This is a lovely lemon cake, topped with a simple but perfect icing. Similar, in some respects, to a pound cake, but with a lighter texture.
The wonderful thing about this cake is that is tastes so good, but it is also very easy to make. Indeed it doesn’t take long to mix the various ingredients. Baking doesn’t take too long either. In fact just 40 minutes, or so.
Once baked the cake can be cooled and eaten as is. Or, as I did, it can be iced with the most simple of icings. Alternatively a thinner icing or syrup can be brushed over the warm cake to soak.
However you decide you should definitely try this cake as it is just about the easiest you can make.
I used an 8 inch/20cm square cake tin for my cake. But a 9 inch/23cm round tin will work just as well. So the choice is yours.
I like the square tin simply because I like to cut the cake into about 2 inch squares, for a decent but not too large serving.
The butter is cream with the sugar along with a good amount of lemon zest. It needs to be light and fluffy to create a soft and light cake. That mixture is then combined with eggs, vanilla, flour, baking powder, salt and lemon juice to make the batter.
Once it has been placed into the cake tin and levelled over the base it is baked for between 35 and 45 minutes.
The cake is then removed from the oven and allowed to cool in the tin for 15 minutes before being transferred to a wire rack.
Once the cake is fully cooled it can be covered with the simple lemon icing.
My Cake
I mixed my batter, being careful not to overmix the flour. Then I placed it into a parchment lined cake tin. I baked the cake for 40 minutes, testing it with a skewer to ensure it was fully baked.
It baked well, with a couple of small cracks on the top. I allowed it to cool completely before mixing icing sugar and lemon juice to make the icing. I made the icing just thick enough to spread easily but not so that it would run down the sides of the cake.
Once the icing had set up a little on the cake I cut some squares, about 2 x 2 inches and sampled one.
The texture was just perfect and the taste was wonderful. The sharpness but also the sweetness of the icing was prominent along with the lovely soft texture. I also tasted just the cake, without icing, to be sure that the lemon flavour came through with that too.
This is just such an easy cake to make, and a packs a big flavour punch too.
Another easy recipe is Easy Rich Chocolate Cake.
Easiest Iced Lemon Cake
Course: CakesDifficulty: Easy16
servings15
minutes40
minutesIngredients
250g(1 2/3 cups, based on scooping packed flour into a 250ml cup) plain flour
227g(2 sticks) softened unsalted butter
200g(1 cup) caster sugar
4 medium eggs(large in USA)
60ml(1/4 cup) lemon juice
grated zest from 2 lemons
8g(2 tsp) baking powder
1.5g(1/4 tsp) salt
5ml(1 tsp) vanilla extract
- Icing
120g(1 cup) icing sugar
up to 45 ml(3 tbsp) lemon juice – you may not need it all
Directions
- Preheat the oven to 180C/160C Fan/350F.
- Grease an 8 inch/20 cm cake pan and line it with parchment paper.
- Place the zest into the sugar and briefly rub it in, using your fingers to start to release the lemon oil from the zest.
- Place the sugar and zest into a large bowl together with the softened butter and cream it together until it is light and fluffy. I used a hand mixer and it took a couple of minutes.
- Add the eggs, one at a time, and whisk to combine each time.
- The vanilla extract can be added along with the eggs, and whisked in.
- Mix the baking powder and salt into the flour.
- Add the flour, in three separate additions, into the wet mixture, mixing slowly to combine.
- Between each addition of flour add 1/2 the lemon juice(so two additions of juice) and mix to combine.
- After the last one third of the flour has been incorporate scrape down the bowl and transfer the batter to the cake pan.
- Spread the batter over the base of the pan and level it off.
- Bake the cake for 35 to 45 minutes, until the cake has risen and browned lightly on the top, and a skewer poked into the centre comes out clean.
- Allow the cake to cool in the pan for 15 minutes, then transfer it to a wire rack to cool completely.
- Pour about 1 1/2 tbsp of lemon juice into the icing sugar and stir it until a thick icing starts to form.
- Add more lemon juice, a little at a time, to get the icing to the consistency you want. I made mine with less than 2 tbsp of juice.
- Spread the icing over the cake and then leave it to set for at least a few minutes. The longer you leave it the more set it will become. Then cut the cake into squares and serve it.