I adore lemon cakes, and this one is a winner!

Ingredients

1/4 pound butter, plus more for greasing the pan

fine bread crumbs or flour for pan

1 1/2 cups sifted All-Purpose Flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

1/2 cup milk

1 ounce lemon extract (or 2 Tablespoons of fresh squeezed lemon juice)

1/2 cup blanched almonds (toasted and very finely ground)

zest from two large lemons

Glaze

1/3 cup sugar + 2 Tablespoons sugar

1/3 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice

Method:

Preheat oven 350 degrees F. Butter a 8.5 by 5 inch loaf pan.

Dust the pan with breadcrumbs or flour.

Sift together flour, salt, baking powder. Set aside.

Melt the butter on medium, in a small saucepan, and remove as soon as butter is all melted.  Add butter to a medium bowl and add the sugar, mixing well with a mixer. Add the eggs, one at a time, scraping down the sides as usual. Add the zest and blend well. Add the lemon extract, mixing well also.

Starting with the flour mixture, add one third of the flour mix to the butter mixture (i.e., the butter, eggs, sugar, extract, and lemon zest), mixing on low, then half the milk to the butter mixture, repeat, mixing only on low. End with the last third of the flour mixture. Add the ground almonds and fold into the mixture.

Pour the batter into the container and smooth the top with a spoon or spatula. Bake for an hour, more or less or until toothpick test in the center comes out clean.

2 to 3 minutes before taking out of the oven, make the glaze by adding the lemon juice and sugar to a small saucepan and heating only until the sugar is dissolved. Do not boil glaze.

When cake comes out of the oven, let cool for a few minutes, in pan. Brush glaze over cake in pan, letting it soak in slowly. Try not to do this all at once, but spend about 5 minutes only glazing a  little at a time, until all the liquid has been brushed over the entire area of the cake, soaking in sides and bottom. Gently push the cake from the sides with a butter knife, allowing the glaze to go to the bottom and sides of cake.

Let cool completely before taking it out of pan. **Maida suggests wrapping it in wax paper and refrigerating overnight before cutting, or wrap it in wax paper and put in the freezer for a couple of hours before cutting.

(I used sliced almonds, untoasted; it’s what I had. If you can find blanched ones, that would be better, but it doesn’t affect the taste.)

**The first cake I made, I cut into it the second day. It had stayed under a glass dome on the counter. The second one, I cut into the cake when it was cool. I don’t think it’s necessary to refrigerate it. Your choice.