How to make Mary Berry’s “moist” lemon drizzle cake:
Ingredients
225g (8 oz) butter, softened
225g (8 oz) caster sugar
275g (10 oz) self-raising flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
4 eggs
4 tablespoons milk
finely grated rind of 2 lemons
For the topping:
175g (6 oz) granulated sugar
Juice of 2 lemons
Kitchen equipment
A traybake or roasting tin 30 x 23 x 4 cm (12 x 9 x 1 ½ inches)
Instructions
Firstly, you’ll need to cut a rectangle of non-stick baking parchment to fit the base of the tin.
Then, grease the tin and line it with the paper to ensure the mixture doesn’t stick to the traybake. You can stop this from happening by pushing the paper into the corner of the tin.
Next, preheat the oven to 160°C/325°F/Gas 3.
Put all the ingredients into a large bowl and beat well for two minutes and until it is well blended. You can choose to do this by hand or an electric mixer, whichever you prefer to use.
Just make sure not to include the ingredients for the topping just yet. This will come later on.
Put all the ingredients into a large bowl and beat well for two minutes and until it is well blended. You can choose to do this by hand or an electric mixer whichever you prefer to use.
Just make sure not to include the ingredients for the topping just yet. This will come much later on.
Put the beaten mixture into the grease-lined tin and level the top with a spatula. Once level, add the tin to a pre-heated oven for 35-40 minutes. A good way to tell if the cake is baked is if you press the cake lightly with a finger in the centre or if it is starting to shrink away from the sides of the tin.
Let the traybake cool for a few minutes before lifting it out of the tin with the lining paper still attached. Remove the paper and put the bake onto a wire rack. Make sure to put the rack over a tray to ensure it catches the drips from the topping.
Next, to make the topping, you’ll need to mix the lemon juice and granulated sugar in a bowl to give a runny consistency.
One of the most important instructions to follow from the recipe is to make sure the cake is still warm when the topping is added. This is so the cake can absorb the lemon syrup and help keep the sugar on top.
If the cake is too warm or hot the syrup will end up running straight over the cake. Pour the mixture evenly over the traybake and then cut the cake into squares once it is cold.
