Recipe from: Lightly Adapted from Martha Stewart | Serves: Serves 10-12
Ingredients:
For the Streusel:
1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1 teaspoon coarse salt
6 ounces (3/4 cup) cold unsalted butter
For the Cake:
5 Meyer lemons, cut into paper thin/transparent slices, ends discarded
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1-1/2 teaspoons coarse salt
4 ounces (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, room temp, plus more for pan
1 cup granulated sugar
3 Tablespoons finely grated Meyer lemon zest (from 5-6 lemons)
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup sour cream
For the Glaze:
2 cups confectioners' sugar
3 Tablespoons Meyer lemon juice
Directions:
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: Cook lemon slices in a medium saucepan of simmering water for 1 minute. Drain, and repeat. Arrange lemon slices in a single layer on a parchment-lined baking sheet.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 9-inch 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 sour cream.
Spoon 1/2 of the batter evenly into cake pan. Arrange 1/2 of the lemon slices in a single layer over the batter. Spread remaining batter evenly over the top. Cover with the remaining lemon slices in a single layer. 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.
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.
~One of the keys to this recipe is the paper thin slices of lemon. They must be paper thin or your rinds will not work properly in the cake. Make sure you have a sharp knife to slice.
- Recipe courtesy of Cathy Pollak