Desserts · By Sharon
Luscious-Lemon Bundt Cake
The tartness of lemon juice glazing with lemon-rind infused sugar provide a delightful freshness. This recipe, when I made it the first time, was declared by Gerd to be: "The best cake I have ever tasted!" Because it is a dense cake, it could be modified to become a rum cake like Pat Mueller used to make — by leaving out the lemon rind in the batter and infusing the cake, after baking, with rum. Truly a cake for the creative imagination!
Ingredients
Cake
- ¾ cup granulated sugar
- Rind of one large lemon (or 2 small)
- 1 large egg
- 1 cup buttermilk
- A little less than ½ cup oil
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1 tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp salt
- 1¼ cups unbleached flour
Glaze
- ½ cup icing sugar
- 4 tbsp lemon juice (some of the juice may be substituted with limoncello liqueur)
Icing
- 10 tbsp icing sugar
- 2 tbsp freshly-squeezed lemon juice (strain out pulp)
- Top garnish on icing — grate lemon rind directly onto icing
Method
- 1
Preheat oven to 350°F (convection) (375°F conventional).
- 2
Rub the granulated sugar and grated lemon rind together between your warm hands to release the lemon oil and infuse the sugar with it.
- 3
Add the egg and beat mixture until it thickens slightly — best to use the whisk attachment on the KitchenAid for this step and the whole recipe, rather than the paddle attachment.
- 4
Add the other wet ingredients: buttermilk, oil, and vanilla extract. Mix together thoroughly.
- 5
Add the dry ingredients: baking powder, baking soda, salt, and flour. Mix together thoroughly.
- 6
Pour mixture into a well-greased Bundt baking pan, and bake at 350°F for 5 minutes.
- 7
Turn down oven heat to 325°F and continue to bake for another 15 minutes. Start checking doneness at about the 12 minute mark. When toothpick comes out clean, it's ready. Cool for 10 minutes, then place a wire cooling rack over the cake, and invert it to release the cake.
- 8
Mix together the 4 tbsp lemon juice with icing sugar until smooth. Brush this glaze onto the baked cake with a silicone pastry brush — do it slowly to allow the glaze to penetrate. Cool cake completely before the next icing step.
- 9
Mix the icing — put in the lemon juice and then add icing sugar, one tablespoon at a time, mixing constantly (consistency is important — you want it very smooth and slightly runny, but not too runny). Carefully drizzle it on top of the cake, and coax it into the side-valleys of the Bundt cake — the goal is for it to ooze down a bit but not run down to the bottom. Sprinkle top of icing with grated lemon rind.
A note from Sharon
The cake will be equally wonderful the next day, should any leftovers survive (2nds and 3rds are not uncommon with this one). Idea: I haven't yet done this, but I think it could be nicely made with gluten-free flour.
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