Gluten Free Lemon Drizzle Cake (optional Raspberries)
A gluten free lemon drizzle is the perfect summer pudding. Fresh, light and yet sweet and indulgent. Can’t go wrong, right?! I’ve added a raspberry twist for a little bit of extra sweetness but that’s totally optional 🙂
It’s actually a super easy cake to make – just make a basic sponge with some added lemon zest. When it comes out of the oven, poke some holes in it with a knife/fork and pour over a sweet lemony syrup! Let’s go…
Gluten Free Lemon Drizzle Ingredients
Here’s some info about the ingredients and possible substitutions if you need them:
1) Gluten Free Flour
- Ideally you need gluten free self-raising flour. If you’ve only got gluten free plain flour add 1.5 tsp of baking powder
- Brand: I like Doves Farm FREEE
(2) Caster Sugar – White granulated sugar would be fine too
(3) Icing Sugar – this is just for the drizzle. If you really want to use another option, you can swap it for caster sugar (slightly different method – see instructions)
(4) “Spread” – Flora – this is my preference for making cakes as it makes them light and fluffy and is naturally dairy free but you can replace it for any of your preferred brands or “real” butter if you prefer
(5) Egg – I’m yet to try other options but I’m told flax eggs, chia or even more apple sauce can work! Will try them asap and update this guide
(6) Lemons – fresh is best but totally up to you.
(7) Raspberries – optional but delicious, fresh or frozen works.
Adding Raspberries?
If you’d like to add any other fruit (raspberries or blueberries are so good here!), this is what you need to do to stop the fruit sinking:
- Chop the pieces of fruit up small
- Coat the fruit in a sprinkling of flour
- Do not over-whisk the cake mix and when you whisk the fruit into the cake mix, do it VERY quickly.
Want to make a round cake?
I’ve included a recipe for a 2lb loaf tin, but if you want to use a round tin, it works just as well! For a 23cm/9 inch round tin, use 5 eggs and 290g of flour/butter/sugar.
You can increase the amount of lemon juice/icing sugar slightly too but it will work with the amount included below.
Making a loaf cake?
ONE THING TO NOTE for a 2lb loaf tin:
As per the recipe below, I use 4 eggs with 230g flour/spread/caster sugar .
When you pour the cake mix into the tin, you want to leave around 3cm of room for the cake to expand whilst cooking. 4 eggs in a 2lb tin makes a bit too much cake mix, but in my opinion 3 eggs make the cake a bit short (although it does work). 3.5 eggs is just awkward!!!
So, I make 1 x loaf and 2 x cupcakes (which I scoff before anyone notices to “test” the cake mix was good – they only need 20 mins in the oven).
If you want to use 3 eggs, you need 175g flour/spread/caster sugar and reduce the cooking time to 40-45mins.
Gluten Free Lemon Drizzle (with optional raspberries)
Ingredients
- 4 eggs
- 230 grams Gluten Free Self Raising flour
- 230 grams Spread - see "Ingredients" for more info
- 230 grams Caster sugar
- Zest of 1 Lemon
Drizzle
- Juice from 1 lemon
- 75 grams Icing sugar - (approx)
- Handful of raspberries and a sprinkle of gluten free flour
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 180oC (fan).
- Line your loaf tin with baking paper.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the butter & sugar until fully combined.>You’re looking for the mix to be paler, smooth & creamy! I use an electric whisk for 2 mins.
- Crack all the eggs into a separate bowl & beat together.
- Add the beaten eggs, flour and zest of 1 lemon to the butter/sugar. Whisk together until JUST combined, making sure you whisk right to the bottom of the bowl (20 seconds).>How to zest a lemon – just grate the skin off! doesn’t matter what size pieces you grate off)>Top tip: its especially important you don't over whisk the mix if you're adding raspberries. It helps to stop them sinking!
- OPTIONAL: ADDING RASPBERRIES?A) Chop your raspberries into small piecesB) Toss in a sprinkling of flour so they are all roughly coated. C) Scatter over the cake mix and whisk in for no more than 3 seconds. (The less you whisk, the less chance you have of the raspberries sinking).
- Pour into your tin. Bake for approx 45-50mins.>How to know when its done? You’re looking for it to be firm on top and still a little springy to touch. A knife/skewer poked into the middle of the cake should come out relatively clean!>I turn my cake around at the half way point to ensure an even bake. Do this quickly so the oven doesn't cool down.
The Drizzle
- Whilst the cake is still warm, poke 10 holes into the top (using a knife or fork is fine).
- If you’re using icing sugar, just mix it together with the lemon juice to form a thick paste. Lemons all vary in size so if yours was quite big and the paste is thin, just mix in a bit more icing sugar. If you’re using any other type of sugar, place into a pan with the lemon juice, heat over a low temperature until the sugar has dissolved.
- Two options:1) Pour straight over the cake whilst its still warm and in the tin. Once the cake has cooled, remove it from the tin and serve.2) My preferred option: leave the cake to cool for 5-10 mins to get a bit sturdier. Then, remove from the cake tin, peel back the baking paper and place onto a serving plate. Pour over the drizzle, so it goes into the holes and drips down the side of the cake. >Option 2 can be a little trickier as the cake it delicate whilst still warm so you have to be careful when handling it, however I LOVE the drizzle to fall down the sides and onto the plate so I think its worth a shot!!
- Decorate with lemon zest, slices or extra raspberries if you'd like to
Want some more baking recipes? Click here to see my list.
