Moist, Velvety Lemon Cake

This moist zesty lemon cake is one recipe that all bakers should have on their sleeve, it is so soft and bursting with lemon flavour. To start off, preheat your oven to 320F/160C and line a baking pan with parchment paper. In a mixing bowl sift together all-purpose flour, cornstarch/ cornflour, baking powder and salt then using a whisk mix everything together until well combined. Set that aside. Into another bowl, add half a cup of warm milk and three tablespoons of fresh lemon juice.

Give it a little stir and it will start to curdle then set it aside. Into a large bowl add three-quarters of a cup of room temparature unsalted butter, two tablespoons of vegetable oil, white granulated sugar and one and a half tablespoons of lemon zest. Using a hand or stand mixer on medium-high speed, cream that together for 2 minutes until it’s light and fluffy.

Once that is done add 3 eggs one at a time mixing well between each addition. You want to make sure each egg is mixed well before adding the next then add half of the lemon milk mixture and mix that together until it’s well combined. Add half of the dry ingredients and fold it in with a spatula until just combined then add in the remaining milk and lemon juice mixture and fold it in.

Add the remaining dry ingredients and fold until just combined, you want to avoid overmixing so just fold until there are no lumps in the batter. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and give the pan a light tap on the counter to remove any large air bubbles in the batter. Bake the cake in the preheated oven for 60 minutes or until the skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean.

You can serve the cake plain as it is or go ahead and to the cake with a lemon glaze. To a bowl add one cup of icing sugar and one and a half tablespoons of fresh lemon juice and mix that together until it resembles a thick lemon consistency. Once the cake is completely cooled, spread the glaze on top of the cake and serve.

This cake is so soft and moist that it has a wonderful velvety texture and is bursting with lemon flavour. It is the perfect afternoon tea treat.

Ingredients;

Lemon Loaf

1¾ cups (210 g) all-purpose flour
2 tbsp (14 g) cornstarch – also known as cornflour in some countries
1½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt – omit if using salted butter
½ cup (120 g) warm milk – full-fat milk
3 tbsp (42 g) lemon juice – freshly squeezed
¾ cup (170 g) unsalted butter – room temperature
2 tbsp (26 g) unflavoured vegetable oil
1 cup (200 g) white granulated sugar
1½ tbsp lemon zest – about the zest of 1 and 1/2 medium-sized lemons
3 large eggs – room temperature, size 7

Bake at 160 °C (320°F) with the fan on (convection mode) for 1 hour, or until a skewer or knife comes out clean. If you don’t have a fan function, increase the temp to 175°C (347°F).

Lemon Glaze;