Lemon Cake

Lemon cake is high up in my top 5 things I love to have as a teatime treat. So easy to put together, this lemon cake recipe calls for simple ingredients you most probably have sitting in your pantry. Plus, it's delicious. This lemon pound cake is heavenly: it's moist, airy, super tasty and the perfect balance of acid and sweet. And to make it even more perfect you can cover it with lemon glaze.

How to prepare this easy lemon cake

Lemon cake is easy to put together with simple everyday ingredients you probably have at home. I suggest 3 or 4 tips to obtain a super moist and airy lemon pound cake. It's heavenly.

You basically need to add on ingredients in a certain order to your mixer (which should always be turning), following some practical advice.

Some tips to make you lemon cake super moist and airy

First off you should cream the eggs and sugar: it takes about 10 minutes. You should mix until the eggs and sugar have grown in volume, changed its color to a pale yellow and change its texture.

I use an electric mixer, but you can also do this by hand. It will take a little longer. Patience. This is the first key to success.

The second secret is related to whipping cream. I have discovered that if you add the cream once it already been whipped to the batter you end up with a moister lemon cake. If you don't feel like doing this extra step, no big deal. You can always add the cream to the egg/sugar mixture before they have reached that pale-yellow color and mix for 8 extra minutes. If you can, the effort pays off.

And finally, the third super key to super moist lemon cake is butter related, obviously. You should add melted butter, slightly warm but not hot. And to make things even better, let your lemon cake batter rest in the mold for an hour before baking.

A word on the lemon zest to make you lemon cake taste extra lemony

Lemon zest or peel should be added to the batter freshly grated. This way it won't dry up and lose all its flavor. You can keep your lemon zest fresh either by grating it directly over the batter when it needs to be incorporated. Or you can grate it when you prepare and weight all the other ingredients for the lemon cake. In this case, grate over parchment paper and then wrap the lemon zest with it. I prefer to have everything ready before I start baking. I choose the latter option. Always.

Baking the lemon cake

Whenever I mention baking/cooking times in this blog, it's an approximation. Don't forget. So the 45 minute baking time for this easy lemon cake is to be taken with care. The baking time will be determined by the oven you have and by the size of the mold you chose to bake your lemon pound cake in.

So, if you decide to bake mini lemon cakes, baking time will be shorter. The important thing to take into consideration: the cake is ready if golden and set.

When you think your cake is ready, insert a skewer at the center. If it comes out clean, then your lemon cake is ready. If it has crumb stuck to it, it needs to go back in the oven.

Finally, don't open the oven during the first stages of baking this lemon cake. Your cake will end up with a crater at the center. To test with the skewer, wait at least until it has risen properly and it's golden.

About the lemon cake glaze

You'll notice that powdered sugar absorbs a lot of liquid. So maybe you might have to adjust quantities. I suggest you add in the lemon juice to the powdered sugar slowly. The amount of lemon juice you will use, will depend on the glaze consistency you are looking for. If you like it real dense then you won't be adding all the juice. I sometimes like it on the liquid side, which will give a nice effect on the cake, I use a little more juice in this case. Make the glaze however YOU like it best!