So fruity, sweet and incredibly moist and light.Easy to prepare with every-day ingredients and perfect for afternoon tea or coffee. Lemon drizzle cake is perfect for Spring picnics, parties, school and work pack lunches and afternoon tea and coffee treats.
6tablespoonvegetable oiluse one with a neutral flavour such as rapeseed/sunflower
195millilitreswater
2tablespoonfresh lemon juicejuice of ½ small-medium lemon
1wholelemon, rind zestedgrate the zest of 1 small-medium lemon
Lemon water icing:
12tablespoonicing sugarpowdered sugar, may require more
2tablespoonfresh lemon juicejuice of ½ small-medium lemon (may not require all the juice so just add a few drops at a time)
½wholelemon, rind zestergrate the zest of ½-1 small-medium lemon
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 160 Fan/180C/350 Fahrenheit/Gas 4.
Prepare a loaf pan by greasing with a little margarine and lining with baking parchment or popping in a loaf pan paper insert.
Add the flour, baking powder, sugar and lemon zest to a mixing bowl. Stir to combine.
Pour in the vegetable oil, water and lemon juice and mix the cake batter until it is smooth.
Scoop the cake batter into the prepared loaf pan and bake on the middle shelf of the oven for 35-45 minutes or until the cake has risen, is golden, firm and a skewer popped in comes out clean. Exact times will depend on your oven with fan ovens tending to cook faster.
Leave the cake in the loaf pan for 15 minutes before tipping out carefully to fully cool.
To decorate:
Mix 12 tablespoons of sifted icing sugar/powdered sugar with a few drops of lemon juice until the desired consistency of icing has been achieved.
The icing should be white, thick but still easy to drizzle. If the icing is too thin add a few more tablespoons of icing sugar to thicken it back up. If the icing is too thick add a few more drops of lemon juice until its just right.
Drizzle all the icing over the cake. It's recommended to do this with a piece of baking paper under the cake as it can be messy. Any pools of icing that drip off the cake can be scooped up and drizzled back over.
Sprinkle the lemon zest over the cake to finish and allow the icing to set before slicing.
Notes
Nutritional information is provided for guidance only and is not a strict calculation as ingredients vary.
Store lemon drizzle cake within a cake tin or airtight container. Or store on a plate with cling film/Seram wrap covering. There are biodegradable wrap available these days so if possible do use that.
Store for up to 5 days or a few days longer if kept in the refrigerator.
This lemon drizzle cake flavours improve as the days go by and as it is incredibly moist it keeps well.
To freeze wrap well either iced or un-iced with the lemon drizzle icing and freeze for 3-4 months.
Do allow the water icing to set on the cake before wrapping and freezing otherwise the icing will smudge off into the food wrap.
Replace the lemon with oranges, mandarins, tangerines, limes, red or white grapefruit, etc. Although for larger fruits do pay attention to ingredient juice and zest amounts and use the equivalent set out for the lemon juice and zest.