Lime Drizzle Cake is super sweet, moist, and refreshing and loaf cakes are always easy, making this the perfect summer treat.
I love citrus drizzle cakes. Orange is probably my favourite. I actually made myself an orange drizzle celebration cake for my birthday this year, which was fabulous.
Lemon drizzle cake is great too though, so tangy and refreshing.
Then, there’s this recipe for Lime drizzle cake, which is absolutely delicious.
It’s probably fair to say that lime isn’t for everyone. It’s not actually I flavour that I enjoy on its own, but sweet lime-flavoured things are great and lime as an ingredient works well for me.
If you really hate lime, then this recipe for lime cake might not be for you. But you can water the syrup down a bit and use less lime in the sponge for a milder flavour.
If you love lemon drizzle, I’d give it a go!
Ingredients for Lime Drizzle Cake
I always use the same basic recipe for my loaf cakes, and then just adjust quantities and add flavours for different kinds.
For my lime sponge I use:
Caster Sugar
Margarine – or room temperature butter
Eggs
Limes – I use the grated zest and juice of two medium limes. Adjust if your limes are bigger or smaller, or if you want a stronger or weaker lime flavour.
Self-Raising Flour – If you only have plain flour add a teaspoon of baking powder.
Lime Drizzle Syrup
My simple lime syrup to soak the sponge is just equal parts caster or granulated sugar and lime juice.
If you don’t want the lime flavour to be too strong, swap some of the lime juice for water.
Lime Drizzle Icing
You can skip this part entirely if you want to, but I love a bit of crunchy lime icing on top of my zesty lime cake.
I use icing sugar and just a little lime juice.
How to Make a Lime Drizzle Loaf Cake
To make this easy lime cake recipe all you need is a mixing bowl, whisk (hand is fine!), saucepan and a 2lb loaf tin or cake tin. I use reusable baking paper, but this is optional.
You can get the full instructions for making this lime drizzle cake at the bottom of this post, but my top tips are:
- Don’t heat the syrup for too long. If it gets too thick it will harden on top of your cake. You just want to warm it gently until the grains have dissolved.
- Stab right down to the bottom of the cake.
- Drizzle over the syrup while both the syrup and cake are still warm.
- Add lime juice to the icing sugar a tiny bit at a time, so that it doesn’t get too thin.
- Wait until the cake is completely cool before drizzling on.
Can You Use Bottled Lime Juice to Make Lime Drizzle Cake?
Yes, you can use bottled lime juice to make a cake with lime. But it is a stronger flavour, and it might not taste quite the same. I recommend fresh lime zest and juice.
If you do use bottled lime, add 1 tablespoon to your sponge, and only use 1 tablespoon in your syrup, topping up to 75ml with water.
You can also make this lime cake recipe with lime extract. Use one teaspoon in the sponge, and one teaspoon topped up with water in syrup and icing, tasting, and adding more if you want a stronger flavour.
Is Lime Drizzle Cake Easy to Make?
Yes! A lime drizzle loaf is so easy to make. I try to keep all my cakes as easy as possible, in part because I’m not a great baker, so this lime drizzle cake is super simple.
How to Store Lime Drizzle?
I store my lime drizzle cake in a lidded cake stand on the side. It stays lovely and moist for 3-4 days.
Unless your kitchen is very warm, you shouldn’t need to refrigerate it, but I recommend covering it as it’s very sticky.
Can You Freeze Lime Drizzle Cake?
Yes, lime drizzle loaf cake freezes really well.
To freeze your lime drizzle cake, first, leave to cool completely. Then, wrap in cling film, wax wraps, or sandwich bags, either whole or in slices. If you have space, I’d then pop it in an airtight tub to further protect it.
Other Lime Cakes
Lime baking is great fun, and personally, I’m dying to try Lemon and lime drizzle cake, Chocolate lime cake and lime and gin drizzle! I’ll post recipes as soon as I’ve got them all right.
Lime Drizzle Cake
Ingredients
For the Lime Sponge:
- 175 g Butter or Margarine (at room temperature)
- 175 g Caster Sugar
- 3 Medium Eggs
- 2 Limes (Juice and Zest – or one very large lime)
- 175 g Self-Raising Flour
For the Lime Syrup:
- 75 g Sugar (caster or granulated)
- 75 ml Lime Juice (this is around 1 small lime)
For the Lime Icing:
- 50 g Icing Sugar
- 2 Tablespoons Lime Juice
Instructions
For the Cake:
- Preheat the oven to 160 degrees C (fan-assisted) and grease or line a 2lb loaf tin.
- Whisk together the butter and sugar.
- Whisk in the eggs, one at a time until there are no lumps.
- Add the zest and juice from two limes (or one if it’s very large).
- Stir through.
- Add the flour and whisk until the mixture is smooth.
- Pour into the prepared loaf tin and spread out evenly.
- Bake in the centre of the preheated oven for 40-45 minutes until a skewer comes out of the centre clean.
- Leave in the tin for a few minutes while you prepare the syrup.
For the Syrup:
- Place the lime juice and sugar in a small pan.
- Gently warm over a medium heat, stirring constantly.
- Remove from the heat once the sugar has dissolved (you can see and feel when the granules are gone, or check by tasting).
- Stab the still warm cake all over with a skewer.
- Pour over the warm syrup.
- Leave the cake in the tin to cool completely.
For the Icing:
- Mix the icing sugar with a little orange juice until you get a thick, pourable consistency.
- Remove the cake from the tin and peel off the baking paper if using.
- Roughly drizzle icing over the cooled cake.
Video
Notes
- If you don’t want your syrup to have a very strong lime flavour, swap half the lime juice for water.
Any nutritional information is given as a general guide only and may not be accurate. The information is provided using an online calculator and is specific to my ingredients. Please make your own calculations if you want precise information.
