The days of lemon drizzle and lemon poppy seed cakes are officially over, according to a private chef. Alps-based chef Andrew Richardson declared that this cake has “had its moment” in a recent TikTok video, and that we should be making its tropical ‘sexy’ cousin: the pineapple and poppy seed loaf cake.

I’m inclined to agree with Andrew — lemon drizzle is quite dull. As the cake isn’t complicated to make, you really need the flavours to be the focal point of the bake. Lemon and poppy seed is, in all honesty, a safe and uninspiring combo. It might be suitable for your nan, but not for sharing with the gals this summer.

Tropical screams ‘SUMMER!’ to me — and I’d like nothing more than to be lost somewhere on a Caribbean island, cocktail in hand — so it’s only right to infuse cake with the flavours of the beach.

This recipe utilises tinned pineapple, a great way to get around seasonal harvests of fruit. There’s a bit of a stigma attached to tinned food, but honestly, it’s just as good as using fresh, especially when you’re buying it out of season.

Andrew’s recipe is incredibly simple to follow. All you need are wet and dry ingredients, mixed together, and there you have it. You’ll notice that butter is absent from the recipe, but with the addition of oil and yoghurt, there’s no risk of it being dry.

I was slightly worried that my batter was too runny, but I have to trust the process. While Andrew used a metal loaf tin, I only have a silicone one.

I actually prefer silicone cake tins for something like a sponge cake, but metal products are great for helping cakes bake and keep their shape. So if you want a more defined loaf cake, a metal tin is your best option.

When using my silicone mould, the baked cake slightly stretches the sides, meaning the cake expands in size. Chunky loaves for the win.

After an hour, the middle of my cake was still underbaked, so I continued to bake in five-minute intervals to ensure no liquid was left in the centre. This is probably due to the low oven temperature. It probably took an extra 15 minutes before I was happy.

For the topping, instead of a runny icing made with water, Andrew suggests making it with any leftover pineapple juice. To spruce it up a little, I added some leftover yellow gel food colouring, making the loaf cake radiate like the sun.

The cake slices like butter, with enough moisture to create a pillowy feel to the sponge without it becoming bone-dry. As I chopped the pineapple small enough, thankfully, it hadn’t sunk to the bottom and resulted in the infamous ‘soggy bottom’.

Pineapple is also a great alternative to lemon. Its combination of sharp citrus and sweetness creates a subtle fruity flavour. Sometimes, lemon can be all-consuming in both the mouth and nostrils, so pineapple offers something much gentler in terms of sharpness.

But don’t think that adding pineapple juice to the icing will overload the pineapple-ness of it all. In fact, the juice adds some balance to the very sweet icing sugar. The blend of fruit with icing works in harmony with the other, with neither being overwhelming to the taste buds.

You could probably go even further and add coconut to the mix for a pina colada-inspired bake. You could also jazz it up with other fruit like mangoes or oranges. Just ensure they’re semi-dried before adding them to the batter.

Andrew is certainly correct, you’ll never need a lemon drizzle cake again after trying this.

Pineapple & Poppy Seed Drizzle Loaf

Ingredients

• 200g tinned pineapple, chopped
• 200g caster sugar
• 100ml flavourless oil
• 150g plain yoghurt
• Three eggs
• 200g plain flour
• Two tsp baking powder
• Two tbsp poppy seeds
• One tsp vanilla extract
• One tbsp pineapple juice
• Pinch of salt

Method

Grease and line a two-pound loaf tin with baking paper. Add the eggs and vanilla extract to a large mixing bowl, as well as the oil and yoghurt.

Chop the tinned pineapple and add it to the bowl, along with a tablespoon of the pineapple juice. In a separate bowl, add the caster sugar, plain flour, poppy seeds, salt, and baking powder, then whisk together.

Whisk your wet ingredients before folding in the dry ingredients. Fold until just combined.

Pour the batter into the lined loaf tin. Bake in the oven at 160℃ (fan) for one hour. Once cooked, carefully remove the loaf from the tin and leave to cool on a wire rack.

Once cooled, make the icing. Place the icing sugar into a bowl and add the leftover pineapple juice, teaspoon by teaspoon.

Make the icing quite thick. Drizzle the icing over the top of the loaf.

Scatter some more poppy seeds over the top of the cake, and follow with some lemon zest. Serve and enjoy!