Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Tuesdays With Dorie: Lemon Loaf Cake


Our latest excursion into Baking With Julia is Lemon Loaf Cake. I will say up front that I have not tasted this cake yet, so I don't know if it's actually good. All signs, however, indicate that I at least have made something edible.

This loaf is sort of like a pound cake, only prepared sort of like a genoise. (I do have to ask: Seriously? 5-1/2 tablespoons of butter? Good grief. I normally embrace the decimal, but not when it leaves me with a weird amount of a stick of butter.) Three lemons' worth of zest gave the batter a nice, citrusy aroma. I juiced the lemons and made an easy brush-on glaze with the juice and some granulated sugar. Rather than heat the glaze to dissolve the sugar, I left it granular, thinking that it will give the exterior of the cake a sweet, crunchy texture. Also, could a little extra boost of lemon flavor possibly hurt?

I'm looking forward to trying this cake. When I was a kid, I felt ripped off if my mom made a pound cake or Bundt cake because -- hello -- no frosting! Now, I love the flavor of a simple pound cake or Bundt cake, glazed or not. I think this realization may have happened while I was exploring Lisa Yockelson's Baking by Flavor, and it certainly came to its full expression while I baked my way through Lauren Chattman's Cake Keeper Cakes and have begun to explore Simple Cakes. I'm thinking that Lemon Loaf Cake will make for a nice dessert tomorrow after lunch.

3 comments:

Flourchild said...

I hope you enjoyed the cake! My family and I sure did!

Cher Rockwell said...

Yeah, I totally rounded up to 6 Tbs. I figured enough would get left in the pot I heated it up in to even things out :-) 5 1/2 was a bit odd, although I am sure it has to do with a conversion of some kind.

Julia said...

The granulated sugar coating sounds excellent.