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This easy Lemon Drizzle Cake recipe works every time. It’s a fail-safe classic bake that you can whip up time and time again. It’s a solid, easy-to-follow cake recipe that’s so delicious, is made in one bowl, is ready in under an hour and produces impressive, solid results – even for beginners!
This recipe for Lemon Drizzle Cake is, without doubt, one of our favourite bakes of all time. It’s a flavour that tops polls over and over again, and it always goes down a treat in every situation where cake is called for (I mean… every day?!)
I find this to be the very BEST Lemon Drizzle Cake recipe because it just works every time. It’s super zesty, lovely and moist (sorry to use that word but this calls for it), and to top it all, you can whip it up in one bowl in about 5 minutes. What’s not to love?
Why you’ll love this Lemon Drizzle Cake
⭐️ Quick and easy
⭐️ A failsafe, simple method
⭐️ Zingy and zesty to brighten your day!
Sarah’s notes
Even though I say that this is the easiest and bulletproof Lemon Drizzle recipe, I know you’ll still have questions, especially if you’re not an accomplished baker.
So this post will give you the answers on a plate (boom boom) so you not only get the results you want, but you actually enjoy the process too.
After all, cake is to be enjoyed, and baking can be a delight when you have a little confidence. The eating isn’t so bad either!
What do I mean by a ‘one bowl recipe’? Quite simply, you mix all of the ingredients together in one bowl before pouring it all into a loaf tin and putting it in the oven to bake.
Lemon Drizzle Cake Ingredients
- Unsalted butter – Some for the cake, some for greasing the tin. If you only have salted, that’s fine.
- Caster sugar – Golden caster sugar works well if you have it.
- Eggs – I use free range. If you want to be exact, they should weigh about 250g/9oz in total (weigh in shells).
- Self-raising flour
How to make Lemon Drizzle Cake
1. Preheat your oven, grease your loaf tin and line it, then put all your cake ingredients into a bowl, as per the full recipe below.
2. Beat the ingredients together until the mixture is smooth.
3. Spoon the mixture into your loaf tin and smooth out. Bake as per the recipe below until a skewer comes out clean.
4. Once baked, skewer some holes in your cake, make up the drizzle with icing sugar and lemon juice, then pour over your cake.
Hint: Don’t take your cake completely out of the oven when checking to see if your cake is cooked. If it’s not, it could sink. Instead, slide out on the shelf and put straight back in if needed.
How to store Lemon Drizzle Cake
Store the cake in an airtight tin or container for up to 5 days. Don’t store it in the fridge or it will become quite hard.
Freezer You can freeze this cake for another day! Make sure you wrap it in a couple of layers of greaseproof paper for the freezer and defrost it at room temperature before eating.
Top tips
How to know it’s cooked
First, check the cake isn’t still wobbly when you move it. If it is, put it straight back in the oven. If not, push a skewer or sharp, thin knife into the centre of the cake. If it comes out clean, it means it’s cooked. (Some crumbs are fine, but not wet cake mixture.)
When checking your cake, just slide it out on the oven shelf rather than taking it all the way out. This is so if it’s not quite done, you can push it back in quickly before it sinks.
Please note: The baking times in the recipe are for guidance, and may alter. Mine takes about 1 hour 15 minutes to be perfect, but keep an eye on yours after 45 minutes as it may be different in your oven.
How to zest the lemons
The best way to zest lemons is to invest in a great zester. It will change your cake-making life! I like this Microplane Zester, which I’ve had for years and it makes the job SO easy.
What tin to use
I like to make my Lemon Drizzle Cake in a loaf tin. The sizes of these can be a bit confusing, but mine is technically a 2 lb tin. This one is the perfect size: Masterclass 2 lb Loaf Tin.
How to stop the cake from sticking
Rub softened butter all around the tin and then line it with baking paper. Be sure it’s baking paper or baking parchment, NOT greaseproof paper. They are different!
More loaf Cake Recipes…
FAQs
The most common reason for a Lemon Drizzle Cake sinking in the middle is when the oven door has been opened before the cake was set.
Be sure not to open the door before 40 minutes, and even then, do it by opening the oven door and checking it as quickly as possible!
Yes. Just replace the flour with gluten-free self-raising flour. It may sink a little more in the middle, but it will still taste fantastic.
You sure can. Just replace the butter with your normal favourite dairy-free baking spread.
Yes! Make the drizzle topping with the lemon juice and then use the same amount of icing sugar again, but with less juice to make a thicker icing to go on top. Double decker ceiling for the WIN.
No, sorry! Baking relies on very specific quantities to be successful and if you use cups (which measure in volume) there’s such a big room for error, and you’d be making life so much harder for yourself as a baker.
The best thing to do is invest in a set of digital scales and see your baking succeed every time (there are lots of low cost versions out there).
If it’s smaller versions you’re after, try my Lemon Cupcakes recipe here!
Let me know how you got on and what you thought of these recipes. Please rate the recipe using the ⭐️ below.
Also I’d LOVE to see your cooking creations. If you’d like to share yours with me, you can tag me on Instagram (@tamingtwins).
Lemon Drizzle Cake {Easiest Ever Recipe!}
Ingredients
Cake ingredients:
- 250 g (9 oz) Unsalted butter, Plus extra for greasing your tin. See notes
- 250 g (1 1/3 cups) Caster sugar, See notes
- 4 Eggs , Medium. See notes
- 250 g (1.5 cups) Self-raising flour
- 3 Lemons, Zest only. (Reserve the zested fruit for the juice for the drizzle.) See notes
For the drizzle:
- 100 g (0.5 cups) Icing sugar
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 160℃/325 fan, 180℃/350F or Gas Mark 4 and grease your loaf tin and line it with baking paper.
- Put all of the cake ingredients into a large bowl and beat until smooth.
- Spoon into the prepared tin and smooth out. Bake for 1 hour 15 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean.
For the drizzle:
- While the cake is still warm in the tin, use a skewer or thin sharp knife to poke holes all over it.
- Mix the icing sugar with enough of the juice of the lemons to make a thin paste. Add the liquid gradually so it stays nice and smooth. (This is normally 1-and-a-half lemons, but will depend on how big and juicy they were!)
- Pour all over the cake and allow to sink in.
Did you make this recipe? Click here to let us know how it went and give it a ⭐️ rating! Your feedback helps us to make more recipes you really want.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation. Nutritional values are per portion unless otherwise stated.
This post was originally published on January 22, 2021 and updated later to make improvements.
I used this recipe for the first time I’ve ever baked such a cake as lemon drizzle cake is my favourite. It turned out soooo amazing and so easy. It took over an hour to bake though which is likely my oven. I don’t use icing sugar as it’s usually mixed with cornstarch to stop it clumping so I used caster sugar melted with some lemon juice and it gave an amazing clear shiny glaze with a slight crisp which also soaked through the warm cake very well. Very chuffed with the result. Thanks for sharing.
Not sure what I’m doing wrong, but just can’t get my cake to cook in the middle.
It’s coming out of oven in a bit
I set alarm for 60 mins
Fingers crissed
Have tried this previously and went really well, so am trying it as cupcakes this time, will let you know how it goes 😋
I made this cake at 12.35am as having sleep depravation by 5 am I was having a slice or two !! With a cup of tea mmmmm I then went to sleep for a while and made another for a friend who said it was scrumpy yummy in her tummy . You can’t get better than that !!!!
Absolutely loved it! Mine needed an extra 30-45 mins at 160. Making again tonight so will see how it goes! Wonderful recipe! 🍋
Was delicious . Thank you for the recipe. I have also had a couple of slices with homemade icecream. Was so surprised at how well they went together.
Baked my first ever lemon drizzle with this recipe gluten free for my wife today. We both absolutely loved it. Thanks for great recipe. Would be useful if it gave approx ratios of maize/ rice/ potato starch as I had to guess because I didn’t have blended gluten free flour. Thanks again.
Try using SCHAR All Purpose Baking Mix, it’s brilliant 🤩. Asda is the most reasonable place to buy it 👍.
It’s GLUTEN FREE, and makes bread, pastry and cakes 🧁
Hooray I am glad you weigh everything, cups are so inaccurate.
Absolutely love this cake and it’s so easy to make. Thanks so much for the recipe 🙂