Lime Drizzle Cake

Super moist lime drizzle cake. Learn how to make an easy lime cake that your children will love!

Nothing but a simple sponge cake soaked with a sweet and tangy lime drizzle.

Sounds pretty plain and simple (and it is simple), but the results are more than that. Nothing plain, but an amazingly moist loaf cake, which really tastes of limes. You will love every slice of it!

What is a drizzle cake?

It is a classic British cake. The original drizzle cake is made with lemons and it is often in the form of a tray bake. As we had the original lemon drizzle tray bake lots of times, I thought it was time to try another version.

And it was so good!!! Although I baked it only a couple of months ago for the first time, I did bake it 4 times more ever since. And the Orange Drizzle Cake a few times in between.

Not only it tastes amazing and everybody just loves it, but it also makes a great dessert to take to a potluck or to serve at a child’s birthday party. As a matter of fact, I did bake this for my son’s birthday party and it was gone faster than any other cake on the table.

The lime drizzle cake is moist, tastes fresh and delicious, has a perfect crumb, you will not need a plate and a fork to eat it, it is super easy and quick to make, it is cheap… only good things to say about it!

Ingredients needed

This is a simple sponge cake, you will not need anything fancy for it, just the limes, if they count as being fancy.

• Butter – use unsalted butter
• Granulated sugar
• Eggs
• All-purpose flour
• Baking powder
• Icing sugar for the drizzle

Limes:

• As you will need both zest and juice of the limes, the best thing would be to buy organic ones. However, that is not always achievable (at least not where I live).
• When I find organic limes, I do buy them, especially if I know that I will use the zest. If I don’t find them, I wash them with dish soap and hot water and dry them very well with a clean towel.
• You will need 3-4 limes, depending on their size. Enough for you to have 100 ml/ 3.4 fl.oz/scant ½ cup juice. And the zest of only 2 of them.

How to make lime drizzle cake?

Baking tin:

• I normally use a regular loaf tin, of about 30×12 cm/ 12 x5 inches. (Amazon affiliate link)
• As I needed two cakes when I took the pictures, I baked one of them in a silicon loaf form as well.
• That is fine as well, but the cake always loses its shape, it is flatter and wider in the middle and doesn’t look as pretty as a cake baked in a regular tin.
• That being said, the taste is just as good as ever. So the choice is yours.

How to prepare the loaf tin:

• If using a regular loaf tin, you will have to prepare it before you start baking, to make sure that the dessert won’t stick to it.
• Butter the loaf tin very well.
• Sprinkle about 1 scant tablespoon of flour in the tin.
• Shake the loaf tin in order to spread the flour all over.
• Do that over a sink, so that no flour will end up on your working surface or on the floor.
• Turn the tin upside down over the skin and pat it gently on the back and sides to remove the excess flour.

Preparations:

• Make sure you take the butter out of the fridge a few hours before baking, so that it will have time to soften.
• Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius/ 360 degrees Fahrenheit.
• Butter and flour the loaf tin as described above.
• Zest the limes. Zest one by cutting the green skin very thinly and then cutting these pieces into very fine strips.
• You will need these for decorating. Set aside.
• Zest the second lime by grating the green skin on the fine grater. Only the green parts, the white ones are bitter. Set aside.
• Juice enough limes to have 100 ml/ 3.4 fl. oz/scant ½ cup juice. Set aside.

Batter:

• Beat together the soft butter and the sugar until light and fluffy.
• Add the eggs to the batter, one by one, mixing well in between.
• Sift in the flour and the baking powder, add the finely grated zest and mix until combined.
• Turn the batter into the prepared tin.
• Bake for 60-65 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the middle of the cake comes out clean.
• Leave the cake to rest in the pan for 10 minutes.
• Make the drizzle in the meantime.
• Prick the loaf with a skewer (or toothpick) all over.
• Pour the drizzle all over.
• Let the lime drizzle cake cool completely in the tin.
• Turn onto a serving platter, sprinkle with icing sugar, and top with the reserved lime strips.

How to make lime drizzle?

• Sieve the icing sugar into a small bowl.
• Add the lime juice and stir well.

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