Lemon cake is a favorite of mine. Our wedding cake was lemon and after receiving some awesome Meyer lemons from my girlfriend’s tree, I couldn’t think of a better way to use them.

I am not a baker. We have several bakers in the family and trust me, I did not get the “precise” gene. I knew this was going to be a huge undertaking, so I consulted good ol’ Martha Stewart to help me make it happen. I also knew that  I didn’t just want to use the juice of the lemons, so I found a recipe that used the entire lemon.

Gorgeous lemons! My girlfriend’s daughter had picked them earlier that day and they looked so pretty in their bowl. When given the green light, I dove into the bowl and filled my purse – and no, I’m not kidding.

The Ingredients:

For the Streusel
1 3/4 Cup All-Purpose Flour
3/4 Cup Packed Light-Brown Sugar
1 Teaspoon Coarse Salt
3/4 Cup (6 oz.) Cold Unsalted Butter

For the Cake
5 Meyer Lemons – cut into paper-thin slices, ends discarded
2 Cups All-Purpose Flour
1 Teaspoon Baking Powder
1 Teaspoon Baking Soda
1 1/2 Teaspoons Coarse Salt
1/2 Cup (4 oz.) Unsalted Butter – room temp., plus extra for the pan
1 Cup Granulated Sugar
3 Tablespoons Finely Grated Meyer Lemon Zest
2 Large Eggs
1 Teaspoon Pure Vanilla Extract
1 Cup Sour Cream

For the Glaze
1 Cup Confectioners’ Sugar
3-4 Tablespoons Meyer Lemon Juice

Directions:

1. Make the streusel: Mix together flour, brown sugar, and salt. Using a pastry cutter or your fingers, cut the butter into the flour mixture until small to medium clumps form. Cover and refrigerate until ready to use.
   Foo’s note: I used my fingers and didn’t mix the sugar, flour, and salt prior to adding the butter, whoops!
2. Make the cake: Cook lemon slices in a medium saucepan of simmering water for 1 minute. Drain, and repeat. Arrange lemon slices in a single layer on parchment-lined baking sheets.
   Foo’s note: I didn’t drain in between batches and next time I will actually use the mandoline to make my lemon slices paper thin.
   
3. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Butter a 9-inch angel food cake pan. Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Beat butter, granulated sugar, and lemon zest with a mixer on medium speed in a large bowl until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. With the mixer running, add eggs, 1 at a time, then the vanilla. Reduce speed to low. Add the flour mixture in 3 additions, alternating with sour cream.
   Foo’s note: I don’t own a sifter, so I skipped that step.
4. Spoon 1/2 of the batter evenly into cake pan. Arrange 1/2 of the lemon slices in a single layer over the batter. Spread remaining batter evenly over the top. Cover with the remaining lemon slices in a single layer. Sprinkle the chilled streusel evenly over the batter.
   Foo’s note: I had to re-read this step at least 10 times, ha! ha!
5. Bake until cake is golden brown and a tester inserted in the center comes out clean, about 55 minutes. Transfer pan to a wire rack set over a baking sheet, and let cool in pan for 15 minutes. Run a knife around the edges of the pan, and remove outer ring. Let cool on rack for 15 minutes. Run a knife around the center tube. Slide 2 wide spatulas between the bottom of the cake and the pan, and lift cake to remove from the center tube. Let cool completely on rack.
   Foo’s note: This sounds much easier than it really is – I needed Dan and 3 spatulas to pull this step off.
6. Make the glaze: Just before photographing 🙂 serving, stir together confectioners’ sugar and lemon juice in a medium bowl. Drizzle over cooled cake, letting excess drip down the sides. Let glaze set before slicing, about 5 minutes.

This is a photo of me being a rebel and adding the cold butter before mixing the dry ingredients together. I told you I was missing the “precise” gene… and I’m guessing the “follow directions carefully” gene too. I’m all about – let’s just get ‘er done!

It turned out fine and the Martha Stewart baking police didn’t even come knockin’.

I definitely could have been more consistent with my lemon slices. I ended up only slicing 3 of the lemons because they were on the larger size. What? These don’t look paper thin?

Lemon bubble bath, minus the soap… 1 minute and then I kicked them out of the tub so the next group could chill out.

Single layer of lemons on parchment – I ended up blotting them with paper towels.

I zested 4 of the 5 lemons with my microplane.

I buttered my pan before adding the first layer of cake batter.

First layer of batter and lemons are in place…

Second layer of batter… thanks Dan for getting this photo.

Second cookie sheet of lemon slices ready to be layered.

Next up was the streusel topping…

Timer was set for 55 minutes and it turned out to be just right. My cake tester came out clean.

On the rack for cooling…

My glazed masterpiece! Don’t pay attention to the hills and valleys that make up the top, ha! ha! I also might have gotten a little heavy handed with the glaze… hence the great glaze lakes.

I carried that piece of cake around the backyard for a good 1/2 hour trying to get a good shot. There is something dark and fun about the last photo – perhaps it was just me running out of daylight, but I really like it.

The cake turned out great! It was a huge hit at our get together, and it has been painfully hard to not eat a giant piece every day since.

I got over my baking fear and I’m pretty darn proud of myself. Now that Deede has moved, I have to step it up. I think I will tackle small tarts or a pie next.

Have you ever baked a cake from scratch? What’s your favorite cake flavor/combo?