As much as I love an impressive, multi-layered, over the top cake; for general every day cake eating you can't beat a simple lemon drizzle loaf cake. It is fairly plain, but gloriously so, damp and sticky yet light, with a sharp lemon tang and a slightly crunchy crust. I added a bit of a ginger kick to mine - not too much, the lemon should be the predominant flavour, but enough to take it beyond the standard lemon drizzle and add a subtle warmth and depth of flavour.
I like my lemon cakes to be intensely lemony, so I used both zest and lemon juice in the batter, topped it with extra sugared zest and then gave it a generous drenching of lemon syrup; there may seem to be an awful lot of syrup, but it soaks it all up, leaving it beautifully moist and strongly flavoured. This is a simple cake to make, but incredibly satisfying, best enjoyed with a cup of tea. Because it is so moist it keeps incredibly well, and actually even tastes better after it has had a couple of days to mature. One word of warning, leave the cake in the tin until it is completely cold, all of that syrup makes it rather delicate while it is warm and it may crumble.
Lemon And Ginger Drizzle Cake
Ingredients
Cake
- 125 g (½ cup) butter
- 175 g (¾ cup + 2 tbsp) caster sugar
- zest and juice of 1 large lemon
- 2 large eggs
- 175 g (1 + ½ cups) self-raising flour
- 2 tsp ground ginger
- pinch salt
- 2 balls of stem ginger finely chopped
Topping
- zest of 1 lemon
- 15 g (1 rounded tbsp) granulated sugar
- juice of 1 lemon
- 2 tbsp stem ginger syrup
- 100 g (1 cup) icing (powdered) sugar
Instructions
- Heat the oven to 180C/350F/gas mark 4. Grease an approx. 22x11cm loaf tin and line with greaseproof paper.
- Cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, beat in the eggs one at a time, whisking well after each addition, then beat in the lemon zest. Sift in the flour, salt and ground ginger and fold in gently, then fold in the lemon juice and chopped stem ginger. Scrape the mixture into the prepared loaf tin and bake for about 45 minutes until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.
- While the cake is cooking prepare the topping. Rub the lemon zest and granulated sugar together in a small bowl and set aside. Put the lemon juice, stem ginger syrup and icing sugar into a small saucepan and heat gently until the sugar has dissolved.
- As soon as the cake comes out of the oven, poke holes all over the top with a skewer, sprinkle over the sugar and zest mixture, then pour over the syrup, try and make sure that the whole cake gets an even dousing. Leave the cake in it's tin until it is completely cold - it is delicate while warm and may crumble.
Notes
I am sharing this with Fabulous Foodie Fridays, Fiesta Friday, Foodie Fridiy, Foodie Friends Friday, Friday Favourites and Friday Features.
Andrew
Well - it's cooling in its 20 cm x 20 cm tin - cooked for 35 mins as I didn't have the correct sized tin! Looks good so fingers crossed it's worked. I have only taken up baking in the past couple of months and so far everything has been ginger or lemon so I'm increasing my repertoire with lemon AND ginger!
Su-Fen
I love all things lemon! And with ginger! It just elevates it to the next level! May I know what Stem Ginger Syrup is please? Can it easily be found in grocery stores or home-made?
hannahhossack
Hi Su-Fen, stem ginger syrup is just the syrup from the jar that stem ginger comes in. It is easy to find in supermarkets in the UK but I don't know about elsewhere. You can make your own however if you aren't able to find it: https://www.talesfromthekitchenshed.com/2016/10/homemade-stem-ginger/
Su-Fen
Thanks, Hannah! Probably easier to make my own as I don’t remember seeing them in the stores here. Appreciate the link for the recipe!