Delicious Lemon Cake with Lemon Glaze

I don't have much of a sweet tooth. However, I do bake a lot for my friends, for special occasions, and of course, for my husband, who loves anything sweet.

My "go to" recipes are my chocolate chip cookies (already shared in a previous posts), chocolate cake with various flavors of icing like mocha and coconut, and crepes, an easy, last minute dessert.

However, a few days ago was the birthday of a work colleague. We were leaving town the following day, so I didn't have many options available in the fridge except for a bag of lemons. I was thinking of making one of my favorite lemon desserts: a lemon tart, or a lemon meringue pie, but honestly, didn't feel like making the effort. As for my lemon polenta cake (mentioned a few posts ago), well, I had just made some and was in the mood for something different.

Thus, I went in search of a lemon cake recipe. One that would have the fresh and zingy acidity from the lemons, but also be a satisfactory celebratory cake. So, I logged into one of my favorite and most reliable baking websites (joyofbaking.com) and found what I was looking for. A recipe for Lemon Frosted Lemon Cake. And it did not disappoint. I made it easily within and hour in the morning, let it cool while I showered and dressed, quickly mixed the glaze and literally dumped it over top.

Besides the simplicity of the recipe, it was a crowd pleaser. It was light and moist and had the perfect balance of tart and sweet. And I was able to make a 9 inch round plus 3 small cupcakes (which I left for my husband to enjoy).

So, I encourage you to try this recipe if you would like an alternative to a more traditional chocolate cake or vanilla sponge cake. You won't be disappointed!

Lemon Cake with Lemon Glaze 
Recipe from http://www.joyofbaking.com/LemonFrostedLemonCake.html

Makes one 9" round cake

1 cup Unsalted Butter at Room Temp
1 cup White Sugar
4 large Eggs
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
Zest of 1 Lemon (preferably unwaxed)
2 cups Flour
2 tsp Baking Powder

1/4 tsp Salt
1/4 cup Fresh Squeezed Lemon Juice

For Glaze 
1 cup Icing Sugar
  2tbsp Fresh Lemon Juice

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C) and place rack in the center of the oven. Butter, or spray with a nonstick spray, a 9 inch (23 cm) springform pan and then line the bottom of the pan with parchment paper. Set aside.

Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy and pale in color (about 3 minutes). Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Beat in the vanilla extract and lemon zest.
Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt and then add to the batter along with the lemon juice. Mix only until incorporated.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan, smoothing the top with an offset spatula. Bake about 45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Place on a wire rack to cool, then gently remove the sides of the pan.

For the glaze, combine the sifted confectioners' sugar with the 2 tablespoons lemon juice. (You want the icing to be thicker than a glaze but still thin enough that it will just run over the sides of the cake. If not the right consistency add more lemon juice or powdered sugar, accordingly.) Frost the top of the cake, allowing the icing to drip down the sides. Let the icing set before covering.