Tuesday, April 17, 2012

TYD - Lemon Loaf Cake

So I'd actually made two attempts on this cake, but I'm really really glad I did after the first (failed) attempt. My oven's kind of senile, so the temperatures aren't exact sometimes, I think.. The first time I made it, I didn't have a zester, so I had to zest my lemons with a grater, which resulted in awfully large chunks, and made them kind of chewy in the end.. But anyway, my oven. The first time, I just stuck my loaf pan into the oven and off it went, and the top was a rather dark shade of brown around the 50-ish minute mark, so I tested it with a toothpick and it seemed done..

It wasn't. Fortunately, I decided to take it out of the pan on top of a large plate instead of straight onto a rack since I'd read comments and had wanted to try a lemon glaze. The inside was still batter and the whole bottom half toppled over in a mushy mess ):

The second time, however, was amazing. I went out and bought a nice green microplane zester, and did it all over again. With the recipe for the lemon glaze I'd looked up, there was a little advice for making the cake itself (the recipe was actually for pound cake) and it recommended covering the pan with foil to prevent browning. It was genius. I put foil on it for the first 40 minutes, and then uncovered it and let it bake for another 40. Longer than what the recipe had said, but old, old ovens take a little more time, I guess?

.. You're probably wondering why it looks so.. small. Well, I was running out of time in the morning, so I just left my cooling loaf on my rack and left it, giving my parents a slice each for them to try before the glaze. Oopsies. I didn't take a picture until about half an hour ago.. And most of the cake's been devoured already. It was gorgeous in the beginning, I swear.

Recipes can be found here: Treats and The Beauty of Life