Are you looking for the perfect summer cake recipe? Here is my favourite lemon drizzle sponge cake recipe which has a zesty flavour, perfect for summer. In this tutorial I add a lemon drizzle / sugar syrup to the cake which is completely optional, but adds a little more of that lemon flavour into the sponge and I finish the cake off with a white chocolate ganache which is also flavoured with lemons.
Here are the ingredients you will need:
The ingredients you will need to make this 6 inch cake are:
13oz / 368g – Self Raising Flour
12oz/ 340g – Butter
12oz/ 340g – Caster Sugar
4 eggs
2 lemons – Zest and Juice
The great thing about this recipe is you can pop all your ingredients into your mixing bowl at the same time. I then bake my cake in 2x 6 inch round cake tins for around 55 minutes on the middle shelf of a normal oven at 180 degrees Celsius (which is 356 degrees Fahrenheit or gas mark 4). I tend to use my normal oven setting for cakes as I find if I use a fan oven it tends to bake the cakes quicker on the outside so you get this hard crusty shell and the mixture is not baked all the way through. So if you are using a fan oven you might want to reduce the temperature and cook for a little longer.
For the lemon drizzle / sugar syrup (optional):
1.76oz / 50g – Caster Sugar
Juice of 1/2 lemon
2tbsp – Water
For the ganache:
600g – White Chocolate
200ml – Double Cream
Juice of 1/2 lemon
Zest of 1 lemon
Once baked this is a really moist fluffy sponge cake which is full of flavour, and one of my favourites!! If you don’t want to add more sugar to the recipe you can definitely make this without the lemon drizzle. For this cake I teamed it with a delicious white chocolate ganache which is also flavoured with lemons. By adding lemon juice to the ganache it does mean it sets a tiny bit softer than regular white chocolate ganache, but to combat this I added a little more white chocolate than I normally do.
I really hope you like this recipe and will enjoy making it yourselves. Below is a full video tutorial showing how I prepare the ingredients and bake the cake:
Also don’t forget to subscribe to my YouTube channel for more Free recipes and cake decorating video tutorials!
Tools I used
I have also put a link below to some of the tools I used throughout this video:
AEG Food Mixer: https://amzn.to/2BcDYXC
6 Inch Cake tins (similar): https://amzn.to/2Zzkkym
Turn Table: http://amzn.to/2CfVJUl
Glass Cutting Board: https://amzn.to/2BLqcaE
Metal Scrapper Tool (small): http://amzn.to/2BNjf7v
Offset spatula (small): https://amzn.to/2yD7btn
~ Please note that some of links above may be affiliate links. If you click the link and purchase any item through that link, I will receive a small commission from the website but this does NOT add any additional costs to you. Thank you so much for supporting this blog x ~
Lemon Drizzle Sponge Cake Recipe
Ingredients
Ingredients for a 6inch Cake
- 368 g Self Raising Flour (13oz)
- 340 g Room Temperature Butter (12oz)
- 340 g Caster Sugar (12oz)
- 4 Eggs
- 2 Lemons (Zest and Juice)
Ingredients for the Lemon Drizzle (Sugar Syrup)
- 50 g Caster Sugar (1.7oz)
- Juice of 1/2 lemon
- 2 tbsp Water
Ingredients for the White Chocolate Ganache
- 600 g White Chocolate
- 200 ml Double Cream
- Juice of 1/2 lemon
- Zest of 1 lemon
Instructions
- To start you want to prepare your cake tins. You will need 2x 6 inch cake tins. I like to apply a thin layer of butter around the inside of my tin, using a square of kitchen paper. Then dust on some spare flour and get rid of any excess. I then place a circle of parchment paper into the bottom of my tin. This will stop your cake sticking.
- Then sift your self raising flour into your mixing bowl. Add the rest of the ingredients. You want to make sure your butter or baking spread is at room temperature, so it will combine well throughout your mixture. Using a stand mixer or hand whisk, mix up your ingredients until they are fully combine This usually takes around 30 seconds.
- Divide your mixture between your 2x 6 inch cake tins and place into a preheated over at 180 degrees Celsius (which is 356 degrees Fahrenheit or gas mark 4). The cakes will take around 55 minutes to bake. You can use a skewer to push into the center of the cakes when you think they are done. If they come out clean your cake is baked all the way through.
- Once baked, let cool slightly before turning them out onto a cooling rack. Once cool you can level your cakes with a serrated knife and divide each layer into 2.
Adding the lemon drizzle
- To add more flavour you can add a lemon drizzle or sugar syrup. For this combine the caster sugar, lemon juice and water into a saucepan.
- Heat this up on your hob until all of the sugar granules have melted (this usually takes around 1 minute). You then want to leave this to completely cool, before brushing this onto your sponge cakes using a pastry brush.
White chocolate ganache
- For this cake you can use any filling of your choice, but I love the lemon flavour combined with white chocolate ganache. For the ganache you want to break your white chocolate into small pieces and place into a mixing bowl.
- On the hob, heat up your double cream until boiling. Immediately take off the heat and pour over your white chocolate. Let sit for around 30 seconds before stirring it through, until all the pieces of white chocolate have melted and you are left with a smooth mixture.
- Once smooth add your lemon juice and lemon zest and stir this through. Leave your white chocolate ganache at room temperature until it has firmed up enough to spread.
- This can then be used to fill and cover the outside of your cake. spread some of your ganache on the top of your cake layer, before placing the next one ontop, until you have added all 4 layers. Then using an offset spatula apply a thin layer of ganache over the outside of your cake, smoothing it down with a cake smoother. This is your crumb coat. Allow this to firm up in the fridge, before adding a final layer of ganache onto the outside of your cake. Again smoothing this down with a cake smoother.
Notes
Plus why not save this tutorial for later and pin it to Pinterest
12 Responses
This cake looks delicious!! I’d love to try the recipe. Are your pans 2″ deep or 3″?
Hi Joann, I love this recipe, I am so glad you want to give it a try. My tins are 2.5 inches in height and split into the 2 tins each cake is 2 inches in height.
Hi! Can this recipe be used for cupcakes?
Hi Deolette, Yes definitely. I usually half the recipe for 12 cupcakes.
Hi I’m new to your page. I tried the lemon ganache with a 3:1 ratio and it was fab, however seemed a little hard. I did it as a trial run however this weekend I will be using it under fondant and supporting a 6” dummie cake with teddy on top. I was expecting it to be slightly softer like peanut butter. Where did I go wrong? If you could respond I’d really appreciate it. Thanks
Hi Elaine, It sounds like the ganache was left a little too long so firmed up a little too much. The longer ganache is left to set the firmer it will get due to the chocolate. With white chocolate because it is slightly different to milk and dark chocolate depending on the brand of white chocolate I have found some firm up a little more quickly than others. What you could do is reduce the chocolate a little, so try 2.5:1 ratio. I really hope this helps.
Hi Lynsey,
The white chocolate is it any white choc such as Milky Bar or do i need to use cooking chocolate.
Thanks
Mark
Hi Mark, I usually use ordinary chocolate from the sweets section, so the supermarkets own brand of chocolate or similar. I hope this helps
Hi i see the amount of eggs in the lemon cake is only 4….is that the correct amount? just doesnt seem enough
Hi Elaine, The recipe has the amount of eggs that I always use, but you can definitely test the recipe and alter it depending on the type of cake and texture you are looking for if you would prefer to use more. I always find with this recipe 4 eggs works really well for me.
I love all your tutorials on YouTube and have been a subscriber for years. This is the first time I’ve actually made it to your blog though. Not sure why as there’s lots to read, view and learn here. I’m making the cake for my sister’s wedding (my first ever wedding cake) and I wanted to check if this would be a suitable recipe? I’ll be making 12,10, 8 and 6 inch tiers. They really want a lemon cake and this looks divine! If so, any tips for scaling up the recipe please?
Hi Annmarie, Firstly thank you so much for subscribing to the channel. I’m so pleased you found the website too. This recipe would definately be suitable. I used it for one of the tiers for my wedding cake. For making different sized tiers I have a converter that can help you work out how much ingredients you need for each tier. You can find it here: https://staging.cakesbylynz.co.uk/index.php/2021/04/how-to-convert-cake-recipes-for-any-size-tin-or-cake-pan/