Moist Lemon Cake
Pound cake with lemon zest, syrup soak, and white glaze, moist for days.
- Preparation
- 20 min
- Cook/bake time
- 55 min
- Total
- 1 hr 15 min
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Calories
Pound cake with lemon zest, syrup soak, and white glaze, moist for days. The lemon syrup is poured over the still hot cake and soaks in completely, making it significantly moister than any glaze alone. The zest is rubbed into the sugar beforehand so the essential oils are released.
Why this works
The lemon flavor sits in oil glands right under the surface of the peel. If you rub the zest with sugar, the sugar crystals act like fine sandpaper. They tear open the glands and the essential oils bind to the sugar instead of evaporating during baking. The syrup, in turn, only works when hot. A warm crumb has open, expanded pores and absorbs the liquid. Poured onto a cold cake, the same syrup would simply run off.
Step-by-step instructions
- 1
Make the lemon sugar
Grate the zest of all four lemons and rub the zest thoroughly into the sugar with your fingertips until it becomes moist and intensely fragrant. This small step releases the essential oils from the peel and distributes them throughout the batter. Zest that is merely stirred in remains localized and significantly weaker.
- 2
Cream the butter
Beat the soft butter with the lemon sugar for five minutes until light and fluffy. This time is no exaggeration, because this is where the air is beaten in that will later make the cake light. Then add the room temperature eggs one at a time and continue beating for half a minute after each.
- 3
Finish the batter
Mix the flour, baking powder, and salt and fold them alternately with the yogurt into the butter mixture in two portions. Only stir until everything is combined. The yogurt makes the cake tender and, together with the syrup, ensures that it does not become dry even after days.
- 4
Bake
Pour the batter into a greased 30 cm loaf pan and smooth it out. Bake it at 170 °C top and bottom heat for 50 to 55 minutes until a wooden skewer comes out clean. Cover it loosely with aluminum foil after thirty minutes if the surface browns too quickly.
- 5
Soak and glaze
Heat the lemon juice and sugar for the syrup until the sugar has dissolved. Pierce the hot cake deeply several times with a wooden skewer and slowly pour the syrup over it so that it soaks in completely. Let it cool, then mix the powdered sugar with the lemon juice to make a glaze and pour it over the cold cake.
