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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Delicious recipe. I normally only buy large eggs so used 4 large instead of 5 medium. My hubby doesn’t like icing much so didn’t do that or the syrup but it still tastes lovely with a lemony taste and not overly sweet. I also added vanilla bean paste out of habit (oops!) – think it just added depth of flavour. All in all bookmarking this one for the future.
Do you recommend the use of silicone loaf tins for this recipe or are standard tins better?
To be honest I am unsure – I only ever use metal! x
I made this Lemon drizzle cake today and it turned out perfect ,I’ve used other recipes and they were never cooked in the middle and always soak so I will be using this one again. Thank you Jane.
Absolutely love all of your receipts, thank you so much! I’m making your lemon celebration cake for a friends retirement – I’d like to make the sponge in advance and freeze it – does that mean I shouldn’t do the lemon/sugar drizzle or could I do it before I freeze it?
Thanks
You can do it before freezing! Xx
Hello Jane, I absolutely love this recipe. It’s perfect every time. I was wondering if the recipe could be used to make an orange drizzle instead? If so how many oranges for the zest etc? Thank you
Yes you can! I usually use 1 large orange for two lemons x
Hi Jane I want to try this recipe but the only loaf tin I have is 25.5 ×11.3×7.2 cm would I need to adjust baking times? If so what time would u suggest please 😊
Ps I love all of your recipes I’ve made so far
I have done it for the first time and it blew my mind! So tasty, and easy to make. Thank you!
Hi, I’ve followed the recipe and ingredients but my loaf cake took a lot longer to cook than mentioned as the middle wasn’t cooked, would this be due to oven temp? I think I could’ve split the mixture between two loaf tins, I used a standard loaf tin.
If the mixture fit into one tin, it didn’t need splitting – but sometimes it can take longer! Loaf tins are a lot like bundt tins so baking time can vary slightly, or it can be oven temp, but it’s not a problem in the end as long as it’s tasty! x
This is delicious recipe just perfect. I reduced sugar slightly and kept adding icing sugar and juice .Really nice !
How well does it freeze ?
Very well!
Hi Jane, I can’t wait to make this lemon drizzle cake, I would like to use a mini loaf tin, would you know the cooking timing please?
I’m not sure I am afraid, sorry!
I’ve made mini ones and it takes about 20 mins! I started watching closely at 18!
Is there any way to make sure the cake doesn’t done on top?
Loaf cakes naturally do dome and split and that’s part of the charm – but you can lower the temp and bake for longer if you prefer as that can reduce it!
Hi Jane – I’ve made this one and the white choco and raspberry loaf, and both turned out perfect and were Devine! Thanks so much for the recipes! Have you made an orange version of this before and if so, is it just the same quantities of zest/juice? A family member has requested it, but I doubt it will beat the lemon one. Thank you again 🙂
Ahh yay! And yes – I would just use the same! But obviously oranges are larger so for one large orange I say is the same as 2 lemons x
Would you normally prick the cake before drizzling or is this not necessary? And is it done straight after removing from oven?
I don’t usually anymore as it can look a bit naff I find, but yes straight after the baking basically!
Absolutely amazing recipe, if you are thinking of making it…..make it! You will not be disappointed. Thank you from a very happy family!
Hi Jane!
My 2lb loaf tin is 21cm x 11.5cm x 6cm how would I alter this to fit my tin?? Thanks! x
I’m not 100% I am afraid, but best bet is to only fill the tin 2/3 of the way, and bake cupcakes with any spare mix!
Wish I’d read your question before I made my cake! My tin is the same size as yours and the excess mixture is currently plopping all over the oven 🤦🏼♀️😂