Tuesday, September 8, 2009

Lemon coffee cake

Lemon coffee cake / Bolo de limão com streusel

You might not believe me, but there are times when I don’t have one single lemon around - when they do not look good or are too expensive, I end up buying limes instead. But this time I have a big bag full of beautiful lemons in my fridge – luckily, a coworker of mine had sent me this great link.

I changed a few details in this recipe – drastically reduced the amount of salt, after reading the comments on Martha’s page – and the result was an extremely tender cake that smelled really good. I forgot to add the glaze, but am posting it anyway.

One recipe down, 34 to go. :D

Lemon coffee cake / Bolo de limão com streusel

Lemon coffee cake

Streusel:
1 ¾ cups (245g) all-purpose flour
¾ cup (132g) packed light-brown sugar
pinch of salt
¾ cup (170g/6oz) cold unsalted butter

Cake:
2 cups (280g) all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
½ cup (113g/1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature, plus more for pan
1 cup (200g) granulated sugar
3 tablespoons finely grated lemon zest (from 4 to 5 lemons)
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup (260g) plain yogurt

Glaze:
1 cup (140g) confectioners' sugar, sifted
3 to 4 tablespoons lemon juice

Make the streusel: Mix together flour, brown sugar, and salt. Using a pastry cutter or your fingers, cut butter into the flour mixture until small to medium clumps form. Cover, and refrigerate until ready to use (up to 3 days).

Make the cake: preheat oven to 180ºC/350ºF. Butter a 22.5cm (9in) angel food cake pan*. Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Beat butter, granulated sugar, and lemon zest with a mixer on medium speed in a large bowl until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. With the mixer running, add eggs, 1 at a time, then the vanilla. Reduce speed to low. Add the flour mixture in 3 additions, alternating with yogurt.
Spoon the batter evenly into cake pan. Sprinkle the chilled streusel evenly over the batter.
Bake until cake is golden brown and a tester inserted in the center comes out clean, about 55 minutes. Transfer pan to a wire rack set over a baking sheet, and let cool in pan for 15 minutes. Run a knife around the edges of the pan, and remove outer ring. Let cool on rack for 15 minutes. Run a knife around the center tube. Slide 2 wide spatulas between the bottom of the cake and the pan, and lift cake to remove from the center tube. Let cool completely on rack.

Make the glaze: Just before serving, stir together confectioners' sugar and lemon juice in a medium bowl. Drizzle over cooled cake, letting excess drip down the sides. Let glaze set before slicing, about 5 minutes. (Cake can be stored for up to 3 days. The lemon flavor will intensify with time.)

* I halved the recipe, used a regular 5-cup-capacity ring pan and let the cake cool completely before unmolding it

Serves 10-12

18 comments:

The Food Librarian said...

This looks just delicious! Who needs the glaze...this looks lovely as is! I love lemon cakes.

MARIA I. said...

QUE RICO!!!! QUE PINTA!!!! YO QUIERO SABER COMO SE HACE PERO NO SE INGLES

Gala said...

Yum Yum Yum!

Julia @ Mélanger said...

I do love a good lemon cake. When I first read the header, I thought you meant a lemon and coffee cake (as in the drink), not a lemon and coffee cake (as in the style of cake). Ahhhhhhh, mystery solved. I was very intrigued. But figured I recently make a chocolate and lemon cake so figured maybe this would be good, too. This looks lovely, and I really adore a light, tender cake.

anna said...

Ooh yummy! Lemon cake is so refreshing, and I imagine it's especially nice as a coffee cake with that lovely yummy struesel on top!

Abby said...

Lots of streusel! (That's my favorite part.)

Jennifer said...

Often times I dont have lemons on hand either..and limes are something I didnt start to regularly buy until moving south! This cake looks and sounds amazing!

eatme_delicious said...

Mmmm that thick layer of streusel looks so so very delicious. I think it's better without the glaze to hide the streusel.

diva said...

this coffee cake looks yummy! loving the streusel topping.

tracieMoo said...

I looks so cute from the first picture, just like a doughnut. the coffee cake looks really good! I'm sure coffee would go well with lemon.. shall try this soon. thanks for sharing!

Hilary said...

That is just ridiculously pretty. Almost too pretty to eat... almost.

Patricia Scarpin said...

Food Libraria, thank you! I love lemon cakes, too.

Maria, sorry, but I don't speak Spanish... :(

Gala, thank you!

Julia, chocolate and lemon?? I'm in for some. ;)
Thank you, darling!

Anna, very refreshing, indeed! I'm glad you like the topping, tks!

Abby, lots, lots! :D

Jen, limes here are insanely popular. :)
Thank you, darling!

Ashley, lots of streusel, yum! :D

Diva, thank you!

TracieMoo, tks for stopping by! And you are right - it does look like a doughnut! :D

Hilary, almost. :)
Thank you!

Chocolate Shavings said...

I love those napkins, where are they from? And the cake sounds amazing!

Patricia Scarpin said...

Hi, Jen!
I bought them in a small store in Sao Paulo - thank you!

Maria said...

Love this cake! Nice job!

Starr said...

I agree with the general consensus, no glaze required. I live near Phoenix, AZ, so during some months every year we have a glut of lemons. This cake is just what we need.

StarrsKitchen.com

Q's Eats said...

My gosh that sounds amazing. I LOVE LEMONS! (Used to hate them...thought everything lemon-flavored reminded me of furniture polish.)

Patricia Scarpin said...

Maria, thank you!

Starr, limes are much more common than lemons here in Brazil. Luckily, I love both!
Tks for commenting!

Q's Eats, I'm glad to hear you now love lemons - they are wonderful!
Tks for visiting!

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