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Sunday, June 26, 2011

Sour Lemon Cake - Dangerously Delicious


It’s time to revisit our all-time favourite cake; sour lemon cake. This cake is so dangerously delicious. So much so that I rarely make it as we would finish the cake in no time, way too quickly. Now, I only make this cake once a year (my disgruntled partner is not liking th idea).

It is a simple cake made with loads of lemon and its zest, and sour cream (and very quick to make). The cake is moist, rich, tart and zesty. The recipe came from Donna Hay magazine when they did feature on Bundt cakes few years ago. The feature was so beautiful and mouth watering that I rushed out to buy Bundt tins (yes, more than one tin, I’m really hopeless like that).

Bundt tin is decorative tin with tube in the middle. The tin works well with denser cake as the tube helps baking the cake evenly. I love cake baked in Bundt tin as it is pretty with little effort. It is also easy to portion the cake for serving following the ridges on the pattern.  


I brought this cake to work few times. It converted my workmates to be sour lemon cake devotees. Not only it tasted great, it was also attractive. Did I mention that it is so easy to make? It is as simple as mix, stir, pour and bake.



Note:
It’s important to greased and flour the Bundt tin really well to prevent sticking and easy release. First grease the pan lightly with vegetable oil, then lightly flour the pan and dust the excess flour off. Make sure to go to every nooks and crannies.

grease the pan well then coat with flour to prevent sticking and easy release

When the cake is baked, stand it in the tin about 10 minutes until it is slightly cool down. Hot cake is more fragile and will fall apart when taken off the tin. You  want the cake the stay pretty, don’t you?

stand the cake in tin for at least 10 minutes before removing from the tin

Sour Lemon Cake Recipe
from Donna Hay magazine

serves 8 - 10

Ingredients
210 g butter, melted (I reduced the amount slightly from original recipe)
1 1/3 cups (270 g) caster (superfine) sugar (I reduced this from 330 g in original recipe)
2 eggs
½ cup (120 g) sour cream, softened
¼ cup (60 ml) lemon juice
2 tablespoons finely grated lemon rind
2 cups (300 g) plain (all-purpose) flour, sifted
2 teaspoons baking powder, sifted

lemon icing (optional)
2 cups (320g) icing sugar, sifted
1 tablespoon lemon juice
2 tablespoons boiling water

Note:
I don’t make icing as I think the cake is nice, rich and sweet enough. However, icing would make the cake more enticing so I gave this as an option.

Method
Preheat the oven to 160c (fan-forced oven). Place the butter sugar, egg, sour cream, lemon juice and rind in a bowl and whisk to combine. Add the flour and baking powder and whisk until smooth. Spoon into 10-cup bunt tin and bake for 45 - 50 minutes or until cooked when tested with skewer. Cool in tin for 10 minutes. Turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

To make lemon icing, place icing sugar, juice and water in a bowl and mix to combine. Spoon over cakes to serve.

Submitting this post to Weekend Herb Blogging hosted by Chris at Mele Cotte.

5 comments:

  1. mmm..lemon cake..such a summery treat!
    Can't wait till the morning to bake this!
    Looking great Sue :)

    Ceren

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  2. Oh...I can't tell you how many times I was lazy and didn't properly prep bundt pans...what a mess. But, when I pay attention, its a whole different/better story.

    This cake looks and sounds delicious! What's not to love about lemon and Sour Cream. :)

    Thanks for participating in WHB!

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  3. @Ceren..the cake is real treat! It's yummy. Thanks for the compliment.

    @Chris...yes, my notes about well-greased pan & let the cake cool down is like my mental note as well. I had my fair share of broken/fall-apart Bundt cakes. And it's a pleasure to participate the WHB.

    Sue

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  4. yeah, baking in bundt tin makes the cake look beautiful, flower like shape. YOu sounded it so simple and sooo good, pity that you only make this once a year! never mind, you can always compensate them with your gorgeous macarons!!

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  5. @ lena - when I first knew this cake and made them. I made it like once a month...and we had too good time and bigger waistline as a result...lol.

    Thanks for the compliment on macarons:)

    ReplyDelete