Lemon Cake With Crackly Lemon Sugar Topping
adapted from Diana Henry’s Sugar-Crusted Lemon Loaf Cake in Plenty
Yield: I loaf cake
Baking time: approximately 45 minutes
for the cake
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour, sifted
3 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
pinch salt
9 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, diced
2/3 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs, beaten
2 unwaxed lemons, ideally organic, Meyer if possible, first zested, then juiced into the same bowl (see notes on handling lemons)
1/3 cup water (see notes)
for topping
juice of two lemons
1/2 cup superfine sugar or regular sugar, ground finely in a spice grinder, mini-processor, or food processor.
Preheat oven to 350F. Butter a 9×5 inch loaf pan and line with wax paper by tearing off a sheet and fitting into the pan. It won’t burn while baking.
Sift flour either using sifter or by placing a small strainer over a measuring cup. I use a 2 cup measuring cup and spoon the flour into the strainer, then shake, gently and carefully, until I reach 1 3/4 cups. It takes a few minutes, but it works. Add the baking powder through the strainer into the measuring cup.
Pour into a mixing bowl. Add pinch salt.
Rub butter into flour with your fingers until it looks like bread crumbs. For this step, take care to dice butter into small pieces.
Add sugar, eggs, lemon juice and zest.
Stir to incorporate. Do not overmix. You should have a fairly loose batter. If your batter is very dry, add a little water until it loosens up, up to 1/3 cup. I once baked this with a batter so dry that I lifted it out of the bowl by hand. The cake came out fine.
Normally you’ll find this more like a muffin batter: it should blend in a few strokes. Using a spatula, scrape into the loaf pan.
Bake 45-55 minutes, until a tester comes out clean.
While the cake bakes, make the topping.
Juice two lemons into a small bowl.
If you don’t have superfine sugar, place 1/2 cup sugar in small food processor, regular food processor, or spice grinder. Pulse briefly.
Add sugar to bowl of lemon juice. Combine with a fork.
When cake is done, place on cooling rack. Allow to cool for ten minutes. Then prick all over with skewer or fork. Slowly pour the topping over the cake. It will run down the sides and pool slightly in the corners. That’s okay. Allow to cool completely before slicing.
I find it’s less mess to keep the cake in the pan, covered with foil–you lose less topping that way. Cake keeps at room temperature up to 5 days, reviving nicely with a little heating. Wrapped well, it freezes beautifully.
Note about lemons: if you cannot find unwaxed lemons, scrub them well with very warm soapy water. This should get the wax off. Dry thoroughly. Zest before juicing. If you don’t own a zester or Microplane, use a vegetable peeler and mince finely.