Lemon Drizzle Loaf Cake! – Back to Basics!
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An easy lemon drizzle loaf cake – lemon sponge, lemon drizzle, lemon icing… what more could you want?! Another post in my back to basics series!
Lemon drizzle loaf cake
So, say hello to your new lemon addiction. I have always been a fan of lemon flavours, and this new post, another instalment in my back to basics series, is my lemon drizzle loaf cake. It’s easy, it’s delicious, and I love it.
In the past, I have uploaded my lemon lime drizzle cake – which is fairly similar. It’s an old post, with different quantities, and is obviously lemon and lime combined! As you all adore loaf cakes even more now though, I thought I would do an in-depth post into this beauty.
Tin
So… when you are starting with a loaf cake, you need the right tin. Loaf tins can vary greatly in size, even if they are described as being the same tin. For example, I have three different 2lb loaf tins, but they are all slightly different in how much water they can hold. Usually, this is okay as long as they are similar enough! For reference, this is the 2lb loaf tin that I use! If it helps, the exact measurements are – 24.4 x 14.4 x 6.9 cm. This may help you if your’s varies slightly!
Some loaf tins are still 2lb, but they are slightly wider and shallower, which means the bake time can vary – but baking a loaf cake is quite similar to baking a Bundt Cake. They can vary dependent on tin, just like a Bundt Cake, but usually they work out the same!
When I line the tin, I usually grease it slightly and then add parchment paper on top. I don’t then grease on top of the paper. I don’t feel the need, and if you use the correct type of baking parchment, then you definitely don’t need to do it!
Cake mix
Now when it comes to the cake mix, it really is just a basic cake mix. Even weight quantities of butter, sugar, eggs and flour – with lemon added in. Because it’s just the basic cake mix, you need to make sure the quantities are correct.
You can help this by weighing your eggs, in their shells, but generally I find 5 medium eggs = 250g of mix. It’s much easier this way. If you use large eggs, they can often be 60g, so I would only use 4 eggs, and only 240g each of the rest of the ingredients. I hope this makes sense.
When it comes to the lemon, you have two choices. Fresh lemon zest grated finely, or lemon extract! Either work well, and they both work the same! I swap between both each time, and they both work well. If you want to use the zest, you can then use the same lemons for the drizzles later.
Bake
When baking a loaf cake, it can vary a bit just like bundt cakes, as mentioned earlier! The usual timings is 55-65 minutes, because it’s quite a lot of mix, in a smaller sized tin (compared to a round tin!).
Sometimes, the baking can take longer though. My oven is a fan oven, so I put it on the fan setting at 160C – I set the timer for 55 minutes, and then check it. If when I open the door and touch the tin the cake wobbles, it’s definitely not done! However, if it’s not wobbling it’s worth checking.
Checking a cake is a fine balance though. When opening the oven door, you really don’t want to take too long. For every second an oven door is open, you will lose LOTS of heat. If your cake isn’t finished baking, it can sometimes also sink if taken out too early.
Lemon drizzle
For the lemon drizzle, you want to mix together the lemon juice and caster sugar – it makes a sort of cloudy drizzly paste – spoon this over the cake once it’s come out of the oven and it will soak in. Leave the cake to cool fully before moving from the tin!
The wonderful thing about this sort of cake is that it’s simple, but it’s so delicious. The lemon drizzle keeps the cake lovely and moist – and it won’t dry out. I use my stand mixer to mix the cake ingredients together, and it’s amazing. Although, this isn’t essential.
Decoration
Once cooled, you can optionally decorate it – I use the icing sugar, ‘watered’ down with some more lemon juice – and just drizzle it over with a small spoon! I then sprinkle on some lemon zest to make it look pretty, but both the icing drizzle and zest are optional. They just look nice!.
You can of course leave it completely plain, top it with a buttercream or even a fresh cream topping – that’s the charm of a bake like this, you can do whatever you want.
Top tips
A handy method to check if your cake is ready, is to (carefully!!) listen to the cake – if it’s making a bubbling/crackling sound, then it’s not actually finished baking either. You’ll want to continue baking till the skewer is clean, and also not making a sound.
I classically use caster sugar for the sponge and main drizzle, but this can be switched with golden caster sugar, light brown sugar, or even dark brown – but the changes can change the flavour!
I use medium eggs as I have said, and I use self-raising flour. If you can’t access self-raising, you will want to use plain flour with baking powder added in. You whisk in 2 level tsps of baking powder per 150g of flour, before using it in a recipe! It’s often easier to make a larger batch though, and then just store the flour for later use! Easy and delicious.
I hope you love this recipe, any questions leave them below! x
Lemon Drizzle Loaf Cake!
Ingredients
For the Cake
- 250 g unsalted butter
- 250 g caster sugar
- 250 g self raising flour
- 5 medium eggs
- Zest of 2 lemons (2tsp lemon extract)
Drizzle
- 75 ml lemon juice
- 75 g caster sugar
Decoration
- 50 g icing sugar
- 1-2 tsps lemon juice
- Lemon zest
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 180C/160C Fan - grease and line your 2lb loaf tin!
- Beat together your butter and sugar together until light and creamy!
- Add in your flour, eggs and lemon and beat again until combined. It'll be a smooth cake mixture!
- Add the mix into the cake tin and bake. This can take 55-65 minutes - but check from 50 minutes onwards.
- Towards the end of baking - in a bowl, mix together your 75ml lemon juice and 75g caster sugar together.
- Once the cake is baked, drizzle this over the cake, whilst still in the tin. Let the cake cool fully.
- Once the cake is cooled, remove from the tin.
- If you want to decorate, mix in lemon juice to your icing sugar until you reach the desired consistency.
- Drizzle this over the cake, and sprinkle on some lemon zest for decoration! Enjoy!
Notes
- I use this loaf tin!
- If it helps, I also use this baking parchment in my bakes!
- As mentioned in the post, if you are using large eggs - use four large eggs, and 240g flour, sugar, butter.
- If your cake sinks, it hasn't finished baking! Loaf tin baking times can vary so check on the cake from 50 minutes onwards.
- This cake will last for 4-5 days at room temp! I store it in a cake storage tin.
- You can easily water down the icing for the drizzle with water instead, but the lemon juice is more zingy!
- If you want to make a smaller cake you can - reduce it down by one medium egg, and use 200g of ingredients. Or even reduce by two eggs, and use 150g of ingredients. The fewer the ingredients the quicker the bake time!
ENJOY!
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J x
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Hi Jane
Wish to try Lemon drizzle loaf cake.
But i want to know alternative for eggs. If i ve to use baking soda swaping eggs then wht shud b qty for 150gm plain flour?
Hey – it might be better to look for an egg free recipe as this is a basic cake recipe x
Bow down to Jane. I’ve tried 4 of your recipes and they’ve all been spot on. I would highly recommend this recipe in particular and I’m extremely proud of my cake 🙂
This is my ‘go to’ recipe now for Lemon Drizzle cake. I’ve done it as a loaf but my family prefer it as a traybake, cut into fingers or squares. It’s foolproof, a light sponge, beautifully moist with so much lemon flavour. Never fails to impress people!
how long did it take to cook as a traybake? and did you use the same measurements as in the recipe?
How long did thus take to cook Jo and at what temperature please.
Priya – that will depend on the size of your traybake tin. Check out other traybake recipes for your size tin and adjust accordingly.
Mandy – check out other traybake recipes and use those to judge. Everyone’s oven is different too. So maybe take 5 minutes off the time and just check with a skewer to see if it comes out clean.
I did not quite understand what is drizzle mean I poured on the loaf cake but it stayed on top and the cake is little dry where did I go wrong ?
I got beautiful yellow color
I’m sorry I don’t really understand your comment – you drizzle the lemon/sugar over the hot cake and it should soak in. Then, you can decorate with a water icing if you want
Hi Simran, when you take the cake out of the oven you can use a skewer or knife and make lots of insertions all over the cake. When you have done this you can pour or use a spoon to spread the hot drizzle and this should sink nicely into your cake. Hope this helps
Made this for the first time yesterday, the family love it.
Hi Jane,
I just want to say this was my first time baking this lemon loaf cake and my family loved it!
The only issue I had is that the cake cracked a little in the middle how do I prevent this from happening in the future. Also can I add milk to this recipe to make the sponge more moist is it recommended or not.
But overall I’m very happy and pleased with the bake thanks once again!
That is a very classic thing from a loaf cake, and isn’t a problem – and I wouldn’t think it needs milk because of the lemon drizzle soak! x
Absolutely fabulous recipe
I made this using limes as I had lots but no lemons, it turned out beautifully and has possibly become my husband’s favourite cake, am making another as I type! Didn’t put as much icing on as the recipe states as my other half doesn’t really like icing but the cake was moist enough without.
Ps. I used 3 limes for a 240gm/4 large eggs cake in a silicon 2lb loaf tin lined with baking parchment.
I shall be doing this recipe tomorrow and very much looking forward to it but I just wondered could I use icing sugar for the drizzle instead of castor sugar what difference would this make
For the main soak in drizzle you really want to use caster sugar x
can this cakr be frozen ?
Yes!!
Hi Jane am having a senior moment! In the recipe does it mean lemon zest and juice or
Lemon zest OR juice?
Hiya! For the cake, this means Zest or Juice. Hope this helps! x
Or 8” 20cm? Xx
Hello, could I do bake this in a round cake tin maybe 6”? Xx
You can do! Have a look at my lemon celebration cake for an 8″ version, but I’m not sure on a 6″ timings x
hi! wow i’m so excited to make my first cake from scratch after reading this! i plan on making one in a square tin and one in a circle tin then putting them together to make a heart but i’m struggling to convert the measurements (maths isn’t my strong point haha!)
So the amount of mix you want really really depends on the tins you will use. I have a lemon celebration cake on my blog which may be better to look at as that’s in a round tin xx
Can i use this recipe for a tray tin too ?
i love this recipe but when baking i had left it in for 55-60 minutes on 160°c fan oven and the middle just wouldn’t cook. it was still so raw and i even turned up the temperature and it was taking forever x
It could be a few things – such as your tin being a different shape/size, the temperature being wrong (as sometimes ovens aren’t accurate). Cover with foil and continue to bake till it’s done! x