Lemon Cakes
This is my all time favorite lemon cake!!! It takes a bit of time to make but it is well worth the effort. I usually make my husband help me with this recipe…he was he zester and juicer while I did the rest. Fortunately for him, I got an electric juicer so the job is not all that difficult anymore. This cake has three different steps so it seems like a lot of work but once you get the hang of it it isn’t so bad. Use only fresh lemon juice and zest for this recipe.
½ pound of unsalted butter at room temperature
2 ½ cups of sugar
4 large eggs at room temperature
1/3 cup of lemon zest (about 6 to 8 8) I cant get rid of the smiley face…hmm?
3 cups of flour
½ tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. kosher salt
¾ cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
¾ cup of buttermilk, at room temperature
1 tsp. vanilla
Simple syrup:
½ cup sugar and ½ cup lemon juice.
For the glaze:
2 cup confectioner sugar
3 ½ tsp. freshly squeezed lemon juice
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Meanwhile, grease two loaf pans with butter and flour them. I cut a piece of parchment paper and place it on top of the greased/floured surface just for a little extra help.
Cream butter and two cups of sugar in a bowl with electric mixer, beat until mixture is light and fluffy: I recommend about 5 minutes. While the mixture is on low speed, gradually add the eggs one at a time and the lemon zest. My mixer has a habit of collecting the zest on the paddle so I am constantly cleaning off the paddles to make sure the lemon zest is well incorporated into the batter.
Sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt into a bowl. In a smaller bowl, combine the butter -milk, ¼ cup of lemon juice and vanilla.
Add the flour and buttermilk mixture to the egg mixture in an alternate pattern, beginning and ending with the flour mixture. Beat until this is well combined. Divide the mixture into the two pans and bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour or until the cake tester inserted into the middle comes out clean.
Once the cakes are done, let them cool for about 10 minutes before you take them out of the cake pan. While the cakes are cooling, go ahead and make the simple syrup. Turn the cake out onto a cooling rack and lightly pierce the bottoms of the cake with a fork and spoon the simple syrup over the bottom of the warm cakes and let set. Overnight would be great but not necessary.
Before serving, make the glaze with the confectioners’ sugar and lemon juice. Drizzle over cakes and serve.
