Superstitions have not been a part of my growing years. But if there was one thing that made me believe in curses it was ‘Citrus Cakes’. I truly believed that I was cursed by an evil baker coz my attempts to bake orange cake were utter disasters. Actually, disaster is a very decent word for those cakes. Accepting my fate, I simply decided to stay away from citrus cakes.
Adding to my misery was looking at my husband enjoy the lemon loaf slice at Starbucks. With the lock-down, I mustered the courage to give my fate another try. Read up a lot of recipes and articles on citrus baking and finally decided to give it a try. I chose lemons instead of orange this time. One reason was to change the dynamics of the curse and the other was, fresh lemons from our terrace garden. Voila! The curse had been lifted. The delicate lemony fragrance took over my kitchen. Taste was just the perfect balance between citrus & sweet. Riddance from curse….. Can’t be described in words.
Time – Preparation – 20 Minutes, Baking – 40-50 Minutes
Ingredients for Cake
- All purpose flour(Maida) – 1.5 cup
- Sugar granulated – 1 cup
- Butter unsalted – 1/2 cup
- Eggs – 3
- Butter Milk – 2/3 cup
- Baking Powder – 1.2 tsp
- Baking Soda – 1/4 tsp
- Salt – 1 tsp
- Vanilla essence – 1/2 tsp
- Lemon Juice fresh – 2.5 tblspn
- Lemon zest 1/2 tsp
Ingredients for Lemon curd
- Sugar powdered – 3/4 cup
- Lemon juice fresh – 2 tblspn
- Milk – 1-2 tblspn
Method Cake
- Sieve flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda and keep aside
- Beat butter & sugar till it becomes a pale mixture
- Add one egg at a time while mixing continuously
- Add vanilla essence, lemon juice & lemon zest
- Now fold half of the flour mixture & half butter milk and mix well
- Add the remaining flour & buttermilk and fold till everything comes together
- Transfer to a loaf tin(lined with butter paper) and bake in a preheated oven at 180 degrees C for 50 minutes(check after 40 minutes)
Method Lemon Curd
- Combine sugar, lemon juice, milk(little by little)
- Mix till pale in color
- Pour on the completely cooled cake
Notes
- Use lemon extract if you have
- For lemon zest, make sure the white part doesn’t come
- Keep the lemon curd in fridge to solidify in case it becomes runny
- We prefer less sweet, so mostly skip the curd completely Or use only 1/2 cup sugar and serve it as an optional spread
My Medley Rasoi 