Lemon and Lime Double Drizzle Cake by Millennial Hunter Gatherer

Sometimes, I come across a net of citrus fruit for around a quarter of the full price. Even if I’m buying full-price citrus fruit, it’s usually cheaper to buy several rather than a single. While it’s handy to keep lemons and limes in the fridge, there comes a point when they need using before they get old and shriveled.

But what uses several citrus fruit, is made with store cupboard ingredients, and is a complete crowd pleaser?

I decided to revisit an old favourite, Lemon Drizzle Cake, and see just how much citrus I could pack in without having either spare juice or rind left over.

Have you ever had a slice of lemon drizzle cake in a cafe and felt it was just a bit, well… disappointing? That is definitely not a problem that you will have with this cake. It’s a proper revamp that’s full of zing, and the double drizzle takes it to the next level.

Lemon and Lime Double Drizzle Cake

This recipe is pretty easy to make, and although I’m often a fan of ‘all-in-one’ cakes, I recommend not using that method here as you need as much volume as possible to soak up that generous first drizzle without the cake losing its structure and disintegrating.

Ingredients

Cake

• Zest of two lemons and two limes, finely grated
• 175g caster sugar
• 175g unsalted butter, softened
• 3 eggs
• 175g self raising flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 2 tbsp milk

Drizzles

• Juice of two lemons and two limes
• 40-50g caster sugar
• 100g icing sugar (see note in method below)

Method

Preheat the oven to 180C Fan. Fully line a 2lb loaf tin with baking paper.

1. In a large bowl, combine the lemon and lime zest with the sugar. Add the butter and whisk until as light and airy as you can manage.

2. Whisk in the eggs, one at a time. Add a spoonful of flour if you find that the mixture curdles.

3. Sift in the self raising flour and baking powder, and gently but thoroughly fold to combine. Gently stir in the milk.

4. Spoon the mixture into the cake tin, and level. Bake for around 40-45 minutes, until a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean.

N.B. My oven is an old, somewhat uneven fan oven, and the 2lb loaf tin that I use is particularly large and shallow, so keep an eye on your cake towards the end of the cooking time in case you need to adjust.

5. Remove the cake from the oven and leave to cool in the tin for around half an hour, until the cake is warm but not hot.

For the Drizzles

1. While the cake cooks, juice your lemons and limes. At this point, you need to decide if you’re the kind of person who likes a cake to look beautiful, or the kind of person who likes a lot of icing. You’ll notice from the different pictures of this cake that I’ve shown the whole cake in ‘beautiful drizzled icing’ form, but when it comes to pictures showing a slice that I’m about to eat, the icing is rather more generous!

If you’d like a cake that has a top covered in icing and a few drizzles spilling down the side, use the full 100g of icing sugar. If you’d prefer artistic drizzles that show the golden brown top of the cake, then reduce this to about 50g.

2. For the icing, use 4-5 tsps (or 2-3 tsps for the smaller amount of icing) of the lemon and lime juice to mix with the icing sugar to give a fairly runny, drizzle-able icing.

3. Add the caster sugar to the remaining juice, and stir until dissolved to make the first drizzle. It’s worth tasting as you go depending on whether you prefer it to be sweet or more tart.

4. Use a skewer to poke holes down through the cake. I like to space them every centimetre or so.

5. Slowly spoon the first drizzle (juice and caster sugar) over the cake, so that it gradually soaks into each of the holes. Don’t worry if it runs down to the edge, it will also soak up from the bottom. Be brave; all this drizzle will go!

6. Leave the cake in the tin to cool fully, then remove and carefully peel off the baking paper. Top with the second drizzle, icing either attractively or liberally, as you prefer.

Keep in an airtight container. As this cake is so moist, I’d be worried about keeping it longer than around three days, but I don’t think that is likely to be a problem.

Hunter-gathering tip: I sometimes vary the quantity of rind in this recipe, for example if I’ve used the rind in another recipe and have a lemon or lime that needs juicing. I’m also tempted to swap the limes for an orange one day to try a St Clements Double Drizzle Cake. It’s all about using what you have a cutting down the waste, so don’t be afraid to experiment!