East 62nd Street Lemon Cake
This cake recipe, written by Maida Heatter, an award-winning cookbook author and baker, has been published in the New York Times many times and is widely available online. I share it only to provide easy access to those of you who intend, wisely, only to cook and bake using my website! Before adding the batter, Maida Heatter recommends dusting the greased baking pan with fine, dry breadcrumbs. I have not seen this technique in any of my other baking books, of which I have many. I do as Maida did!
Ingredients
- 4 eggs, room temperature
- 3 cups sifted all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup butter
- 2 cups sugar
- 1 cup milk
- Finely grated zest of 2 lemons
Glaze
- 1/3 cup lemon juice
- 3/4 cup sugar
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease and then dust with dry bread crumb a 10-inch Bundt pan.
- If the eggs are not room temperature, put the uncracked eggs into warm water and let them sit for 10 minutes.
- Sift, then measure 3 cups of flour.
- Over a medium-sized mixing bowl, combine the flour, salt, and baking powder into a wire mesh strainer (or flour sifter) and sift the ingredients together.
- Cream the butter in the bowl of a stand mixer smooth and creamy. Gradually add the sugar and beat on medium / high speed until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating to incorporate before each new addition. Add the lemon zest and mix briefly to combine. Use a rubber spatula to scrape the bottom and sides to ensure the batter is evenly mixed.
- Adjust the mixer to the lowest speed, add 1/3 of the flour, mix gently, and then add ½ of the milk. Add another 1/3 of the flour, the remaining milk, and the remaining flour - mixing only to incorporate between additions. Don’t overmix.
- Spoon the batter evenly into your prepared pan.
- Begin testing the cake for doneness at 45 minutes. Bake until a cake tester can be inserted and removed without any uncooked batter or crumbs sticking to it. Cool the cake on a wire rack for 10 minutes.
- Using a sharp knife, run it around the top of the cake to free it from the pan. Tap the cake on the counter and strike it gently with your palms on either side to release the cake. Invert the cake onto a fine wire cooling rack.
Prepare the glaze.
- Squeeze enough lemon to yield 1/3 cup of fresh lemon juice.
- In a small saucepan, bring the lemon juice and sugar to a boil, and cook over medium heat, stirring to keep it from foaming up and over the sides of the pan, for about 2 minutes.
- Using a pastry brush, brush the syrup into the still-warm cake. Take your time, brush the sides and the top until all the syrup has been soaked into the cake.
- This cake needs no adornment. It is delicious.