This Gluten-Free Lemon Drizzle Cake recipe is super easy to make, and produces a tasty, soft, tender cake - you can't tell it's gluten free!
There’s a reason that my Gluten-Free Lemon Bars - a great recipe, by the way - were one of the first GF recipes I ever developed!
Anyway, when I was a kid, there was a lemon loaf cake that we’d get on special occasions.
I think it was probably a fairly classic recipe, with a bright lemon flavor thanks to both a lemon simple syrup drizzle, and a lemon glaze.
I’ve seen a few mentions of lemon drizzle cake in my social media timelines lately, so I decided to come up with a simple gluten free recipe for it.
It took a bit of playing around with it, but here we are, with my gluten-free lemon drizzle cake recipe!
It has the perfect texture - moist with a delicate crumb, fairly uncharacteristic of many gluten free products.
Part of the reason for the great texture is that it does not contain almond flour / almond meal.
I’ve never been a fan of using ground almonds in my gluten free baking - it doesn’t absorb moisture in the same way as other flours do, and also poses a problem for those with nut allergies.
I like to be as inclusive with my baking as possible!
While drizzle cakes are usually topped with a glaze made of caster sugar and lemon juice, I do more of a lemon icing on mine. I’m one of those “frosting is the best part of any cake” people, so it just felt right, when developing this recipe!
Ingredients
If you do much in the way of gluten free baking, you’ll find that this easy recipe uses fairly simple ingredients.
If not, the bulk of them are basic ingredients that can be found in any grocery store, the flours are usually easier to find in larger grocery stores, sometimes in the health food section.
A few notes for you:
Gluten-Free Flour Mixture
As with all of my gluten-free baking, I use a gluten-free flour blend - measured from individual flours - which I design for each recipe, specifically.
I’m not a fan of premade gluten free “all purpose flour” mixes - they tend to use the cheapest flours and starches possible, and don’t mimic the use of wheat flour at all.
All that rice flour and starch tends to lead to undesirable textures, and it doesn’t really taste like much.
The gluten free flours I use for making gluten-free muffins are good quality, taste much better than regular flour, and produce a nice, soft cake without much fuss, wait time, etc.
It also ends up to be FAR cheaper than using the pre-mixes.
I use:
Light Buckwheat Flour
Sorghum Flour
Coconut Flour
Xanthan Gum
If you like baking quick breads and muffins , know that this is my go-to blend for these kinds of recipes, so you can definitely get some use out of them! They’re great to have on hand.
Fresh Lemons
This recipe gets its zesty lemon flavour from 2 fresh lemons, in the form of both fresh lemon juice, and lemon zest.
I recommend zesting the lemons before juicing them, it’s far easier that way.
Also, be sure to not throw out the remaining lemon juice after measuring it for the loaf - you’ll be using it to make the sweet lemon drizzle!
Milk
You can use whatever form of milk you like for this recipe.
For dairy milk, whole milk or 2% milk are both fine.
For dairy-free milk, almond milk, coconut milk, oat milk, cashew milk, and flax milk are all great options that we’ve used.
As pictured, I use unsweetened almond milk for this batch.
Vegetable Oil
While I usually use melted butter in a lot of my regular baking - and cakes usually start with softened butter - I like to use oil for baking gluten-free quick breads and muffins.
I find it retains a nicer texture, even straight from the fridge - salted or unsalted butter tend to lead to a more dry texture at cooler temperatures.
I use just basic vegetable oil, but you can use any neutral flavoured oil - canola oil and avocado oil are great options.
Olive oil has a bit too robust of a flavour for this recipe, IMHO, and melted coconut oil tends to run into the same temperature issue as using butter, so I generally avoid it for this.
Everything Else
Rounding out this recipe, you will need:
1 cup Confectioner’s Sugar / Icing Sugar/ Powdered Sugar
Granulated sugar
Vanilla Yogurt (Can use sour cream instead)
Whole Eggs (Large size)
Baking powder
Baking soda
Salt
... I just don’t have anything else to say about these ingredients!
How to Make Gluten-Free Lemon Drizzle Cake
The full recipe is in the recipe card at the end of this post, here is the visual walk through.
Gluten Free Lemon Loaf
Preheat oven temperature to 350 F. Grease 1 regular/large loaf pan, or line with parchment paper / greaseproof paper. I do both:
In a large bowl, whisk together flours, baking powder, xanthan gum, salt, and baking soda. Set aside.
In a separate bowl - a small or medium bowl - whisk together sugar, yogurt, vegetable oil, lemon juice, eggs, and lemon zest until smooth and well combined.
Add the wet ingredients mixture to the large mixing bowl of dry ingredients, use a wooden spoon or rubber spatula to stir just until combined.
Bake for about 50-55 minutes, or until crust is a rich golden brown, and knife inserted into middle of the cake comes out clean.
For best results, be sure to not overbake it. Take the loaf out as soon as it passes the clean knife /toothpick test!
Once fully cooked, remove the baked cake oven, and let the it fully cool on a cooling rack before you make the glaze.
Lemon Glaze
In a small bowl, whisk together the lemon juice and salt.
Add the powdered sugar, a little at a time, whisking until smooth. You want it VERY thick, but you can add extra lemon juice if you need.
Drizzle glaze over the top of the cake, allow to set for at least 15-20 minutes before cutting - if you’ve got that kind of patience!
Leftovers
Leftovers can be cooled to room temperature, wrapped in plastic wrap - or transferred to an airtight container - and stored in the fridge for 5 days or so.
Best served at room temperature or - ideally - warmer.
More Gluten-Free Breakfast & Brunch Recipes
Looking for more breakfast food recipes for the whole family? Here are some fun options:
Gluten Free Apple Pancakes with Caramel Apple Topping
Gluten-Free Bagels
Gluten Free Banana Bread
Gluten-Free Banana Muffins
Gluten Free Banana Nutella Ebelskivers
Gluten-Free Blackberry Muffins
Gluten-Free Blueberry Banana Bread
Gluten Free Blueberry Muffins
Breakfast Meatloaf
Gluten-Free Cranberry Orange Bread
Gluten Free Cranberry Walnut Muffins
Gluten Free Crepes
Gluten-Free French Onion Soup Tart
Gluten Free Lemon Mascarpone Ebelskivers
Gluten-Free Mushroom Soup & Eggs on Toast
Gluten Free Paska [Easter Bread]
Gluten-Free Pop-Tarts
Gluten Free Pumpkin Bread
Gluten Free Pumpkin Muffins
Gluten-Free Sourdough Waffles
Gluten Free Zucchini Bread
Share the Love!
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Gluten-Free Lemon Drizzle Cake
Equipment
- 1 Loaf pan
- Parchment Paper optional
Ingredients
Lemon Loaf
- 1 cup Sorghum flour
- ½ cup Light buckwheat flour
- ¼ cup Coconut flour
- 1 ½ teaspoon Baking powder
- 1 teaspoon Xanthan gum
- ¾ teaspoon Salt
- ½ teaspoon Baking soda
- 1 cup Granulated sugar
- ¾ cup Vanilla Yogurt
- ½ cup Vegetable oil
- ⅓ cup Lemon Juice
- 3 Large eggs
- Zest of 2 Lemons
Lemon Glaze
- 2 tablespoon Lemon juice
- pinch Salt
- 1 cup Confectioners / Icing / Powdered Sugar
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease 1 regular/large loaf pan, or line with parchment paper.
- In a large bowl, whisk together flours, baking powder, xanthan gum, salt, and baking soda. Set aside.
- In a separate bowl - a small or medium bowl - whisk together sugar, yogurt, vegetable oil, lemon juice, eggs, and lemon zest until smooth and well combined.
- Add the wet ingredients mixture to the mixing bowl of dry ingredients, use a wooden spoon or rubber spatula to stir just until combined.
- Pour batter into prepared tin.
- Bake for about 50-55 minutes, or until crust is a rich golden brown, and knife inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean.
- Once fully cooked, remove from oven, and let the bread fully cool on a wire rack before you make the glaze.
Lemon Glaze
- Whisk together the lemon juice and salt.
- Add the powdered sugar, a little at a time, whisking until smooth. You want it VERY thick, but you can add extra lemon juice if you need.
- Drizzle glaze over the cooled loaf, allow to set for at least 15-20 minutes before cutting - if you’ve got that kind of patience!
Notes
Nutrition
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