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Lemon Tea Cake

Lemon Tea Cake Recipe

Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 55 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 10 minutes
Servings: 8 servings
Calories: 290

Ingredients
  

  • 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
  • ½ teaspoon fine sea salt
  • ½ cup unsalted butter, softened
  • ¾ cup granulated sugar
  • 2 large eggs, at room temperature
  • 1 tablespoon lemon zest
  • 3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • ½ cup buttermilk, at room temperature
  • 1 cup powdered sugar
  • 2 to 3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice (for glaze)

Method
 

  1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease a 9x5-inch loaf pan and line with parchment. Whisk flour, baking powder, and salt in a bowl.
  2. Beat butter and sugar until pale and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Beat in eggs one at a time, then stir in lemon zest, juice, and vanilla.
  3. Fold in half the flour mixture, then the buttermilk, then the rest of the flour just until combined.
  4. Transfer batter to the pan and bake 50 to 55 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool in pan 10 minutes, then lift out onto a rack.
  5. Whisk powdered sugar with lemon juice, spoon glaze over warm cake, and let set 15 minutes before slicing.

Notes

If you don't have buttermilk, stir 1 ½ teaspoons lemon juice into ½ cup whole milk and let it sit 5 minutes. The cake tastes even better the next day; wrap it well and the lemon flavor deepens overnight. Total time does not include cooling and glazing.