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Mary Berry lemon drizzle cake sliced on wooden board showing moist crumb with icing glaze and knife
Deepali Ohri

Mary Berry's Lemon Drizzle Loaf Cake

An easy, incredibly soft lemon drizzle loaf cake inspired by Mary Berry's original recipe — with a few simple changes that make it even better. No lemon verbena needed, baked in a loaf tin, and topped with a gorgeous set white glaze.
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Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 55 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 10 minutes
Servings: 12 slices
Course: cake, Dessert, Tea-Time Snack
Cuisine: British
Ingredients Method Video Notes

Ingredients
  

FOR THE CAKE
  • 4 eggs
  • 225 grams caster sugar
  • 225 grams soft butter
  • 275 grams self-raising flour
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 4 tablespoons milk
  • Zest of 2 lemons
  • Juice of 1 to 2 lemons Deepali's addition — highly recommended for stronger lemon flavour
FOR THE SET WHITE GLAZE (Deepali's version)
  • 200 g icing sugar powdered sugar
  • 3 to 4 tablespoons lemon juice adjust to get a thick spreadable consistency

Method
 

  1. Preheat your oven to 160 degrees C (fan) or 180 degrees C (conventional). Grease a 1 kg loaf tin and line with non-stick baking paper.
  2. Place the eggs, caster sugar, soft butter or baking spread, self-raising flour, baking powder, milk, lemon zest, and lemon juice into a large bowl.
  3. Beat everything together with an electric hand mixer for about 1 minute until smooth, pale, and well combined. Do not overmix.
  4. Pour the batter into the prepared loaf tin and level the top with a spatula.
  5. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean and the top is a gorgeous golden brown.
  6. Allow the cake to cool in the tin for 10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
  7. To make the set glaze, sift the icing sugar into a bowl and add lemon juice one tablespoon at a time, mixing until you get a thick but spreadable consistency. It should be white and opaque.
  8. Spread the set glaze evenly over the top of the completely cooled loaf cake, letting it drip slightly down the sides.
  9. Allow the glaze to set for 15 to 20 minutes before slicing and serving.

Video

Notes

Recipe Notes
  • Lemon verbena: Mary Berry's original recipe uses lemon verbena. I skipped it entirely as it is not easily available here and the cake is absolutely delicious without it.
  • Tin shapes: You can bake this in any tin — round 20cm, square, tray bake 23x30cm, or two 1-pound loaf tins. All work perfectly.
  • Lemon flavour: I strongly recommend adding the juice of 1 to 2 lemons into the batter. It makes the lemon flavour so much more pronounced and delicious.
  • Set glaze vs drizzle: Mary Berry uses a transparent sugar and lemon juice drizzle. I changed this to a set white icing glaze which gives a beautiful appearance and a wonderful sweet-tangy taste with every bite.
  • Storage: Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days.