Recipe: Lemon drizzle cake

In my world, there are very few things that beat sitting down with a a cup of tea and a slice of cake... especially lemon drizzle cake.

I wanted to share with you one of my all time absolute favourite recipes. I've baked this too many times to count and every single time it has turned out just perfectly. I've baked this for cake sales, for friends, for my work team, for Rob's work team... and I'll let you into a secret: I've even baked this for myself to enjoy all on my own, on the sofa, no sharing!

When lemon drizzle cake is concerned I can't help but feel slightly deceived because most lemon drizzle cakes ironically have no 'drizzle' on them at all - instead they have a thick layer of lemon icing. In this recipe however, (from Nigella's How To Be A Domestic Goddess) the cake is taken out of the oven, punctured all over the top with a cake tester and the warm lemony syrup is poured over, seeping into the holes. This leaves a sharp, delicious, lemony taste right through the middle. SO good.

The recipe is dead simple and the smells that will fill your kitchen whilst the cake is in the oven are heavenly.



For the cake
125g unsalted butter
175g caster sugar
2 large eggs
zest of 1 lemon
175g self-raising flour
pinch of salt
4 tablespoons milk
For the syrup
juice of 1&1/2 lemons (about 4 tablespoons)
100g icing sugar

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C / gas mark 4 and line a 23x13x7 cm loaf tin, using grease proof paper and butter.

Cream together the butter and sugar, adding the eggs and lemon zest, beating them in well. Next, add the salt and the flour, folding in gently. Finally, add the milk. When all mixed together, pour the mixture into the lined loaf tin and put in the oven. Bake for 45 minutes.

While the cake is cooking, make the syrup. Put the lemon juice and sugar into a small saucepan and heat gently, dissolving all of the sugar.

The cake should be golden and risen in the middle. Use a cake-tester and check if this comes out clean. If so, the cake should be baked perfectly. Immediately start puncturing the top of the cake using the cake-tester, making small holes over the top. Then pour over the syrup, letting it absorb into all the little holes and down the sides too. Don't worry too much if the top of the cake appears to be a little drowned in syrup, this will seep down into the cake and the rest will set nicely onto the top.

Leave to cool completely, then take the cake out of the tin and unwrap the greaseproof paper.

Enjoy with a big cuppa tea!


Lydia xxx