Cathy’s Egg-Free Lemon Drizzle Cake

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This month’s reader recipe is a delicious lemon drizzle cake, egg-free, marvellously moist and with a lovely pop of lemon and a rich caramel flavour.

The humble lemon drizzle cake has had a few incarnations on the blog in the form of a Gluten Free Lemon Drizzle Cake, a Lemon Polenta Cake, Denyse’s Lemon and Walnut Cake and let’s not forget the Thermomix Lemon Cake with Crunchy Topping!

I first tried this cake in the motherland at my mum’s friend Cathy’s house. She invited us for afternoon tea and put on the most wonderful spread but the star of the show was this delightful lemon cake. It was so lovely and light that I couldn’t believe it was an egg free recipe. This is one of Cathy’s favourite bakes but she mixed things up replacing caster sugar with coconut sugar with the most delicious results.

This cake is stand alone delicious but if you want to add the drizzle, you can do so with coconut or regular sugar. I’ve tried both and find that the coconut sugar brings more colour and a fuller flavour to the cake whereas with  regular sugar, the lemon juice really pops. The choice is yours. Whether you serve this cake with or without drizzle, you’re in for a treat.

This is a great recipe to have in the home baking arsenal and perfect for egg-free friends or any friends come to that! Best of all, as this cake needs no eggs and no butter and just a handful of pantry staples, you can make it at a moment’s notice. And don’t be stressing about that buttermilk either, you can make your own with some milk and lemon in less than a minute! 

Have you ever baked with coconut sugar? Do you like to put your own stamp on a recipe? 

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Ingredients

170g coconut sugar

280g self-raising flour

2 tablespoons (about 10g) ground almonds

Zest and juice of 1 lemon

110ml mild olive oil (not extra virgin, the flavour is too strong)

280ml buttermilk

FOR THE DRIZZLE

100g sugar

60g lemon juice

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How to – Traditional

  1. Preheat oven to 180C. Grease and line the base of a deep 20cm round tin.
  2. Combine dry ingredients in a large bowl and set aside.
  3. Mix the wet ingredients in a jug and add to the dry ingredients.
  4. Transfer mixture to tin and bake for about 45 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the pan in the centre of the cake comes out clean.
  5. Allow the cake to cool in the tin for about 15 minutes and then carefully transfer to a cooling rack.
  6. To make the drizzle, simply stir the sugar and lemon juice together in a small bowl. Prick the top of the cake all over with a cake tester. Pour the syrup over the cake.

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How to – Thermomix

  1. Preheat oven to 180C. Grease and line the base of a deep 20cm round tin.
  2. Add flour, coconut sugar, almonds and lemon zest to TM bowl. Mix for 5 seconds  on speed 5. Set aside.
  3. Add the lemon juice, oil and buttermilk and mix for 5 seconds on speed 4. 
  4. Add the dry ingredients to the TM bowl and mix for 10 seconds on speed 4.
  5. Transfer mixture to tin and bake for about 45 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the pan in the centre of the cake comes out clean.
  6. Allow the cake to cool in the tin for about 15 minutes and then carefully transfer to a cooling rack.
  7. To make the drizzle, simply stir the sugar and lemon juice together in a small bowl. Prick the top of the cake all over with a cake tester. Pour the syrup over the cake.

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