Zingy lemon drizzle cake

• Serves 10-12
• Preparation Time 15 Minutes
• Cooking Time 45 Minutes

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Lemon drizzle cake is an all-time classic, which just about every baker has their own go-to recipe. I know this is traditionally not a seasonal cake, but the zingy freshness always conjures up springtime.

• Tangy
• Lip-smacking
• Fresh
• Delicious
• Bursting with flavour

Lemons just bring this cake alive. We all know the traditional lemon cake has a crunchy sugary lemony drizzle, which seeps down through the cake. This one, however, has a glace icing spread thickly over the top. You can leave this off if you prefer but I feel it just makes it doubly delicious.

*Notes*

1. This is made with plain flour although it works equally well with gluten-free plain flour too. I made mine using Doves Farms GF plain flour as I am coeliac. You will need to add 1/2 tsp of xanthan gum to your flour if it is not included in the ingredients on the packet.
2. If you want to make a lime drizzle cake then just substitute for equal amounts of lime zest and juice.

Ingredients

• 75ml vegetable oil
• zest of 1 lemon
• 200g caster sugar
• 200g plain flour
• 50g ground almonds
• pinch of salt
• 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• juice of 1/2 a lemon
• 220 ml soya milk
• Zest of 1 unwaxed lemon

First glaze

• 2 tbsp granulated sugar
• 2 tbsp lemon juice

Glace icing

• 200g icing sugar
• 2 tbsp lemon juice

Instruction

1. Preheat the oven to 170C and line a 2lb loaf tin with baking parchment or liner
2. In a large bowl add the sugar and oil and whisk together.
3. Add in the lemon zest, flour, bicarb, milk, and salt. Mix together thoroughly and then add the lemon juice.
4. Pour into the prepared tin and place in the oven. Bake for between 40-45 minutes or until it is golden brown. You can test to see if an inserted metal skewer comes out clean. This is a good indication that a cake is cooked.
5. Remove from the oven and while it is still in the hot and in the baking tin, poke it all over with a skewer making several holes down through the cake.
6. Mix together the granulated sugar and lemon juice and drizzle all over the top of the cake. This will add moisture as it drips through the cake and a wonderful lemony flavour.
7. Once cool remove from the tin and peel off the baking paper or liner and place it on a cooling rack.
8. In a bowl mix together the icing sugar and half of the lemon juice, adding more juice if needed until you achieve a thick drizzle.
9. Place a cutting board or a sheet of baking paper under the cooling rack and then pour the icing over the cake and decorate as desired.

Freezing it

If you want to make it ahead of time, then you place the sugar icing on top and once fully cooled wrap and freeze for up to a month. Defrost fully before adding the glace icing.

The cake will keep once fully decorated in an airproof container for 4 days.

Previous recipes

Vanilla butterfly cupcakes

Deb’s Canadian coffee cake

Banana cake with vanilla frosting

If you make this, don’t forget to tag me on twitter as @veganalchemist1 or my Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/thegfveganalchemist I love seeing your versions of the recipes. I would also love to hear