Lemon Drizzle Cake

Cake

• 1/2 cup Butter, softened
• 1 cup Granulated sugar
• 2 tbsp Lemon zest
• 3 Eggs
• 1 3/4 cups All-purpose flour
• 2 tsp Baking powder
• 1/2 tsp Salt
• 1/3 cup Milk

Syrup

• 1/3 cup Lemon juice
• 1/2 cup Granulated sugar — a high sugar ratio, close to saturation, is what lets it recrystallise

Prep

1. Heat the oven to 175°C (350°F) and grease and line a loaf pan.

Cake

1. Rub the sugar and lemon zest together with your fingertips until fragrant, then cream with the butter until pale and fluffy.
2. Beat in the eggs one at a time.
3. Whisk the flour, baking powder, and salt together and fold in alternately with the milk, just until combined.

Bake

1. Scrape into the pan and bake until golden and a skewer comes out clean.

Syrup

1. While the cake bakes, warm the lemon juice and sugar together just until the sugar dissolves — don't let it boil down further than that.

Soak

1. As soon as the cake comes out, poke holes all over the top with a skewer and pour the hot syrup over slowly, letting it soak in as you go. (Tip: Both the cake and the syrup need to be hot for this to work — a cooled cake's crumb has already tightened up and can't absorb nearly as much liquid.)

Cool

1. Let cool completely in the pan — the crunchy top forms as the syrup's sugar recrystallises while it dries.