Lemon drizzle traybake cake recipe

This classic lemon drizzle cake often features on the tea trays in our Bed and Breakfast room. The recipe is based on Mary Berry’s one – apparently it’s been her most asked for recipe over the years. I’ve cut down the sugar a little from the original recipe to make a light, tangy cake with a good lemony flavour.

Makes enough cake mix to fill a 18cm x 27cm brownie tin.

Cake mix ingredients

• 170g / 6oz butter
• 125g / 4½oz golden caster sugar
• 200g / 7½oz plain flour
• 1 dessertspoon baking powder
• 3 free-range eggs
• 3-4 tablespoons milk
• Finely-grated zest from 2 small or 1½ large lemons

Glaze ingredients

• 70g / 2½oz granulated sugar
• Juice from 2 small or 1½ large lemons

Method

• Grease the baking tin with butter and line the base with greaseproof paper.
• Pre-heat oven to 180C / 160C Fan / Gas 4.
• Add the butter to large mixing bowl and soften in microwave if needed (ie, you’ve forgotten to take it out of the fridge beforehand like I usually do).
• Beat the rest of cake ingredients together with butter until well blended – I just use a wooden spoon and it normally takes a couple of minutes.
• Spoon the mixture into the baking tin and level the top.
• Bake for 20-25 minutes. When cooked, the cake will have shrunk a little from the sides of the tin, will be a light golden colour on top and will spring back when lightly poked with a fingertip in the centre.
• While the cake is baking, make the glaze by stirring together the granulated sugar and lemon juice.
• Leave for the cake to cool in the tin for 5 minutes then spread the glaze over the top.
• Leave in the tin for another 10 minutes then take out and leave on rack to cool
• Cut into squares and remove from the lining paper

Notes

You need to spread the lemon drizzle glaze over the cake while it’s still warm so that the lemon juice soaks in properly. The cake will keep for a few days in a tin and freezes well.