Death by Lemon

Death by chocolate is one of those catch phrases that are given to over the top chocolate desserts. Why I wonder is there no Lemon equivalent?  I love lemon desserts yet the options when you do research on them seems to be fairly slim, lemon curd, lemon poppy seed cake, lemon meringue pie....oh and steamed lemon pudding.  It's a good list of wonderful desserts, but I wanted a lemon cake for an occasion that had a little flourish, some more than a tea cake like lemon poppy seed.   

What I came up with is a Bundt cake make with cake flour for lightness, lots of lemon rind and juice for an intense flavor and thick rich full fat greek yogurt for a sour/moist one two punch.

After the cake is baked it's soaked in a lemon syrup, and I serve it with a large dollop of lemon curd and unsweetened whipped cream.  There you have it folks: Death by lemon, and what a way to go!

Lemon Bundt Cake

Preheat the oven to 325 F.

With  room temperature butter generously butter and flour a 16 cup bunt pan.

Sift together in a medium 3 cups Cake Flour, 1/2 teaspoon of Baking Soda and 1/2 teaspoon of Salt.

In the bowl of a standing mixer added 1 cup of room temperature Unsalted Butter. Beat with the paddle attachment at medium speed for 1-2 minutes until fluffy, then add in a slow stream 3 cups of Cane Sugar.   Continue beating for 4-6 minutes.

While this is mixing  add 2 tablespoons of  grated Lemon Peel (about 4 lemons) into a small bowl with 1/3 cup of Lemon Juice.

One at a time add 6 large room temperature Eggs, add the next egg when the previous one has been well incorporated.

Add the peel and lemon juice.

Turn off the mixer and with a wooden spoon or spatula add the dry ingredients all at once. Mixing just enough to incorporate, then fold in 1 cup full fat Greek Yogurt.  Pour into the prepared pan and place on a wrack in the top third of the oven.

Bake for an 1 and 15 minutes.   At this point check for doneness by inserting a cake tester (knife, skewer what ever you have) into the middle of the cake - it should come out clean.  It may take longer but keep testing every 5 minutes after this point as you don't want to over bake it. 

When done remove the cake from the oven and cool on a wrack for 10-15 minutes.

While cooling make the glaze.  In a small sauce pan add 1 cup of Cane Sugar and 1/2 cup of Lemon Juice bring just to a simmer and cook, stirring until the sugar is dissolved then take immediately off the heat.

When the cake has cool, using a pastry brush spread some of the glaze over the stop of the cake.

Before I invert the cake is see if the sides pull away from the pan easily, by gently pushing the cake inwards toward the center, if I get any resistance I use a butter knife or small spatula to help loosen it.  Place the wrack on top of the cake and quickly invert it.  You may need to gently knock it on the counter to free the cake from it's pan.

Place the cake and wrack on a cookie sheet and diligently paint the cake with the glaze.  It may seem like a lot but don't worry this cake will absorb every last drop.

Or almost, I even took lapped up the drippings from the cookie sheet and spread them over the cake.

To make the lemon curd in a medium bowl add: 4 large Eggs to 2 cups of Sugar  and stir in 1 scant cup of Lemon Juice then add 1 cup of roughly chopped Unsalted Butter place the bowl over simmering water and with a wooden spoon stir constantly until the curd has thickened (it will coat the spoon) about 7-10 minutes.

Place a fine sieve in a bowl and pour the curd through it.  Set aside to cool at room temperature before you chill it in the refrigerator in a covered container.

To serve cut a small slice of the cake on a plate,add a dollop of lemon curd and finish with a smaller dollop of whipped cream.

If you want to make you cake even more pretty you can candy finely sliced lemon and ring the top of the cake with them.

Of course I made this cake at home, but we ate it at my friends Patrick's place for his birthday and by that point I totally forgot to take pictures of the final product.  Ah well, guess I'll just have to make it again.