Mean Chef's Lemon Tea Cake

Submitted by newspapergal

"I adopted this recipe after its original poster, Mean Chef, departed the site. Mean posted it on Jan 18, 2004. His comments: "Lemony, not too sweet cake. Serve with lemon curd." (Mean's Lemon Curd is Recipe #37890 )"

 

• Ready In: 1hr 35mins
• Ingredients: 12
• Yields: 1 loaf

ingredients

• 9 ounces all-purpose flour (2 cups)
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1⁄2 teaspoon salt
• 4 ounces unsalted butter, at room temperature (1/2 cup)
• 1⁄4 cup finely grated lemon zest
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs, room temperature
• 2 teaspoons ground coriander
• 3⁄4 teaspoon ground mace
• 3⁄4 cup whole milk, room temperature
• 2 teaspoons caraway seeds
• 1 cup lemon curd (see Lemon Curd Filling)

directions

1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. Butter and flour a 4 1/2 x 8 1/2 inch loaf pan.
3. Sift flou, baking powder and salt together into a bowl.
4. Beat butter and lemon zest together with an electric mixer (use paddle attachment) until light and smooth- about 1 minute.
5. Add sugar, eggs, coriander and mace; beat until smooth.
6. Add half of the milk, beat until just blender.
7. Add the flour mixture in two batches, beat until just blended and scraping the bowl as needed.
8. Add remaining milk and mix until just blended.
9. Add caraway seeds and stir in with a rubber spatula.
10. Transfer to loaf pan and smooth top.
11. Bake until tester comes out clean in the middle of the loaf- abou 60-65 minutes.
12. Let cool for 10 minutes, remove cake from pan and cool completely on a rack.
13. Cake will keep 3 days at room temperature if wrapped well.
14. Cut with a serrated knife in thick slices- cake is tender.

Reviews

[Roosie]

Unique and absolutely delicious! Let me say that I did make some subs- I used 9oz whole wheat pastry flour instead of AP, used about 3/4 turbanado sugar and 1/4 Sucanat, and used soymilk instead of milk. Still terrific. It turned out very tender with a delightful buttery flavor. I originally had planned to make this with Lime, Orange or Lemon Curd recipe #41567(we made lemon curd), but we ate all the curd before I got around to making this. So, I didn't have any curd to top it with it, but I still really enjoyed it. The lemon flavor in the loaf is fairly mild- I would say it is about equal with the caraway flavor. All the spices balance incredibly well. I like using lots of spices and love recipes that use them in unusual way. As I was eating, I kept thinking that the caraway might be a bit too strong, but it really does go very well. It rose beautifully and is a very pretty loaf. I forgot to flour my pan, but it still came out just fine. I did cut mine with a serrated bread knife, but found that it was not too tender to the point of falling apart. I had no problem cutting very thin or quite thick pieces. Either way, though, this cake really melts in your mouth and is bursting with unusual flavor. I really appreciated that this wasn't too sweet. We enjoyed it for breakfast, but for something special I am sure that the recommended lemon curd would make this just great. Really enjoyed this. Thanks, Mean.