Sweet Treats – Lemon Drizzle Cake
There is something tremendously reassuring about a well-made and reliable cake recipe. The more we are bombarded with confectionery creations from world-beating pastry chefs, the more we are coerced by TV shows into thinking that old-fashioned nanna recipes are naff, the more I am convinced that cakes like this need to be made every weekend. Forever.
This lemon cake is how it should be. There’s a tremendous punch of flavour from lemons here but it’s offset nicely by yoghurt which makes the texture incredibly soft. Best of all it has a beautiful syrup that leaves you licking your fingers with eagerness to savour the very last crumbs on your plate. It’s that good.
Serves at least 8 and makes a 20cm round cake
INGREDIENTS
125g butter, softened; 200g (1 cup) castor sugar; 3 eggs; the finely grated zest of 1 lemon; 200g (1 ½ cups) self-raising flour; 200g (¾ cup) plain or Greek yoghurt
Syrup: juice of 1 lemon; 1/3 cup water; 150g (¾ cup) sugar
METHOD
Preheat oven to 180°C. Line the base and sides of a 20cm springform cake tin with baking paper.
Using electric beaters, cream the butter and castor sugar until pale and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time. It may look a bit curdled but don’t worry, it will be fine.
Add the zest and flour and stir to combine, then fold in the yoghurt. Use a spatula to scrape into the tin. Make a small depression in the centre of the cake so that the surface evens up during cooking.
Bake for about 30 to 40 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.
Syrup: About 5 minutes before the cake is ready, heat the water, sugar and lemon juice in a small saucepan and simmer for 5 minutes. Remove from heat.
When the cake is cooked, leave it in the tin and then poke a fine skewer (a toothpick is good for this) all over the top, about 30 times. Drizzle the syrup all over the top of the cake, a spoonful at a time, allowing the syrup to soak in evenly into the holes between additions.
Allow the cake to cool in the tin before you serve it up. It needs nothing more than a good cup of tea to go with it. No fancy effort required.
COST
$4.40 for a 20cm round cake
The God of Cake is obviously very close by! Last night I stayed up late reading the new Nicci French novel in which one of the characters serves a lemon drizzle cake. I went to sleep hoping I had a recipe because I REALLY wanted to eat some asap. So, imagine my delight and wonder early this morning to find not only your recipe but all the ingredients there in fridge and pantry. It’s about to be baked. Thank you Sandra – the cake deity now has a name.
Awwww I’m so pleased the gods have smiled. You may have to make more than one. Just saying.
You sure are a lemon cake God! I was wanting to cook a lemon cake. I have a favourite recipe from the ABC that is a soggy lemon cake – a kids recipe so very easy! But, I cook it often and wanted something different and here is my answer! I will need to wait til tomorrow to cook the cake as I need one more egg so I’m hoping my favourite layer provides an egg tomorrow. I will probably bake your Basic Bread recipe today – so easy!
I have a few cake recipes like that – I know they’ll work and I always go back to them. I’m going to give you lemon cake a recipe since I have too many lemons in the backyard:) Tania
Hi Sandra – love your blog…… this cakes looks delicious………..
Could you use sour cream instead of yoghurt with this cake?
Yes you can xx
Made this on the weekend and just wanted to report back – my, my, my – it was delicious!!! Thanks Sandra
Wow, for once I actually had all the ingredients for a recipe right when I wanted to make it rather than having to make a special trip to the supermarket! This is cooking in the oven at the moment, but even the batter tastes divine.
I mixed this all up in the thermomix which meant it was ready to cook within a few minutes with barely any mess (my pet hate when making cakes).
Have you considered doing some thermomix recipes? I just love browsing your blog but still not quite confident to convert recipes to the TMX (unless it’s just mixing like this recipe!)
I don’t actually have a Thermomix Jess – and before you ask, I don’t have the funds for one either. So unless some VERY nice company would like to gift me one, I wouldn’t be able to convert existing recipes or devise any lovely new ones. I’m willing, ready and able, of course! xx
That’s OK, thought I’d ask anyway! I might just have to give it a go myself then, I love your recipe for the One Pot Chicken Pilaf so I might tackle that one ;o) I just did the syrup in the Tmx and it turned out beautiful. In fact the whole cake is just scrumptious! Impatiently waiting for it to cool down so I can get it out of the tin and have a decent slice.
There’s no harm in asking the company is there
!! Or even find someone that can convert your recipes maybe? Either way, love your blog LOL!
A great recipe again, Sandra! I made this for my family on Saturday and am making it again to take to work tomorrow. There are no leftovers!
Sandra, do you drizzle ALL the syrup onto the cake? I drizzled about 3/4s of the syrup and am now waiting for the cake to cool to get my fangs into it. Smells delicious. We had lemon drizzle cake last week at the Nerada tea factory, and I just had to come home and try it.
It’s really up to you. The more syrup you add the stickier it gets of course. Some people prefer a little less. Start with 3/4 as you have done and add the rest if it’s not moist enough for your liking.
Thanks for your answer Sandra. Yes I can see now that I could’ve used all the syrup, I was worried that it would be soggy. The cake is a HUGE success!! Husband had two helpings, grand daughter had two helpings and I can see it is not going to last very long once school’s out. Thanks once again for a great recipe Sandra.