Lemon and Raspberry Loaf Cake
This lemon and raspberry loaf cake is light and refreshing, with a vibrant citrus kick! It's the perfect recipe to bake and enjoy on a lovely spring or summers day.Favoured with vanilla extract and lemon zest, the cake is dotted with fresh raspberries and infused with a lemon drizzle sugar syrup. I've decorated the cake with simple lemon glace icing and scattered freeze-dried raspberries on top.
Ingredients
Raspberry loaf cake
- 300 g Margarine or unsalted butter I use Stork Original
- 300 g Golden caster sugar
- 3 large Eggs At room temperature
- 1 tsp Vanilla extract
- 300 g Self-raising flour
- 1 tbsp Milk
- 1 Lemon Zest only
- 150 g Fresh raspberries
Lemon drizzle
- 0.5 Lemon Juice only
- 25 g Golden caster sugar
Lemon Icing
- 225 g Icing sugar
- 1 Lemon Juice only
- 2-3 tsp Cold water
- 1 tsp Freeze-dried raspberries
Instructions
Start by making the raspberry loaf cake
- Preheat the oven to 180°C.
- Lightly grease a 2lb loaf tin (I used this one by Circulon) and line with greaseproof paper (see notes in the post above for how to do this). Set the baking tin aside.
- In a large bowl, beat the margarine, golden caster sugar and vanilla extract together until creamy.
- Mix in the eggs one at a time, adding 2 tablespoons of the 300g flour after each egg to stop the mixture from curdling.
- Add the remaining flour, lemon zest and milk. Fold the mixture together until smooth and fully combined.
- Gently fold in the fresh raspberries. I tossed the raspberries in a teaspoon of flour first to stop them from sinking to the bottom.
- Spoon the mixture into the loaf tin, smoothing it out the top. Bake for 60-70 minutes* until golden in colour and a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out crumb-free.
Make the lemon drizzle
- Mix the lemon juice and sugar together in a bowl.
- As soon as the loaf cake is out of the oven, prick it all over with a toothpick or skewer and spoon over the lemon drizzle, letting it sink into the cake.
- Leave the cake to cool in the baking tin for 15 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack and leave to cool completely.
Decorate with lemon icing
- Stir the icing sugar and lemon juice together. The consistency of the icing should be thick but still pourable. If it's too thick, stir in a teaspoon of cold water at a time.
- Pour the lemon icing over the cake, letting it drip down the sides.
- Sprinkle over the freeze-dried raspberries and leave the icing to set for 10 minutes.
Notes
*If the cake starts to brown too much, you can lightly place a piece of foil over the cake after 45 minutes. T