Lemon Tea Cake

This is a wonderful breakfast cake. It's from the Weekend magazine dated March 18th'2005. Almond flour {known as almond meal} is available in natural food stores and speciality food shops. To have real fresh almond meal, grind your own, using an electric nut mill and blanched {skinless} almonds rather than a blender or food processor which tends to grind the nuts to a paste rather than a powder. If you don't have an electric nut mill and do have a food processor or blender, then, grind the nuts alongwith the flour and sugar in the recipe, but watch carefully to avoid over grinding. Enjoy!

• Ready In: 1 hr 35 mins
• Serves: 10-12

Ingredients

• 1  cup butter, softened
• 1  cup sugar
• 1 1⁄2 teaspoons  grated lemon zest
• 1  teaspoon vanilla essence
• 4  eggs, at room temperature
• 2 1⁄2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1  teaspoon baking soda
• 1  teaspoon baking powder
• 1⁄4 teaspoon salt
• 1  cup  finely ground blanched  almond meal
• 1  cup plain yogurt

• For Lemon Syrup

• 1⁄2 cup sugar
• 1⁄3 cup lemon juice
• 2  tablespoons water

Directions

1. First, prepare the lemon syrup.
2. To do so, in a small saucepan combine all the ingredients together and stir over medium heat until the sugar dissolves and the mixture comes to a boil.
3. Keep the syrup warm until ready to use.
4. Preheat oven to 350°F.
5. In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar together until fluffy.
6. Add lemon zest and essence.
7. Fold in eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
8. In a separate bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, salt, baking soda and almond meal together.
9. Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture alternating with the yoghurt, beating well after each addition.
10. Pour the batter into a well-greased and lightly floured 8 1/2-9 inch bundt pan or any other 9-cup tube pan.
11. Bake until the cake pulls away from the sides of the pan and tests done when a knife inserted in the center comes out clean.
12. Slowly pour the lemon syrup over the cake.
13. Allow the cake to cool and become lukewarm in a pan on the wire rack.
14. Invert the cake onto a plate and serve.
15. Enjoy!