Really and truly lemon cake

Have you ever had a lemon cake that smelled, looked and promised to be, but fell devastatingly short?  Being a fan of the lively cadmium citrus, I've been in search of a slice of cake that would make my taste buds sing and dance at the same time.  My hubby loves lemon cake so much that we chose to have our wedding cake flavored as such, which is a lot to say because he doesn't really care for citrus products at all. My son is known to eat lemons straight up, just slice it open and go to town on it.  So much so that my father in law planted a tree in his front yard that produces a bumper crop of semi-sweet fruit every season.  Just think copious amounts of plump, juicy orbs perfect for 50:50 lemon to sugar lemonade that'll cool you right off on the hottest of Summer days.  So it may come as no surprise that lemon cake is high on my list of "to perfect" (as in to craft until it's up to my standards) recipes.

  Thanks to Ina Garten of Food Network fame, I've discovered a wonderfully tart, dense but not too heavy and tender cake that is sure to please the most diehard lemon fanatic.  I prepared it as a poke cake since the glaze permeates the sponge and infuses the best lemon flavor that way and just for good measure, I used a canned butter cream frosting to carry over the heady citrus notes.  If you are a purist and you have all the time in the world, you can be my guest and make the frosting from scratch, too, but I err on the lazy side sometimes.  That and I'm in denial about how many sticks of butter it takes to make a good frosting, so there...  Try this out for your next birthday, tea party, simple snack or even wedding cake.  I promise, you won't be disappointed.

Adapted from Ina Garten's recipe for Lemon Yogurt Cake via www.foodnetwork.com 

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 6 ounces container vanilla yogurt *
• 2 ounces mayonnaise *
• 1 1/3 cups sugar, divided
• 3 large eggs***
• 2 teaspoons grated lemon zest (2 lemons)
• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1/3 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice

For the glaze *

• 1 cup confectioners' sugar
• 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice

*I used the rest of a can of lemon frosting left over from another cooking project, which suited this cake well as its uber-sweetness countered the tartness in the sponge.  Haven't tried the glaze, and will try it next time, but I would not reccommend doing both glaze and frosting.  Unless you have that big of a sweet tooth.  

* The original recipe asked for 1 cup of whole fat plain yogurt, but I only had a 6 ounce cup of low fat vanilla, so I made up the rest of the 8 ounces (1 cup) with mayonnaise.  I would dare to use up to 1/2 cup of mayo, but wonder if I can go even as far as to use a whole cup to match the fat content of the full fat yogurt.  All this if I wasn't being conscious of the calories and fat content of the cake in its entirety, of course. 

*** Again, this is what I had on hand.  The recipe actually asked for extra large eggs, which I'm sure would yield an even more tender crumb, but I think the cake came out fine with the large eggs.  Use what you've got, as long as the differences are minimal.  

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease an 8 1/2 by 4 1/4 by 2 1/2-inch loaf pan. Line the bottom with parchment paper. Grease and flour the pan.

Sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt into 1 bowl. In another bowl, whisk together the yogurt, 1 cup sugar, the eggs, lemon zest, and vanilla. Slowly whisk the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. With a rubber spatula, fold the vegetable oil into the batter, making sure it's all incorporated. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for about 50 minutes, or until a cake tester placed in the center of the loaf comes out clean.

Meanwhile, cook the 1/3 cup lemon juice and remaining 1/3 cup sugar in a small pan until the sugar dissolves and the mixture is clear. Set aside.

Remove cake from oven and perforate thoroughly with a long barbecue skewer.  Slowly pour lemon syrup over length of cake while it is still piping hot.  Make sure liquid is soaked into sponge before de-panning to a metal rack to cool for at least an hour before frosting

OR

When the cake is done, allow it to cool in the pan for 10 minutes. Carefully place on a baking rack over a sheet pan. While the cake is still warm, pour the lemon-sugar mixture over the cake and allow it to soak in. Cool.

For the glaze, combine the confectioners' sugar and lemon juice and pour over the cake.