Vegan Lemon Drizzle Cake

Once again, I am bending the rules a little bit for this month’s MiniMoFo. The prompt is “in season”, and this post uses lemons, which are never in season in the UK because we don’t grow them here. However, lemons are, to me, fresh and summery and make a great introduction to the spring season. Signalling the departure from warm, spiced, wintery foods, a sharp and sweet lemon cake is perfect to welcome in (hopefully) sunnier weather.

Lemon drizzle cake is a classic British cake, usually baked in a loaf tin, which gives a big lemony kick by including lemons in the sponge, and a glaze that’s poured on top of the hot cake once removed from the oven. My recipe also has an extra bit of lemon in the icing that tops it!

The important thing with this cake is to pour the glaze on top whilst the cake is still hot. Take it out of the oven, leave it in the tin, and then pour the glaze on top. It looks like you are pouring a lot of liquid on the cake and you probably think you are drowning it, but it all gets absorbed into the cake, creating a lovely sticky lemon taste. Then, you leave it to cool completely in the tin, before removing and drizzling with the icing.

A few steps – but totally worth it. Slice this cake and serve with a nice cup of tea – or lemonade if you want to go all out with the lemon!

Lemon Drizzle Cake

• Servings: 1 loaf cake
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Ingredients

For the Cake
• Zest of 1 lemon (1 tbsp)
• Juice of 2 lemons (5 tbsp)
• 190ml vegan milk (I used almond milk)
• 200g plain flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• pinch salt
• 60g vegan butter, melted
• 100g sugar

For the Glaze

• Juice of 2 lemons (5 tbsp)
• 75g sugar

For the Icing

• 75g icing sugar
• Squeeze lemon juice
• Water if necessary

Directions

Preheat the oven to 170C/340F
1. In a bowl, mix together the milk, lemon juice, and lemon zest. Set aside.
2. In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, bicarb, and salt.
3. Into the milk mixture, add the melted butter and sugar, and whisk with a fork until well combined.
4. Gradually pour the wet mixture into the dry, mixing until it’s all thoroughly stirred in.
5. Pour the cake batter into a lined loaf tin, and bake in the preheated oven for 35-40 minutes, until a knife inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean.
6. Towards the end of the baking time, begin making the glaze.
7. In a small saucepan, combine the sugar and lemon juice. Place on low-medium heat, and stir until the sugar completely dissolves and the mixture begins to bubble. Keep warm.
8. Once you have removed the baked cake from the oven, pour the glaze evenly over the cake. It will look like a lot of liquid – but it will sink in!
9. Leave the glazed cake to cool completely before removing from the tin.
10. Once cool, make the icing. Mix together the icing sugar with a squeeze of lemon juice, and enough water to make a thick runny icing.
11. Using a spoon (or a piping bag), drizzle the icing over the cooled cake.
12. Store in the fridge.