Last week was my boss' birthday so I took the bold move and offered to bake her and my colleagues a cake. I know, I know...dangerous! But I wasn't worried - I knew a certain recipe which would knock all of their socks off so called up my sister and jotted down a few tips for making her famous lemon drizzle cake.
This recipe is perfect for a summery party or BBQ and is so easy to make! As my sister Jade would say, 'there's nothing worse than a dry drizzle cake' so make sure you add a lot of the lemon syrup to keep it really moist!
For the cake you will need:
115g unsalted butter
115g caster sugar
5 large eggs
zest and juice of 2 lemons
125g self-raising flour
For the syrup you will need:
200g caster sugar
180g lemon juice
For the icing you will need:
225g icing sugar
zest and juice of 1 lemon
Preheat the oven to 180ºC. Grease and line the bottom and
sides of a cake tin with greaseproof paper.
Beat the butter with the caster sugar until creamy.
Beat in the eggs one by one.
Sift the flour and fold it into the mixture and add the
lemon juice and zest.
Spoon the mix into the cake tin and bake for 40 minutes or
until lightly golden. You can check to see if the cake is cooked by poking a
cocktail stick right into the sponge. Remove it after 5 seconds and if it comes
out clean the cake is cooked; if slightly sticky it needs a little longer, so
put it back in the oven.
Make your lemon syrup by heating the sugar and lemon juice in a pan until the sugar has dissolved. While your cake is still warm, make lots of little holes in the top with a cocktail stick and pour your syrup over.
To make your icing, sift the icing sugar into a bowl and add the lemon zest and juice, stirring until smooth.
When your cake is almost cool, put it on a serving plate and pour the icing carefully over the top. Decorate as you wish!
Enjoy!