Lemon Pound Cake with Lemon Drizzle
Inspired by techniques from Serious Eats and NYT Cooking.
This follows the classic pound cake method, with lemon zest rubbed into the sugar, a lemon syrup soaked into the warm cake and a tangy lemon glaze over the top.
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Method
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Equipment
- 900 g loaf tin (about 23 x 13 cm), greased and lined with a baking-paper sling
- stand mixer or electric hand whisk
- fine sieve
- wire rack
- skewer
- small saucepan
- pastry brush
Nutrition per serving (estimated values)
| Per serving | Amount |
|---|---|
| Energy | 423 kcal |
| Protein | 4.7 g |
| Carbohydrate | 56.1 g |
| of which sugars | 37.9 g |
| of which free sugars | 37.5 g |
| Fat | 20.5 g |
| of which saturates | 12.3 g |
| Fibre | 0.5 g |
| Salt | 0.43 g |
Protein per 100 kcal
1.1 g High Protein needs ≥ 10 g
Calculated from USDA FoodData Central ingredient values
Metric · 10 servings
Cake
- 225 g unsalted butter, softened (about 18°C)
- 225 g caster sugar
- 3 g fine sea salt or table salt about ½ tsp
- 4 large eggs at room temperature
- 2 tsp vanilla
- 225 g cake flour (or plain flour; see note) plain flour works with a slightly firmer crumb
- ½ tsp baking powder
- 2 tbsp whole milk
- 2 unwaxed lemons, finely grated zest
Lemon syrup
- 60 ml lemon juice
- 50 g caster sugar
Glaze
- 100 g icing sugar
- 1½ tbsp lemon juice
- 1
Rub zest into the sugar. Rub the lemon zest into the sugar with your fingertips for a minute or so, until the sugar turns fragrant and slightly damp. This releases the oils from the zest right through the sugar, so the lemon flavour spreads evenly through the batter rather than sitting in a few flecks.
- 2
Heat the oven. Heat the oven to 165°C (145°C fan) for at least 20 minutes before baking, with a shelf set in the middle. The dense batter needs steady heat all the way through to bake evenly without a raw centre.
- 3
Bring everything to room temperature. Make sure the butter, eggs and milk are at room temperature before you start. Cold eggs added to creamed butter can curdle the mixture and trap less air, leaving the cake denser than it should be.
- 4
Cream the butter and lemon sugar. Beat the butter, lemon sugar and salt together for 4-5 minutes until pale and fluffy, scraping down the bowl halfway through. The air worked in now is what gives the finished cake its lift.
- 5
Beat in the eggs. Whisk together the eggs and vanilla, then incorporate this into the butter mixture gradually over 2-3 minutes, beating thoroughly after each addition. If the mixture starts to look curdled, beat in a spoonful of the flour to bring it back together.
- 6
Fold in the flour. Sift in the flour and baking powder and fold or mix on low speed just until no streaks remain, loosening with the milk to a soft dropping consistency. Stop as soon as it looks smooth, since overmixing toughens the crumb.
- 7
Fill the tin. Scrape the batter into the prepared tin, level it, and run a buttered knife down the centre in one line so the cake splits neatly along it as it rises.
- 8
Bake until golden. Bake for 60-70 minutes, until golden with a split top and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Cover loosely with foil if it browns too quickly after about 45 minutes.
- 9
Soak with lemon syrup. Warm the lemon juice and 50g of sugar together just until the sugar dissolves. While the cake is still hot in its tin, poke it all over with a skewer and brush the syrup on slowly, letting each layer soak in before adding more. Doing this while the cake is hot and full of open holes lets the syrup sink right through instead of sitting on the surface.
- 10
Cool, then glaze. Leave the cake in the tin for 30 minutes before lifting it out to cool completely on a rack. Whisk the icing sugar with the lemon juice to a thick but pourable glaze, drizzle it over the cooled cake, and leave to set for about 20 minutes — glazing it while still warm would simply melt the glaze away.
Storage
Because of the syrup and glaze, keep covered at room temperature for up to 3 days, or in the fridge for up to a week. Freeze the un-soaked, un-glazed sponge for up to 3 months if you'd rather add the syrup and glaze after thawing.
