When it comes to baking, less is often more.
When you’re whipping up a tasty little something, you can add chocolate or cream or icing or cinnamon or caramel or more cream ’til the cows come home, and sure, it’ll be some sort of delicious sensory overload in the end (maybe) – but the true test of a good baker is making something with simple ingredients that ends up being perfection. Lemon drizzle cake is that thing.
The origins of this cake aren’t clear, although it is often referred to as a French tea time favourite (of course it is; the French have wonderful taste in desserts) and us Brits absolutely adore it too. The combination of the sweet sugar and the tart lemon within the fluffy, light sponge is the very definition of subtlety, and there’s nothing better to enjoy on a light afternoon with a good bit of gossip from a friend.
Although vegan baking is very different in process than non-vegan baking, you’d be hard pressed to tell the difference between this and your grandma’s traditional lemon drizzle cake. It’s all there; the slightly crusty sides, the crystal crunchy topping, the moist middle made even more moist by letting the drizzle seep into the whole shebang. And to top it all off, it’s a breeze to make.
You’ll need:
(Makes 1 cake)
2 1/3 cups plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
juice and zest of 2 lemons
1 cup caster sugar
1/2 cup coconut oil (or your preferred oil)
1 cup almond milk
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
pinch of salt
Drizzle:
Juice of 1 lemon
1/2 cup caster sugar
Method:
Pre-heat your oven to 180 degrees Celsius
Lightly grease a loaf pan and/or line it with baking paper
In a bowl, pour the almond milk and the apple cider vinegar, and leave for 5 minutes
In a large mixing bowl, sift together the plain flour, baking powder, caster sugar and salt
Stir the oil, juice and zest into the almond milk mixture
Gently stir the wet ingredients into the dry until just combined
Pour the mixture into the loaf pan and bake for 40-45 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean, then remove from the oven
Poke holes in the top of the cake with a toothpick. Seriously, loads of holes
Drizzle the drizzle (ha!) on top and allow it to seep into the holes
Allow to cool completely, remove from the loaf pan, slice and serve with tea. HEAVEN
Beautiful in its simplicty, this cake is just the best. Serve it right in the pan to look a little fancy, and don’t forget to crack out the good tea.
9 Comments
Shut the front door. This is right up there with the Vegan Ginger Cream Roll.
Oh Ms White, you sweetheart!
I made this for my birthday last week. Everybody (vegans and non-vegans) loved it!
I’m so glad to hear it, Sandra!
Hi, made this cake yesterday and followed the recipe exactly. The result was an amazing tasting cake but the sponge was just very doughy, Any ideas what may have gone wrong.
Hi there. Do you mean that the cake wasn’t cooked properly? You might need to cook it for longer; cooking times can vary depending on the type of oven and your location. I would suggest keeping the cake in the oven until a wooden toothpick comes out clean (rather than wet with mixture). I hope that helps!
[…] a friend on his way over for dinner, I found myself reaching for the ingredients for my usual Lemon Drizzle Cake (i.e. the greatest cake of all time). But my mind screamed NO HEATHER. THINK OF SOMETHING ELSE. And […]
Can I use ordinary vinegar as I have no cider vinegar?
As long as its white vinegar, yes 🙂