Sweet, moist and utterly luscious, delicious syrup cakes are perfect for any occasion. Accompany your morning cuppa with a generous slice of one of our lemon syrup cakes or serve up our honey muscat syrup cake for a show-stopping centrepiece after dinner. Here you’ll also find gluten-free recipes for those with allergies as well as an orange, fennel and pine nut cake for a flavour-packed, but not-too-sweet dessert. Let’s get baking!
Looking for more butter cake and tea cake recipes?
Lemon drizzle cake
This lemon cake is zingy, bright and oh-so tasty.
Citrus syrup bundt cake
This versatile bundt cake will become your new afternoon tea favourite.
Julie Goodwin’s orange almond cake
This syrup cake is a special treat for citrus lovers.
Orange drizzle cake
Got people to impress? This is the cake for you.
Rose and almond syrup cake
This light-textured Middle-Eastern inspired syrup cake can also be baked in a round cake pan.
Whole orange semolina cake with rosemary syrup
Fragrant and delicious.
Gluten-free raspberry and lemon syrup cake
This one will delight the senses.
Passionfruit and lemon syrup cake
Sweet, moist and utterly luscious.
Lemon and zucchini polenta cake
A nonna’s favourite made healthier with the addition of zucchini – and it’s gluten-free to boot!
Pomegranate syrup cake
Delightfully rich and sweet.
Honey muscat syrup cake
Drizzled with a creamy yoghurt topping and sticky orange syrup, this honey muscat syrup cake is simply irresistible! Enjoy a little slice of heaven with your morning cuppa.
Orange buttermilk syrup cake
We’ve also tested this recipe with a reduced-fat dairy spread which works well. If you don’t have buttermilk, you can combine 2 teaspoons lemon juice with ½ cup (125ml) reduced-fat milk. Note
Citrus syrup cake
Delight your family and friends with this rich, juicy citrus cake. The delightfully dense dessert goes superbly with a drizzling of zesty syrup that soaks into the cake.
Greek yoghurt lemon cake with lemon syrup
When you have extra lemons, freeze juice in ice-cube trays for later use. You’ll need about 4 lemons. Note
Apple “cake” with vanilla syrup
This “cake” is both fat free and gluten free. A V-slicer or mandoline will make short work of slicing the apples thinly. Note
Gluten-free orange syrup cake
Enjoy it on its own or with a little whipped cream.
Orange syrup cakes
Rich, moist little orange cakes are finished beautifully with a drizzle of hot orange syrup.
Little makrut lime syrup cakes
The unique and aromatic flavour of makrut lime leaves is more well known in Asian style curries, but used here in these sweet lime syrup cakes, it is really quite amazing.
Lime coconut syrup cake
Drizzled in a hot lime syrup, this moist cake makes an excellent dessert served with cream and raspberries.
Blood orange syrup cakes with orange cream
These gorgeous treats are sweet to look at and especially sweet to eat.
Cherry syrup cake
A classic tea cake topped with fresh cherries and cherry syrup, this dish makes a delectable, finger-licking afternoon tea treat. Use a mix of red and white cherries if both are in season
Chocolate orange polenta cake
Moist, dense and dripping with syrup, this chocolate orange polenta cake is a very grown-up way to recapture a childhood love for jaffa cakes.
Mocha syrup cake
This rich mocha cake with coffee syrup is pudding-like, darkly sweet and entirely satisfying.
Chocolate cinnamon cake with cherry and red wine syrup
This cake will keep in an airtight container at room temperature for 2 days, in the fridge for 1 week, or in the freezer for 2 months. Note
Pistachio and polenta cake with blood orange syrup
Blood oranges are in season for all too short a time in winter. They have red-streaked, salmony-coloured flesh with a sweet, non-acidic pulp and juice with a slight berry taste; even the skin is not as bitter as other citrus. Note
Orange, fennel and pine nut cake with orange sinrose mary syrup
The combination of sweet orange cake and fragrant fennel works perfectly together to create a flavour-packed dessert, perfect for people who don’t have a massive sweet-tooth.
Saffron honey syrup cakes
Beautiful bite-size cakes with succulent syrup and subtle saffron flavour.
Passionfruit cake with orange blossom and mint tea syrup
For this recipe you will need about 12 passionfruit to make 80ml of pulp. This type of cake is best made on day of serving. Note
Lemon and earl grey chiffon syrup cake
Variation; for an orange blossom and mint tea syrup cake, omit the french earl grey tea in the cake and instead add 1 tablespoon orange blossom water with the lemon juice in step 3. Omit the earl grey syrup and instead make ‘orange blossom and mint tea syrup’. Serve the cake drizzled with syrup. Note