Lemon drizzle is one of my personal – and the nation’s – favourite cakes. It’s hard to explain how such a simple, humble and unassuming bake regularly tops the most popular cakes lists… until you take a bite.

The crunchy sugary topping giving way to a light soft crumb with zingy lemon flavour coming through… I am literally sighing as I type this. SO GOOD!

I already have a wonderful round lemon drizzle cake recipe on this site but it makes an impressively large cake that can feed a crowd.

This lemon drizzle recipe is perfect if you prefer to make a more manageable lemon loaf which knocks the socks off the popular Starbucks lemon cake!

Lemon Drizzle Cake Ingredients

You only need FIVE ingredients! Five easy to find, in everyone’s pantry, purse friendly ingredients. Isn’t that amazing? You just need to make sure they are all at room temperature before making this lemon loaf.

Softened unsalted butter or margarine.
Caster Sugar – this is finer than granulated sugar, also known as superfine sugar in the US. You can use granulated sugar if you can’t get hold of caster or pulse the sugar in a food processor, briefly, to make the grains smaller.
Self raising flour (self rising in the US). Make sure this is fresh or the cake will not rise properly!
Eggs – medium at room temperature (US readers need to use large eggs).
Lemon zest and juice.

How to Make a Lemon Drizzle Loaf Cake

↓ For the full ingredients and detailed method, jump to the recipe card.

Preheat the oven to 180°C (350F) or 160°F (320°F) Fan Setting. Line a 2 pound / 900g loaf tin with parchment paper letting the ends of the paper hang over the edge of the tin. Alternatively use a loaf tin liner.
Put all the cake ingredients in a large mixing bowl (or the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment).

Adding ingredients for lemon cake in a mixing bowl collage

Beat together on low speed to start with then increase the speed once the ingredients have combined. Add 1-2 tablespoons of the lemon juice and keep mixing, scraping the bottom and sides of the bowl, until you have a smooth batter.
Spoon the cake batter into the prepared cake tin and level. Bake for 50-55 minutes, or until the cake is golden, well risen and springy to the touch. A toothpick inserted in the center should come out clean.

Beating batter for lemon drizzle loaf cake in a mixing bowl using a hand mixer

Levelling cake batter in a loaf tin with a spatula

Prick holes over the entire cake. Mix together the remaining lemon juice and sugar and drizzle over the warm cake (still in the tin) until it soaks in. Sprinkle with some extra sugar before the syrup dries (unless you want to add a glaze).
Use the paper to lift the cake out of the tin and leave it to cool on a wire rack (this is the hardest part of the recipe) before slicing. The cake will keep for several days in a covered container.

Soaking a lemon loaf with lemon syrup collage

Finishing Touches

You can leave your lemon loaf as is or decorate with lemon slices, lemon zest or edible flowers. If you want to add a simple glaze, mix icing sugar and lemon juice until you have a thick but pourable glaze. Drizzle the glaze over the cool cake, letting it drip down the sides.

Recipe Tips

Use softened butter or Stork (margarine). The butter should be soft enough for your finger to leave an imprint if prodded.
Remaining ingredients, namely the eggs, also need to be room temperature.
Use a microplane zester to zest the lemons – I have specified the zest of two but you can add even more zest if you like!
Make sure the self raising flour is fresh.
Check the cake five minutes before the baking time indicated in the recipe. Some ovens run hot, others are not hot enough.

Troubleshooting

WHY DID MY LEMON DRIZZLE LOAF SINK? You have followed the recipe to the letter, yet your cake has sunk in the middle, but why?
• The batter was not mixed well enough.
• The oven temperature was too high, causing the cake to rise too rapidly then deflate.
• Opening the oven door too often causing the temperature to fluctuate.
• The cake needed a few more minutes in the oven – this is the most common culprit.

MY CAKE IS FLAT! If your cake didn’t rise then your self raising flour wasn’t active. Check the flour is fresh, especially if you don’t bake often. If you have used pain flour (all purpose flour) then check the baking powder and soda bicarbonate are within date.
MY CAKE EXPLODED Did you use self raising flour and added raising agents? That would definitely cause the cake batter to expand too much and overflow. Another possible reason? The cake tin was too small and overfilled. I have noticed that loaf pans marked as 2lb (900g) can vary slightly. If you find you have too much batter it’s best to use it to bake some cupcakes “on the side”. Only fill your cake tins ¾ of the way to allow for the cake to rise.
MY CAKE BURNED ON TOP Oven temperature was too high or the oven has hot spots. You can tend your loaf with some foil halfway through to avoid the cake browning too much. Make sure the foil doesn’t touch the tin.