- 125 gnatural yoghurt
- 2 tbspmilk (optional, to loosen batter) (optional)
- 200 gcaster sugar
- Pinch of fine sea salt
- 205 gunsalted butter, softened, 5 g reserved for the tin
- 1 tspbaking powder
- Finely grated zest of 3 lemons (about 6 g)
- 150 gicing sugar (for drizzle)
- 4 tbspfresh lemon juice (for drizzle)
- 1 tspvanilla extract (optional) (optional)
Method
- Heat the oven to 180°C/160°C fan. Grease a deep 900 g loaf tin, about 24 x 13 x 7 cm, with the reserved 5 g butter and line with baking paper, leaving an overhang for lifting.
- Cream the remaining 200 g softened butter and caster sugar in a large bowl for 4–5 minutes until pale, fluffy and noticeably lighter in colour. Beat in the eggs one at a time, scraping the bowl between additions so the mixture stays glossy and emulsified rather than splitting.
- Sift the flour, baking powder and salt over the bowl and fold gently with a large spoon or spatula until just combined; stop the moment you no longer see streaks of flour. Fold through the yoghurt and lemon zest. If the batter feels stiff, loosen with a splash of milk; it should drop slowly from the spoon.
- Spoon into the prepared tin and level the top; it should be no more than two-thirds full. Bake for 55–65 minutes until golden and springy, and a skewer pushed into the centre comes out clean. Loosely cover with foil if the top colours before the centre cooks.
- While the cake is still warm in the tin, mix the icing sugar with the lemon juice (and vanilla, if using) until smooth and just pourable. Prick the top all over with a skewer, going right down to the base, then spoon the drizzle slowly over the surface so it soaks into the crumb and pools into a tacky, crackly crust as it cools.
- Leave in the tin for 10 minutes, then lift carefully onto a wire rack. Cool for about 50 minutes more before cutting into eight slices so the warm crumb has time to set.
Per serving
- kcal
- 502
- protein
- 7g
- fibre
- 0.9g
- carbs
- 64.3g
- fat
- 24.5g
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