My grandparents would travel to visit us from sunny, southern California. When we were lucky, they would bring a brown paper sack full of fresh lemons straight from the lemon tree in their backyard. And if we were really lucky, Grandma would make some lemon meringue pies…with one stipulation, Milt had to squeeze the lemons. Milt was my grandfather, and he would come through for us!
To this day, I still treasure the fragrance of fresh lemons. I’m even willing to squeeze them myself to make Lemon Meringue Pie, Lemon Bars and this month’s recipe…Lemon Cake.
I once made this cake for Tom’s grandma. She took Tom aside and said, “Now THAT’S a cake!”
Hope you’ll try this wonderful way to enjoy the mouth-watering goodness of fresh lemons.
Cake:
- 2 cups and 2 Tbsp all purpose, unbleached flour
- 1 ½ cup sugar
- 3 ½ tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp salt
- ½ cup butter, softened
- 1 cup milk, room temperature
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 3 eggs, room temperature
Lemon Glaze:
- 1 ½ cups powdered sugar
- Zest and juice from 2 large lemons, or 3-4 small lemons
- Sift together flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Add butter, milk, vanilla and beat with a mixer until fluffy, for about two minutes. Add the eggs and continue beating for 2 more minutes.
- Pour into a greased 9×13 pan. Bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes or until inserted toothpick comes out clean.
- While the cake is baking, prepare the glaze. Whisk together the powdered sugar and lemon juice.
- While still warm, gently pierce the cake all over with a fork. Pour the glaze slowly and evenly over the cake, allowing it to seep into the holes.
- Want show stopper servings? Dollop with whipped cream and a fresh strawberry or raspberry.
