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My mother was always a baker first, cook second—and that meant, growing up, we always had a variety of breads, cake and other baked goodies to enjoy. She too was always on the lookout for new cake or cupcake recipes, and that’s how the simple but zesty lemon cake became our household favourite. While the exact origin of the lemon cake is unknown, it was probably first created in England. Experts believe that the lemon cake is derived from the English pound cake of the 1700s, which is a simple cake that can feed a large number of people.
This crowd-pleasing capacity of lemon cake is the main reason why my mother picked it up. She found a lemon cake recipe that utilised every bit of the lemon, the zest as well as the juice. Being a fan of ‘waste not, want not’ as a rule of thumb, my mother took to this version of lemon cake with such passion that it became our mainstay during summer months. She would not only bake lemon cake with a simple lemony icing, but also tried making lemon cake with Gondhoraj lemons!
When I started baking at my own home, lemon cakes were an obvious choice. When properly made, a lemon cake is light, making it the perfect summer treat. The sour flavour of the lemons makes the lemon cake the perfect blend of sweet and tangy flavours. Add the zest of the same lemon to the recipe, and you not only have a no-waste, sustainable recipe, but also one with more nuanced recipe—this is the lemon cake for the future, for sure. If you want to try this lemony, zesty, sweet and perfect lemon cake at home this summer season, look no further. Here’s the recipe for you to try.
Ingredients:
1.5 cups refined flour
½ cup unsalted butter
1 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
2 tbsp lemon juice
1 tbsp lemon zest
½ tsp vanilla extract
1.5 tsp baking powder
For the lemon icing
1 cup icing sugar
1.5 tsp lemon juice
1 tbsp milk
Method:
1. Preheat your oven to 180 degrees.
2. In a large mixing bowl, sift together the refined flour, baking powder and add the lemon zest. Mix well.
3. Place the unsalted butter in a stand mixer or food processor with a whisk setting. Whisk the butter and gradually add in the sugar.
4. Now add the eggs one by one, then add the lemon juice and vanilla extract.
5. Gradually add in the flour mix to get a thick lemon cake batter. Don’t over-whisk the cake batter.
6. Transfer the lemon cake batter into a lined cake tin (of any shape).
7. Bake the cake at 180 degrees for 30 minutes. Insert a skewer to check if the cake is done.
8. Remove the lemon cake from the oven, transfer it to a cooling rack, then let it cool down completely.
9. To make the icing, mix together the icing sugar, lemon juice and milk together to get a thick icing. If the icing is too thick, you can add a dash of milk to make it thinner.
10. Once the lemon cake is cooled down completely, drizzle the lemon icing on top and serve the lemon cake slices with black or lemon tea.
