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Lemon Drizzle Cake

This Lemon Drizzle Cake is drenched in a bright lemon syrup while it's still warm from the oven. The result is a perfectly moist cake, full of lemon-y flavor with a bright crunchy top. This pucker-y perfect classic British bake is sure to be a new favorite.

Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 55 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 10 minutes

Ingredients

For the cake

  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 cup granulated sugar
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
  • 1 cup milk
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted & slightly cooled
  • 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
  • 1 1/2 tablespoons lemon zest

For the lemon drizzle syrup

  • 1/2 cup granulated sugar
  • 1/2 cup lemon juice, freshly squeezed

For the lemon glaze

  • 1 cup powdered sugar, sifted
  • 1-2 tablespoons lemon juice, freshly squeezed
  • 1 teaspoon lemon zest

Instructions

Make the cake:

  1. Preheat the oven the 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease and line a 8 1/2 x 4 1/2 inch loaf pan with parchment paper.

  2. In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the milk, eggs, butter and vanilla until the eggs are completely integrated. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and whisk until just combined. Whisk in the zest. 

  3. Pour the batter into the loaf pan and bake for 50-60 minutes. Remove the cake from the oven when a skewer or paring knife inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean. Allow the cake to rest for 5-10 minutes while you make the drizzle.*

Make and pour the drizzle:

  1. Combine the lemon juice and sugar in a small, non-reactive sauce pan. Heat over medium low heat, stirring occasionally, until all the sugar has dissolved and you have a lovely lemon syrup.

  2. Poke holes all over the cake using wooden skewers.** Slowly pour the drizzle evenly over the cake. Allow the cake to cool completely in the pan. Once the cake it totally cooled, make the glaze.

Make the glaze:

  1. Whisk together the powdered sugar and one tablespoon of the lemon juice. Slowly add more of the lemon juice as needed until the glaze is a consistency that you like. I like the glaze a bit more thin so that it just creates a thin lemony crust over the top of the cake, so I use two whole tablespoons of lemon juice. Use more or less to your taste.

  2. Remove the cake from the pan and pour the glaze over the top. Allow the glaze to set before serving. Enjoy!

Recipe Notes

*It's important to pour the drizzle over the cake while it's still hot so that it absorbed into the crumb. Do not let the cake cool for more than 10 minutes before pouring over the drizzle!

**I use long wooden skewers rather than toothpicks for this job because the toothpicks are quite long enough to reach all the way from the top of the loaf to the bottom. You want the syrup to go all the way through the cake so you need to poke holes all the way through the cake!