Oranges and lemons -II

As promised in the earlier post on the Orange Cake. I finally got around to trying the same recipe for a Lemon cake as well.

The Lemons, or Lime that we usually get in India are not really the kind I like to use in a cake, primarily because they have a very thin skin and its almost impossible to get a good quantity of zest out of it, they also tend to be very high on the sour quotient. Having said that, I never shy away from making a regular Lemon drizzle cake with the Indian Limes as well, and the results have been super always.

I would have gone ahead and tried the recipe with the regular local limes, the only thing holding me back was the right frame of mind and moment, when things would be a little eased up and I would be in the mind set to experiment. That's when I chanced upon these Lemons, more commonly known as the Eureka Lemons. The cake was asking to be made.

This variety of lemon is classified as a “true” lemon and has a vibrant yellow rough skin that is medium-thin.
Eureka lemons have an acidic taste and not as sweet as some other types of lemons. This lemon variety is a good type of lemon to use for its juice and the abundant oils in the zest.

In my opinion, the ideal Lemons to use would be the European Lemons, they lend themselves brilliantly to cakes as they tend to have sweetish notes along with the acidic flavour.

I went ahead with the recipe exactly as I did with the Orange cake and juiced the actual quantity of lemon juice as mentioned in the recipe. I did add some sugar to the juice to make it palatable, but still the end result was a bit extra tarty than I would have preferred it to be. Though, a friend messaged to say, it was the best cake she had ever eaten :):)
Nevertheless, I would recommend using half quantity of juice and half quantity water of the actual amount of liquid mentioned in the recipe, and add sugar to make a lemonade kind of solution. Use a similar combination to soak the cake after baking as well.

I made this one as a loaf rather than a bundt pan, cooking time was almost similar as I had 4 loaves in the oven at the same time.

The texture was beautifully moist and crumbly. The flavour explosion of tangy and sweet was absolutely stunning. This recipe has definitely cemented its place in the list of my favourites.