Mary Berry’s lemon drizzle traybake is an all-in-one sponge under a crunchy lemon sugar crust. It’s made with softened butter, caster sugar, self-raising flour, 4 large eggs and the rind of 2 lemons. It bakes at 160°C/Fan 140°C/Gas 3 for 35 to 40 minutes.
Berry calls it a top favourite in Baking Bible (2010) and says it’s always moist and crunchy. In Absolute Favourites (2015) she dates the recipe to the 1960s. It’s the one she’s most asked for when people stop her in the street.
The topping is the trick, and the timing of it is what people get wrong. Berry warns that too hot a cake lets the syrup run straight through. In Foolproof Cooking (2016) she calls drizzle cakes her one exception to icing a cake cold.
Mary Berry Lemon Drizzle Traybake
Course: Mary BerryCuisine: BritishDifficulty: Easy30
servings15
minutes35
minutes150
kcalBerry’s most requested recipe, taken from Baking Bible (2010). One tin, one bowl, no icing sugar and no piping, which is why it has been the standard fete and coffee morning cake for sixty years.
Ingredients
- For the traybake:
225 g (8 oz) softened butter
225 g (8 oz) caster sugar
275 g (10 oz) self-raising flour
2 level teaspoons baking powder
4 large eggs
4 tablespoons milk
finely grated rind of 2 lemons
- For the crunchy topping:
175 g (6 oz) granulated sugar
juice of 2 lemons
Directions
- Preheat:Pre-heat the oven to 160°C/Fan 140°C/Gas 3 (325°F). Grease a 30 x 23 cm (12 x 9 in) traybake or roasting tin then line the base with baking parchment.
- Mix:Measure all the ingredients for the traybake into a large bowl and beat until well blended. Turn the mixture into the prepared tin and level the top gently with the back of a spatula.
- Bake:Bake in the pre-heated oven for 35-40 minutes or until the cake has shrunk from the sides of the tin and springs back when pressed in the centre with your fingertips. Leave to cool in the tin for a few minutes then turn out, carefully peel off the parchment and finish cooling on a wire rack. Stand the wire rack on a tray to catch any drips of the topping.
- Drizzle:To make the crunchy topping, mix the granulated sugar and lemon juice in a small bowl to give a runny consistency. Spoon this mixture evenly over the traybake while it is still a little warm. Cut into 30 squares when cold.
FAQs
Why does Berry bake this at a lower temperature than her other traybakes?
Because a longer, gentler bake keeps the crumb moist enough to take a wet topping. I went through every traybake in that chapter of Baking Bible. Nearly all of them go in at 180°C/Fan 160°C/Gas 4, and only this one and her Gingerbread Traybake drop to Gas 3.
She isn’t consistent about it across her whole catalogue, though. Absolute Favourites (2015) writes the same traybake at 180°C/160°C fan/Gas 4. Her Complete AGA Cookbook (2015) backs the lower setting for a conventional oven, so two of the three agree, and that’s the one I’ve followed.
Can I use caster sugar for the topping instead of granulated?
You can, but you lose the thing that makes it a drizzle cake. Berry says as much in Absolute Favourites: caster sugar works if you have no granulated, although it won’t give quite such a crunchy result. Granulated crystals are coarser, so they sit on the surface rather than dissolving into it.
Which means how you mix the topping matters as much as which sugar you use. Stir it only until it pours, and stop. If you keep going until the sugar has dissolved you’ve made lemonade, and there’s nothing left to form the crust.
What size tin do I need, and can I make a bigger one?
A 30 x 23 cm (12 x 9 in) traybake or roasting tin, the same one she uses for her spiced Dorset apple traybake. Her Simple Cakes edition of this recipe adds the depth, 4 cm (1½ in), which is worth knowing. In a shallower tin the edges dry out before the centre sets.
For a crowd, Absolute Favourites scales it to a 39 x 25 cm (15 x 10 in) tin for 24 squares. That version takes 350 g each of fat and caster sugar, 425 g self-raising flour, 1½ level teaspoons baking powder, 6 eggs and 6 tablespoons milk. It also calls for the rind of 3 lemons and 3 tablespoons of lemon verbena, and bakes at her 180°C.
Does Berry give a variation on this traybake?
She does, and it’s one line that almost nobody quotes. Add 25 g (1 oz) poppy seeds at the mixing stage and you have her Lemon Poppy Seed Traybake. Nothing else changes: same tin, same temperature, same topping.
The same batter goes into other shapes too. In Absolute Favourites she bakes it as loaves for about 35 minutes, and as a round cake for 1 hour to 1 hour 10 minutes. If you’re taking the loaf route, the timings sit close to her apple and cinnamon loaf cake.
How is this different from her Iced Lemon Traybake?
Different finish, different moment. The iced version mixes 3 tablespoons of lemon juice into 225 g of sifted icing sugar, spread over a cake that has cooled completely in the tin, then cut into 21 pieces. It sets to a smooth matt lid rather than a sugary crackle.
There’s a richer one again in Classic (2018), the Double Lemon Traybake, which stirs 2 tablespoons of lemon curd into the batter before icing the top. If you want soft and sweet, ice it. If you want sharp and crunchy, drizzle it.
How long does it keep, and does it freeze?
Berry gives no storage note with this recipe in Baking Bible, so I’m borrowing from her other books and saying so. Absolute Favourites says the drizzle cakes keep in an airtight container for 3 to 4 days and freeze for up to 1 month. Her AGA book says 2 days ahead, and freezes well for a month.
I’d take the shorter figure if your kitchen is warm, because the crust goes first. It draws moisture up out of the sponge and turns tacky. Unlike her easy lemon cheesecake, which needs a long chill before it’s ready, this one is at its best the day you make it.
