Australian
Lemon drizzle cake is one of the best things in the baking canon: a tender, moist loaf cake soaked in sharp lemon syrup while still warm from the oven. The syrup seeps into the crumb and hardens into a slightly crystallised glaze on the outside. Every slice is lemony all the way through, never dry, never bland.
The technique of soaking a warm cake in syrup is simple but transformative. You must do it while the cake is hot — that's when the crumb is most porous and will absorb the most syrup. Prick it all over with a skewer first so the syrup has channels to travel through. Pour it slowly over the top and let gravity do the work.
This cake keeps for four days and arguably gets better over time as the syrup redistributes. I make it when someone needs a bring-a-plate-of-something, because it transports well, looks impressive sliced, and is the kind of thing that makes people ask for the recipe. I always give it. Nothing makes me happier than other people's kitchens smelling like lemon cake.
"Soak it while it's hot. That's the whole technique, right there."
