Sometimes it’s the plain cakes that are the best. This lemon drizzle cake recipe is wonderfully buttery and zesty and is delicious served simply, cut into little squares. To achieve a really crisp, sugary crust on top, combine the sugar and lemon juice at the last minute and pour straight over the cake before letting it cool.–Linda Collister
LC Self-Rising (Or Not) Note: If you don’t happen to have self-rising flour, just make your own, DIY style. We stir 2 level teaspoons baking powder into 1 cup all-purpose flour for every cup of self-rising flour a recipe demands. Although this made-from-scratch shortcut won’t create quite the lofty lift as self-rising flour, it’ll suit the demands of most recipes–including this simple, satiating cake–just fine.
Special Equipment: 8-inch square cake pan, preferably with a removable bottom.
Active time: 20 minutes | Total time: 45 minutes, not including cooling
Lemon Drizzle Cake Recipe
Ingredients
| metric conversion- For the cake
- 1 stick plus 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, plus more for the pan, at room temperature
- 2/3 cup granulated sugar
- 2 extra-large eggs
- Finely grated zest of 1 lemon
- 1 cup plus 1 tablespoon self-rising flour
- For the lemony topping
- 4 tablespoons granulated sugar
- Freshly squeezed juice of 1 lemon
Directions
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- Make the cake
- 1. Preheat oven to 350°F (175°C). Butter an 8-inch square cake pan, preferably with a removable bottom, and line it with parchment paper.
- 2. Beat the butter and sugar together in a large bowl until pale and creamy. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, then stir in the lemon zest. Fold the flour into the mixture until well combined.
- 3. Spoon the batter into the prepared pan and level the surface. Bake for about 20 minutes, until well risen and golden and a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Add the lemony topping
- 4. Transfer the cake pan to a wire rack and prick the top of the cake all over with a skewer. Sprinkle the top of the warm cake with 1 tablespoon of the sugar. Quickly combine the remaining sugar and lemon juice in a small bowl and immediately pour it over the top of the cake. Let it cool in the pan. Cut into small squares to serve. (Store the cake in an airtight container in a cool cupboard or the refrigerator for up to 3 days.)
- Blackberry Pound Cake from Baking Bites
- Apricot Coffee Cake from Chocolate and Zucchini
- Brown Sugar Pound Cake from Leite's Culinaria
- Margaret's Espresso Cake from Leite's Culinaria
Lemon Drizzle Cake Recipe © 2010 Linda Collister. Photo © 2010 Richard Jung. All rights reserved.
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This cake looks great! Terry
Hi! I made this cake for friends and family this weekend and it was spectacular! My only addition was that I covered it in lemon infused icing. I’m Portuguese and this simple cake brought back memories of my mom’s cakes when I was growing up.
It is lovely, isn’t it? So glad to hear that you, too, feel it’s a keeper. The simplest pleasures are sometimes the best and, clearly, the most memorable.
Great way to use the ton of lemons that are in season.
Made this last week on a busy weeknight. Came together in a snap. Liked it—lots. Light, bright, and easy. That said, it is not my favorite lemon cake of all time, but it is perfect for tea or a simple dessert.
Update: Last week, I cut up the day-old cake and froze individual portions of it. Last night I popped a square in the microwave for about 20 seconds. The topping was obviously no longer crunchy, but it was really tasty…actually better than I remembered it fresh.
Joanne, very good to know, many thanks! And I’m going to go venture to say that if bakers knew in advance that they’d like to freeze the cake, simply waiting to drizzle it with the lemony topping until after it was thawed and rewarmed would ward off your only complaint.
This cake is ridiculously good. I am trying to keep myself from eating half of it myself! It’s very buttery, almost too much (almost!), light as can be, just plain delicious. Not too sweet, with the lemon balancing the richness.
I did change a couple of things though. I don’t use extra large eggs, so I used two eggs (from the market, so they’re not always that big) plus one yolk, upping the already sunny color. I also added a bit of salt. And I went with the sub for self-rising flour, doing half AP half pastry flour.
Thank you for this lovely cake!
You’re welcome, Sara. We agree that this recipe yields the ideal balance of tart and sweet, something that’s particularly lovely during spring. And thanks for the tips on your tweaks.
This is a wonderful recipe. I tried this a week ago and my family really loved it.
Lovely to hear, Vigilon! So pleased it’s a new family fave…
[Elsa M. Jacobson] Mmm…a lemon desert that isn’t the ubiquitous, albeit delicious, lemon bar. This will be a useable and user-friendly addition to my dessert repertoire, in part because it isn’t complicated to make, in part because it has a lovely lemon flavor and a fine and unexpected texture, in part because it’s a dessert that will play well throughout the year with many different cuisines, and because it keeps well and can therefore be made in advance — a lovely advantage for meal planning in the lives of busy people. I tried it two ways and both worked. First, I stored it in the fridge after completing it, and it was fine when brought out to serve. Second, which I liked even better, was Renee’s suggestion in the comments to bake, then freeze, then drizzle the cake after thawing and right before serving. This preserved the crisp sugary crust on top that’s such a perfect counterpoint to the clean, uber-lemony flavor of this cake. My friend Douglas commented that his favorite part of the cake was the sugary crunch on top, though he also noted that he loved its light and refreshing taste. I liked the simplicity and elegance of its presentation. Another friend thought it would be enhanced by whipped cream; he suggested a light sprinkle of cinnamon atop the whipped cream, tying it back to the flavors of the appetizer, sides, and entrée I served it with. Note that I baked it just a few minutes beyond the 20 minutes noted in the instructions before my toothpick tested clean. I did get extra-large eggs to make this recipe, but I would try it in the future with large ones, and I believe it would be just fine. No need to make a special trip out for the extra-large ones if you don’t have them on hand!