I made mary berry’s simple lemon drizzle cake and my friends loved it

THIS LEMON LOAF CAKE WAS SO QUICK AND EASY EVEN WITHOUT A WHISK 10:29, 30 May 2025 There are so many occasions where food can be used as an expression of love. From a home cooked meal for a

partner to picking up your friend’s favourite snack, food can bring comfort and joy to those around us. Birthday cake has to be one of the most clear ways in which we use food to show

appreciation for the people in our lives. Whether homemade or not, this sweet (in both senses of the word) tradition is a simple but effective way to make someone feel extra special. Luckily

for me, I have some truly talented baking-lovers who I call friends. I will never forget a friend making me a delicious vegan lemon and poppy seed sponge cake with strawberry buttercream

for my last birthday or a bourbon biscuit inspired recipe a few years before that. So when a friend’s birthday came around this weekend I thought it would be a perfect opportunity to return

the gesture through some baking of my own. Unfortunately, my cake-making skills are not quite up to the same standard but I was determined. Article continues below Thinking of recipes that

would be difficult to mess up and that everyone loves, I decided to make a simple lemon loaf cake. For an even more fool-proof approach I settled on a recipe from the baker widely considered

as Britain's favourite, Mary Berry. The best thing about this recipe was that it only required seven ingredients, most of which I had in the cupboard. INGREDIENTS 225g softened butter

or baking spread 225g caster sugar 275g self-raising flour 2 level tsp baking powder 4 large eggs 4 tbsp milk Juice and rind of 2 lemons I started by greasing and lining a loaf tin with

baking paper. I then beat the sugar and butter together which thankfully could be done with a fork and then a large spoon since I found myself without a whisk. I then mixed in the eggs one

at a time. Next I added the baking powder to the self raising flour and sieved in the mixture (I used a colander which worked just fine). I added in the lemon zest before spooning the

mixture into a loaf tin and baking in the oven. I ended up having to cover the cake part of the way through as it was darkening on the outside before cooking all the way through. However

with a bit of extra time (around an hour as opposed to 45 minutes) the cake came out well. I opted to use caster sugar for the icing and not granulated as recommended, to save buying two

bags. The icing turned out great and in my opinion better than if it had been made with crunchier sugar. I also garnished the cake with a slice of lemon and some strawberries. Overall, the

cake went down a treat and despite a rather rustic look, I was glad to have been able to make something for my friend from scratch. It lasted a good 3 days before becoming dry and even then

it still went down a treat with a cup of tea. Article continues below