This Slimming Lemon Drizzle Cake will satisfy your cravings without piling on the calories. An airy sponge cake soaked with lemon syrup drizzled with a light glaze – perfect with a cup of tea and only 4 SmartPoints on WW!
You will also love my Slimming Cheesecake
The one thing I miss while following Slimming World is, of course, cake. And I don’t just miss EATING cake – as an avid baker I also miss the baking aspect. Measuring the ingredients, whisking eggs and folding in flour has a great calming effect.
I have made a few extravagant cakes in the past six months while on Slimming World and they always make me slip, a little bit. After all you HAVE to sample the buttercream and taste the sponge for quality control, am I right 😉
This Lemon Drizzle Cake satisfies my desire to bake but doesn’t ruin all my good intentions. A slice is only 4 syns and great for sharing if you have company. Unlike some Slimming World cakes this isn’t made mostly with eggs and sweetener.
I have made those cakes which contain many whisked eggs and very little flour and I am not a fan! They tend to be very eggy in flavour with a sort of soggy collapsed souffle texture. Sorry not for me…
Low Calorie Cakes – the good (& not so good news)
This Lemon Cake is a proper old-fashioned whisked sponge cake, a classic baking recipe that relies separated eggs for lightness and airy texture but contains no fat. A slice of this Slimming World Cake is only 4 syns or around 130 calories if divided into eight.
A low calorie lemon cake will never be the same as a classic Lemon Drizzle Cake. Most cakes rely on fat and sugar to create a moist buttery texture. If you take the fat out then the cake WILL be drier in texture.
To compensate I have added a light lemon syrup which soaks into the cake and a lemon glaze to prettify it! Even so the cake is best consumed in one sitting so plan accordingly – perfect for sharing with afternoon tea if you have people over.
Slimming World Lemon Drizzle Cake Ingredients
Here’s what you will need to bake this lemon cake. Some ingredients are non-negotiable to create the texture and taste AND keep the syns low. As you will see below the whole cake is a total of 30-32 syns which translates as 4 per slice if divided into 8 slices.
- Self raising (also called self rising) flour which is 4 syns per 25g. The recipe uses 150g so 24 syns overall.
- 6 eggs, separated (free)
- Lemon juice and zest (free)
- Sukrin 1 sweetener (affiliate link). See more below!
- The glaze is optional – make it with Sukrin Icing (affiliate link) for 1-2 additional syns or leave it out.
Which sweetener should I use for baking?
I didn’t use to bake with sweeteners, but now that I am making more Slimming World desserts I have a clear favourite and that’s Sukrin. They have granulated, gold and icing sugar versions which makes it ideal for low calorie baking.
Sukrin is a granulated sweetener with zero calories suitable for diabetics and those on a low-carb diet. It can be used in the same way as sugar (1:1 ratio) which is great for baking recipes.
One tablespoon of Sukrin is .5 syns on and the recipe contains about 16 tablespoons so 8 syns overall. I often add a tablespoon of Sukrin in my savoury recipes as well.
If you are replacing Sukrin with another granulated sweetener you might get different results – always opt for a sweetener which can replace sugar at the same ratio, eg. Canderel Sugarly.
Lemon Drizzle Cake Tips
This is a very basic cake recipe but even so there’s a few expert tips to get it just right. Take a look at the recipe video and read through the recipe and tips before baking.
- Separating the eggs: cold eggs are easier to separate but they should be brought to room temperature before using in the recipe. Make sure none of the egg yolk gets into your egg whites otherwise they won’t whisk successfully – see also How to Make the Perfect Pavlova.
- Your mixing bowl and whisk should be spotlessly clean and free of grease otherwise the eggs will not froth up.
- You have to use a stand or hand mixer for this whisked sponge. A stand mixer is better if you have one.
- When making a separated eggs cake you are adding air by first whisking the egg yolks and sugar (here sweetener) until light and doubled in volume. Even more air is incorporated by gently folding in the whisked egg whites. Make sure the batter is evenly mixed or the cake will be dense.
- Add the lemon zest with the egg yolks and sugar for maximum flavour – I forgot to to that in the video and added later – oops!
- Use new flour – self raising flour is enriched with raising agents, as the name suggests, and will not work if past its best.
HOW TO MAKE A Slimming World Lemon Drizzle Cake STEP BY STEP
STEP 1. Preheat the oven to 180C (350F). Line the bottom of an 8inch (20cm) cake with greaseproof paper and lightly spray with cake release.
STEP 2. Separate the eggs and put the egg whites into the bowl of your stand mixer. Add a pinch of salt and whisk on low speed until frothy. Increase the speed to medium high and continue whisking until you have firm peaks. Transfer to a clean bowl.
STEP 3. Add the egg yolks, sweetener and lemon zest to the mixing bowl (no need to clean) and whisk on high speed for 3-5 minutes until lightened almost double in volume.
STEP 4. Sieve half the flour and baking soda into the bowl and fold it in.
STEP 5. Add half the egg whites and fold in then add remaining flour and mix in.
STEP 6. Add the remaining egg whites and lightly fold them, scraping the bottom and sides of your bowl with a spatula so the batter is evenly mixed.
STEP 7. Transfer to the prepared cake tin and bake for 35 minutes until cake is risen and firm. Cool in the tin for 10 minutes.
STEP 8. Prepare the lemon syrup: put the juice and sweetener into a small saucepan and heat gently, stirring until sweetener has dissolved.
STEP 9. Prick the cake with a skewer a few times and pour in the syrup. Allow for the syrup to absorb then turn out the cake onto a plate or stand. The cake might sink a little at this point, this is normal.
STEP 10. Mix the Sukrin icing sugar with enough lemon juice so that it creates a glaze that slowly drips off a spoon. Drizzle over the cake then slice, decorate with lemon zest strips and serve immediately.
LOOKING FOR MORE SLIMMING WORLD RECIPES?
Browse all my delicious syn-free or low-syn recipes HERE.
DID YOU MAKE MY Slimming World LEMON DRIZZLE CAKE? I’D LOVE TO SEE IT!
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Slimming World Lemon Drizzle Cake
Ingredients
- 6 large eggs , separated
- Pinch salt
- 150 g | 5.3 oz self raising flour
- 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
- 150 g | 5.3 oz Sukrin 1 sweetener
- 1 tbsp Lemon juice
- 2 lemons , zest only
Lemon syrup
- 2 lemons juice only
- 2 tbsp Sukrin 1 sweetener or Splenda
For the glaze (optional = add 2 extra syns if using)
- 4 tbsp Sukrin Icing (or icing sugar)
- Lemon juice , as needed
- Lemon zest to decorate cake
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180C (350F). Line the bottom of an 8inch (20cm) cake with greaseproof paper and lightly spray with cake release.
- Separate the eggs and put the egg whites into the bowl of your stand mixer. Add a pinch of salt and whisk on low speed until frothy. Increase the speed to medium high and continue whisking until you have firm peaks. Transfer to a clean bowl.
- Add the egg yolks, sweetener and lemon juice and zest to the mixing bowl (no need to clean) and whisk on high speed for 3-5 minutes until lightened almost double in volume.
- Sieve half the flour and bicarbonate of soda into the bowl and fold it in.
- Add half the egg whites and fold in then add remaining flour and mix in.
- Add the remaining egg whites and lightly fold them, scraping the bottom and sides of your bowl with a spatula so the batter is evenly mixed. Try to retain as much of the volume of the egg whites as possible.
- Transfer to the prepared cake tin and bake for 35 minutes until cake is risen and firm. Cool in the tin for 10 minutes.
- Prepare the lemon syrup: put the juice and sweetener into a small saucepan and heat gently, stirring, until sweetener has dissolved.
- Prick the cake with a skewer a few times and pour in the syrup. Allow for the syrup to absorb then turn out the cake onto a plate or stand. The cake might sink a little at this point, this is normal.
- Mix the Sukrin icing sugar with enough lemon juice so that it creates a glaze that slowly drips off a spoon. Drizzle over the cake, decorate with lemon zest then slice and serve immediately.
Video
Notes
- Separating the eggs: cold eggs are easier to separate but they should be brought to room temperature before using in the recipe. Make sure none of the egg yolk gets into your egg whites otherwise they won’t whisk successfully.
- Make sure that your mixing bowl and whisk are spotlessly clean and free of grease otherwise the eggs will not froth up.
- You have to use a stand or hand mixer for this whisked sponge. A stand mixer is better if you have one.
- When making a separated eggs cake you are adding air by first whisking the egg yolks and sugar (here sweetener) until light and doubled in volume. Even more air is incorporated by gently folding in the whisked egg whites.
- Add the lemon zest with the egg yolks and sugar for maximum flavour – I forgot to to that in the video and added later - oops!
- Make sure that your flour is fresh – self raising flour is enriched with raising agents, as the name suggests, and will not work if past its best.
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