Violet Bakery's lemon drizzle loaf
20
- Makes8 servings
Photo, Kristin Perers.
Ingredients
1 cup plus 3 tbsp unsalted butter, softened plus more for greasing the pan (265 g)
1 1/3 cups sugar, (265 g)
zest from 3 or 4 lemons
3 eggs
1 3/4 cups plus 2 tbsp all-purpose flour, (265 g)
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
6 1/2 tbsp milk, (100 g)
Lemon drizzle
1 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp water
2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
Icing
1 3/4 cups icing sugar, (250 g)
2 tbsp lemon juice
Instructions
PREHEAT your oven to 180°C/355°F (160°C/320°F convection). 10-by-4-in. loaf pan and line the base and sides with parchment paper, extending the paper about 2 in. above the top of the pan.
FIRST make the sponge. In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream the butter and sugar well, though you don’t want as fluffy a mixture as you would for a layer cake. Zest the lemons into the butter mixture and mix thoroughly. Beat in the eggs one at a time, making sure each one is thoroughly mixed in before adding the next.
IN a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Mix half of this into the creamed butter mixture, scraping down the sides, until barely combined.
WHILE the mixer is still going, beat in all the milk. Then add the remaining flour and mix until just combined. Scrape the bowl and give it one last mix.
SCOOP the mixture into the prepared pan and smooth the top with an icing spatula or rubber spatula.
BAKE for 50 to 60 minutes, until the top of the cake is springy and an inserted skewer comes out clean.
TO make the lemon drizzle, combine the sugar, water, and lemon juice in a small pan and heat just until the sugar is melted. Do not let this boil, or the fresh flavour will be lost.
USE a skewer to poke holes evenly throughout the baked loaf. Pour the lemon drizzle over the loaf and let it soak in while you make the icing.
IN a small bowl, whisk together the confectioners’ sugar and lemon juice until smooth.
TO remove the loaf cake from the pan, run a small paring knife along the inside of the pan, then tilt the pan on its side and coax the loaf out, using the parchment paper as a handle. Peel off the paper and turn the loaf upright on your cooling rack or worktop. Drizzle the icing over the loaf and let it drip down the sides. Use a spatula to lift the loaf onto a serving dish. This keeps well for up to 3 days in an airtight container.
How to make lemon loaf
Kitchen tip: All our lemons at Violet come from the Amalfi coast of Italy. They are large and sweet and have a very thick and pithy peel.
Excerpted from The Violet Bakery Cookbook by Claire Ptak. Copyright © 2015 by Claire Ptak. Photographs copyright © 2015 by Kristin Perers. Published in the United States by Ten Speed Press, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House LLC, New York. Reproduced by arrangement with the Publisher. All rights reserved.