Linda’s Lemon Drizzle Cake
Inspired by her mother Linda's baking, Mary McCartney has created this beautifully presented lemon drizzle loaf cake recipe. A sharp but sweet British classic!
From the book
Food: Vegetarian Home Cooking
Delicious meat-free recipes
Sumptuous photograpy and family stories
New twists on vegetarian classics
Introduction
This is a loaf cake that my mum liked to make and it remains a firm favourite of mine. The lemon syrup poured over the freshly baked cake seeps down into the sponge and adds a special moisture to the taste. Perfect to have with a cup of tea in the afternoon.
Ingredients
| 125g | butter, softened, plus more for greasing the tin |
| flour, for dusting the tin | |
| 150g | caster sugar |
| 2 | large, free-range eggs, beaten |
| finely grated zest and juice of 3 lemons | |
| 180g | plain or spelt flour |
| 2 tsp | baking powder |
| 4 tbsp | milk |
| 50g | icing sugar, sifted |
Method
Preheat your oven to 180°C/gas mark 4. Butter and flour a 23cm non-stick loaf tin.
In a medium to large mixing bowl, cream the butter and caster sugar together with a wooden spoon (or use an electric mixer). Gradually beat in the eggs and mix until light and fluffy. Stir in the lemon zest, flour and baking powder, and mix well. Add 2 tablespoons of the lemon juice and mix well again. Then beat in the milk.
Pour the cake mix evenly into the prepared loaf tin and bake for 45 minutes.
In the meantime, mix the remaining lemon juice and the icing sugar together in a small bowl to make a syrup.
When it’s ready, take the cake out of the oven and leave it to cool in its tin for 5 minutes. Then turn it out onto a plate. Pierce the top of the cake all over with a thin skewer. Spoon the lemon syrup carefully and evenly over the cake until all of it is absorbed. Ready to eat.
