Lemon Drizzle Loaf Recipe

If you read my August Favourites you will know that I have been a bit in love with Mary Berry recently and her easy to follow yet scrumptious recipes. Her lemon drizzle cake is no exception, the sponge isn't too lemony so it means you can play around with the icing to suit your taste. Mary does her recipe as a tray bake, but personally I much prefer a loaf cake as my Nana always has a lemon loaf cake in the house whenever we go and visit. There is also something about the way the icing drips down the sides that I love so much.

Ingredients For The Cake

225g (8 oz) butter , lift it out a couple of hours before baking for it to soften

225g (8 oz) caster sugar

275g (10 oz) self-raising flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

4 eggs

4 tablespoons milk

Zest of 2 lemons

Ingredients For The Icing:
175g icing sugar
Juice of 2 lemons
Water

Method:

1. Start off by pre-heating the oven to 160°C/325°F/Gas 3. Then choose a tin of your choice, Mary Berry uses a tray-bake tin,  30 x 23 x 4 cm (12 x 9 x 1 ½ inches), but I prefer to use a loaf tin. The quantity works well for both tins so it doesn't really matter - it's just personal preference. 

2. Whatever tin you use make to cake must be lined. You can use greaseproof paper and for the loaf tins your can also buy greaseproof lining that fits the loaf perfectly ( and saves loads of hassle!).

3. Measure all the ingredients into a large bowl and beat well for about 2 minutes until well blended, an electric mixer or free-standing mixer (which is what I use) is best for this but of course you can also beat by hand with a wooden spoon. 

4. Put the mixture into the prepared tin, scraping the sides of the bowl with a plastic spatula to remove all of the mixture. Level the top gently with the back of the spatula.

5.  Bake in the middle of the pre-heated oven for about 35-40 minutes, don't place the tin any higher than the middle in the oven otherwise it will burn on top horribly (trust me, I've learnt this the hard way!). A great way to test if the cake is done is to press lightly in the centre of the cake with finger and if it springs back it is done. Sometimes I will also use a skewer in the centre of the cake, if there is running mixture left on the skewer then the cake is under cooked.

6. Leave the cake to cool for a few minuets then remove the cake from tin keeping it in it's lining. Carefully remove the paper and leave to fully cool on a wire rack.

7. For the icing, sieve the icing sugar into a bowl. Then begin to add your lemon juice, I find that when the icing has a strong enough lemon taste I will go ahead and add drops of water until the icing is a thick consistency. You want the icing to be thick but runny enough to run down the sides of the cake.

8. Place the icing in a thick line down the centre of the cake and leave to let it drip naturally.

This cake is super simple and is so delicious. I find this cake keeps fresh and moist for a couple of days so it is good for if you have lots of visitors of people staying as the cake lasts a few days (well, because this cake is so yummy I doesn't last long in my house!). Let me know if you have a go at this cake, I would love to see some photos.

MissBeccaBeauty xo