Lemon-Drenched Lemon Cake.
For this cake, simple loaf pans just don’t measure up. After one slice of the perfect, absolutely perfect cake, it became clear that when I next bake this cake (tomorrow morning), I’ll need to devise some sort of pillow shaped cake pan.
This cake is going to be my new pillow. Forget goose feathers, cotton fluff, memory foam… I want, I need, I’m not sure how I’m going to live without a Lemon-Drenched Lemon Cake Pillow.
For serious.
Lemon Drenched Lemon Cakes
adapted from Dorie Greenspan
Think of this cake as a classy version of the store bought, chemical filled version of Sara Lee pound cake. The density is only matched by the soft, moist and lemony crumb. Sara Lee? Yea, I had my suspicions too, but this cake is without a doubt, the best pound-type cake I’ve ever encountered. Love. Love. Love.
I doubled the ingredients for the syrup and spread them between the two cakes. I liked lots of syrup.
For the Cakes:
2 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
pinch of salt
2 1/3 cups sugar
1/2 plump, moist vanilla bean, split lengthwise, seeds scraped out and reserved, or 1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
6 large eggs, preferably at room temperature
2/3 cups heavy cream
zest of two lemons, finely grated
1 stick, plus 7 Tablespoons (15 Tablespoons) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
For the syrup:
1/3 cup water
1/4 cup sugar
juice of two lemons
Making the cakes:
Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter two 8 1/2-4 1/2-inch loaf pans, dust the insides with flour and tap out the excess. Even if the pans are nonstick, it’s a good idea to butter and flour them. Place the pans on an insulated baking sheet or on two regular sheets stacked one on top of the other.
Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt.
Put the sugar and the lemon zest in a large bowl, working with your fingers, rub them together until the sugar is moist and thoroughly imbued with the fragrance of lemon. Add the vanilla bean seeds and work them into the sugar. If you are using vanilla extract, add it later, after you have added the eggs.
Add the eggs and whisk them into the sugar, beating until they are thoroughly incorporated. Whisk in the extract (if using), then whisk in the cream. Continuing with the whisk, or switching to a large rubber spatula, gently stir in the dry ingredients in 3 or 4 additions; the batter will be smooth and thick. Finish by folding in the melted butter in 2 or 3 additions. Pour the batter into the pans, smoothing with a rubber spatula.
Bake for 55 to 60 minutes, or until a knife inserted into the center of the cakes comes out clean. As soon as the cake goes into the oven, make the syrup. After about 30 minutes in the oven, check the cakes for color- if they are browning too quickly, cover them lightly with foil tents.
Making the syrup:
Stir the water and sugar together in a medium saucepan over medium heat until the sugar melts, then bring to a boil Remove the pan from heat and stir in the lemon juice. Pour the syrup into a heatproof bowl and let cool.
When the cakes test done, transfer them to a wire rack to cool for 5 minutes before unmolding them and turning them right side up on the rack. Place the rack over a baking sheet lined with wax paper and, using a thin skewer, cake tester or thin-bladed sharp knife, poke holes all over the cakes. Brush the cakes all over with the syrup, working slowly so that the cakes sop it up. Leave the cakes on the rack to cool to room temperature.
{ 91 comments… read them below or add one }
Okay, so I’m now drooling on my keyboard! That looks amazing. Do you think that Meyer lemons would be too subtle in flavor for the cake? In case you haven’t stopped by, I’m working my way through a big box of them now!
Phoo-D
That looks absolutely mouthwatering.
wow, I want some! I really really want to devour that with some fresh whipped cream.
OK hungry now. :)
Dorie can do no wrong. Seriously. That woman is like Jesus in the kitchen.
OMG! I’d like a pillow of that cake too! Count me in…
do you think this would work as a bundt?
OK…I will probably say something blasphemous…but I don’t do lemon baked goods. I don’t know why…they are just icky to me and I just can’t. Would everything be allright if I left out the zest and the syrup?
Phoo-D- These cakes would be absolutely lovely with Meyer lemons!
Michelle- This cake might just work as a Bundt. Give it a shot and let me know!
Alison- I understand not liking lemon! If you’d like to leave the lemon out, instead use 2 plump vanilla beans to rub into the sugar instead of the zest, or 1 1/2 tablespoon pure vanilla extract. You might also want to add 2 1/2 Tablespoons of dark rum into the batter. You’ll also leave the lemon out of the syrup and instead at 1/4 cup of dark rum after you dissolve the sugar over the fire. Or you could just leave the rum out and go nutty with a pure vanilla cake.
Looks fantastic! I love lemon anything!
I love the tart and tangy taste of lemon desserts. I finally bought some meyers lemons and have been search for just the right dessert to showcase them perhaps this is just the one. (I’ve never tried meyer lemons so don’t know how they differ in taste to regular ones)
~ingrid
I make a very lemon-y lemon glaze cake similar to this, but it calls for far fewer ingredients, key of which being Lemon Jello. It is quite possibly the most moist, squishy, gooey lemon cake ever. I still have friends from my Navy days who drool about it when we talk on the phone. Ahh, the good ol’ days!
You have a wonderful blog. Keep up the good work.
Love at first sight! This is definitely going in my pile of goodies that must be baked…and soon. As always, thank you for sharing :-)
What gorgeous photos you have! Thank so much for your friend request on Foodbuzz. You have a beautiful site!
You have a beautiful blog! This is a must try recipe for me. I love lemon anything so this cake is calling my name. Lovely.
Ooh, I love lemon. Lemon soaked lemon cake is even better!
It isn’t too often that my tastebuds actually sting with longing when reading and you’ve accomplished that. Jeez. This is one heavenly recipe…
Beautiful lemon cakes!
Joy, these cakes look so good…I am wishing I had lemons in the house!
wow this cake looks so plain and so delicous. I like lemons and this one is explosive :)
Oh, so luscious looking! I do have lemons in the house and I may have to splurge this weekend!!
lemon with lemon…. YUM!
These look so yummy. I’m a sucker for a good lemon cake :)
I just got the ingredients together for a meyer lemon cake to bake this afternoon! This looks super amazing. I love Dorie’s book and I love how you doubled the syrup. I’d do the same! Mouthwatering.
loving this cake and just reading ur description of it im off to baking two of these pillowy cakes with an orangey twist.hope it works as wel as lemons!
thank u so much ,u might ve finaly ended my long on goinin search for a yummy pillwoy pound-y cake. wil get back n tel u how blissfuly they turned out…fingers crossed.. hope i do justice to em
Those look delicious! I love anything with lemon. I made lemon meringue tartlets this week and doubled the lemon curd just so I could have extra for other things.
I just stumbled across your blog, and I’m so glad I did! This looks like a fantastic cake.
Love, love, love your blog! You have an amazing way with words and make some delicious looking food! :O) I’ve nominated you for a 2009 bloggie award and hope you’ll get picked to win!
Have a great rest of the weekend,
Lisa
That cake looks beautiful-not to mention delicious! I can’t wait to try this!
Love lemon cakes and this one sounds so very awesome. Will try, thanks!
You make these sound just delicious! I love tart desserts (er, pillows!) and am a huge fan of the limes here in Peru.
I was looking for a dessert to use up the rest of my Meyer lemons. This is it! Cake pillows…yummm!!
mmm, my mom used to make a very low fat version of this! i think i’m going to try and dig it up. i love lemon drenched cakes. yum.
These cakes look so wonderful, and I was wondering if you were willing to share? I’m having a Meyer lemon week over at my blog, and was hoping to finish it off with a round-up of Meyer (or regular) lemon recipes around the web. I would love to post a link to this recipe if that would be alright with you. The round-up won’t be posted for another week or so, so let me know what you think. Thanks Again!
Hi Joy! The lemon cake looks absolutely heavenly :) Am wondering if it’s alright for me to substitute cream cheese for the heavy cream? and self raising flour for AP flour+salt+baking powder? thanks! xx
Joy, I’ve been following your blog for some time now. You are truly inspirational! Your photography, culinary skills, and writing skills are all outstanding! Keep up the great work!
So, I tested out your lemon cake over the weekend. It was delicious!! I made one in a loaf pan, and tested one in an 8 inch cake pan. My plan to make it in two round cake pans, and make a layer cake with raspberry mousse. I think it’s going to work!!! The cake worked nicely in a round pan and sliced very easily for the layers. So, I’ll drench it w/ the syrup, and layer it w/ raspberry mousse…maybe a plain whipped icing. I’m super excited!
I recently made The.Most.Disappointing. pound cake. Oh so dry, it’s been sitting around here for ages. I think I’ll give this recipe a shot so that pound cakes can redeem themselves in my eyes. Looks superb!!
Mmm, those look delectable. JachiCue is right, some fresh whipped cream would be heavenly.
Love me a good lemon cake. This looks lovely.
it works in bundt form, i did it with my pretty williams sonoma bundt pan (see here). it was light and delicious, surely not heavy like most pound cakes!
i agree with peabody though — it’d be delicious with whipped cream, or maybe even a lemon glaze. :)
Oh yeah it’s all about the citrus fruits… Stumbled :)
This looks so good. I just made a lemon cake myself – although it was a layer cake. But not liking chocolate, crazy I know, I love citris desserts, I am bookmarking this one. P.s. LOVE your blog, one of my favorites. I hope you do come to San Francisco and bake with me someday =)
We’re tearing up! All this lemon in one cake CAN’T be wrong.
Made this cake, and everything you said about it is true. It is absolutely perfect. Thanks for sharing the recipe and photos. I love your blog, your writing, recipes, photos. What a precious person you are.
I made this recipe, but I didn’t have most of the ingredients so it turned out to be ginger cake! Instead of lemon anything I used 2 heaping tsp of dried ginger, chopped up some pickled ginger because it’s pink and used vanilla yogurt instead of vanilla and cream…
Close enough, right? It was delicious!
Ahhh – The fancy food show! Isn’t heaven? Oh my god! I have a ball every year I go here in NY @ the Javitz Center – held in the middle of July. Oh the food the fun the FOOD and tasting of everything..it sort of overwhelms a person. I am looking forward to going this year again!
Love the cake recipe – will try it – been baking to much lately! Buts thats a good thing right!
Great site!…Aysegul – NY’s Delight
Just made a variation of this cake tonight, and it turned out lovely! Thanks so much for sharing the recipe, and huge thanks for bringing back childhood memories of Sara Lee pound cake! :)
I made these cakes yesterday with lemons from my Meyer lemon tree. Good thing I put one in the freezer as soon as it was cool…my BF ate almost the entire second cake in one sitting! He said it was the best cake ever! I agreed, but I skimped a little on the syrup (I thought doubling it was too much), but I should never have doubted Joy! Twice the syrup would have been better…
Hi there from Australia! I loooooooooove your website!!! Although I am currently on a diet (gave birth 4 months ago, have lost the baby weight and now need to lose all the pregnancy craving weight!!) but I am having my Mum’s Group at my house next wednesday and am going to make your chocolate buttercream frosting on cupcakes, ad maybe a few more delectable recipes! Thankyou!!!
I baked this last night and took it to work this morning…all of the ladies in the office loved it and asked me where a got the recipe. After translating a few things into Russian (I live in Moscow, Russia)- the recipe quickly made it’s way around our office. Thank you for your wonderful pictures, recipes and stories!
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