Glazed Lemon Cake

This cake reminds me of Starbucks' Lemon Poppyseed Loaf! Succulent, not too lemony and soft. I found it not overly sweet by reducing the amount of sugar to the cake from 1 1/4 cup to 1 cup.

Prep Time15 mins

Cook Time50 mins

Total Time1 hr 5 mins

Ingredients

Wet:

• 2/3 cup / 165 ml vegetable or canola oil
• 2 eggs
• 1 ½ tbsp grated lemon rind (1 large or 2 medium lemons)
• ¼ cup / 65 ml fresh lemon juice
• 1 cup / 250g plain yoghurt (Note 1)
• 1.25 cups / 275g caster sugar (superfine sugar, granulated ok too)

Dry:

• 2 cups/300g plain flour (all purpose flour)
• 4 tsp baking powder
• Pinch of salt

Glaze:

• 1 3/4 cup / 210 g icing sugar (powdered sugar)
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 1 1/2 tbsp plain yogurt

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 180C/350F (standard) or 160C/320F (fan/convection). Grease a 20 cm / 8” cake pan with butter.
• Place Wet ingredients in a bowl. Whisk until combined.
• Sprinkle over flour, baking powder and salt. Whisk until smooth - few small lumps is ok.
• Pour into pan - it should be fairly thick but pourable (see video). Bake for 50 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean.
• Remove metal ring and cool on rack then glaze.

Glaze:

• Place ingredients in a bowl and whisk until smooth. Test down the side of the bowl to get the right thickness, using 1 tsp of yoghurt at a time to thin it out if required. Glaze should drip (slowly, because it's thick) but not be see through.
• Place rack on a tray or baking paper.
• Pour glaze over the middle of the cake, gently push towards the edges so it drips down the sides.
• Let it set for 1 hour before transferring to a serving plaSee note for how I did the lemon slices in the photos, and the alternative quick Cream Cheese Frosting.
• Any plain, thick yoghurt will be fine for this. Full fat is better, but low fat will also work. I don't recommend zero fat yoghurt, it tends to be too thin and the purpose of yoghurt is to add wetness to the batter while keeping it thick which is why the cake is so moist.
  

  Sour cream (light or full fat) can also be used.
  

  2. Lemon Slice decoration - cut 2 thin lemon slices. Then cut a slit into the centre. Twist and place on the cake. Twist the other slice in the opposite direction and place on the cake, overlapping with the first slice.
  

  3. Quick Cream Cheese Frosting (pictured in post): Use 200g/6 oz SPREADABLE Cream Cheese (comes in tubs, not blocks) and mix with 2 cups icing sugar / powdered sugar + 2 tbsp lemon juice. Use a wooden spoon to mix well then spread on cake.
  

  4. DIFFERENT MEASURES IN DIFFERENT COUNTRIES: Tablespoon and cup measures differ slightly between some countries around the world. The main differences are US measures vs rest of the world. For most recipes, the difference is not material enough to affect the recipe. For baking recipes, it can be the difference between success and failure. Luckily, this particular recipe is actually rather forgiving so the difference in measures does not affect it so there is no need to convert. Exception: Japan - please use weights provided, not Japanese cups.
  

  5. STORAGE: Keep in an airtight container for up to 5 days, it stays really moist. The glaze sweats into the cake slightly so you get a similar effect to those coke syrup cakes / poke cakes where you pour sweet syrup over the cake to soak into it and this also helps keep it moist. If it's crazy hot where you are (Dec - Feb in Australia), keep it in the fridge after 24 hours (because mould loves moisture + heat and this cake is very moist :) )

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