I am between homes right now while I wait to move into my apartment. I’m currently splitting my time with two of my brothers and their families, one living in Santa Rosa and the other in the Bay Area. As much as I’ve enjoyed visits with them, I really miss cooking and baking in my own kitchen. Like, AH-lot!
As much as I enjoy the comfort of my own kitchen, it wasn’t too shabby baking this Mediterranean Lemon Cake in my brother’s gigantic gourmet kitchen.
This morning I woke up early just to bake another recipe from Pastries by Allison Pray and Tara Smith.
If you ever think you don’t need or want cookbooks because of the easy access to online recipes, there really is nothing more delightful than slowly flipping through pages of mouthwatering food photos and recipes on a lazy Saturday morning.
I love this easy cake. In fact I’ve tried a few good recipes from this fabulous cookbook. I made a few minor changes to this one, like adding vanilla extract to the batter and just rounding measurements. For example, I used two tablespoons instead of “2 tablespoons plus 1 1/2 teaspoons” which the recipe called for.
The thing that makes this cake extra special is the lemony sweet drizzle and the powdered sugar.
Enjoy!
Mediterranean Lemon Cake
Ingredients
- 1 2/3 cups all purpose flour
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- pinch salt
- 6 tablespoons 3/4 stick unsalted butter, melted and cooled
- 1/3 cup olive oil
- 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 1 cup sugar
- zest from 2 lemons
- 4 eggs room temperature
- 2 tablespoons milk room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- For lemon syrup:
- 1/4 cup sugar
- juice from 1 lemon
- optional powdered sugar for final topping
Instructions
- Heat overn to 375 degrees. Spray 9-inch springform pan with cooking spray, or wipe evenly with butter.
- In medium mixing bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt.
- In small bowl, combine melted butter, olive oil and lemon juice.
- In bowl of stand mixer fitted with whisk attachment, combine sugar and lemon zest on low speed. Add the eggs and mix on medium-high speed until the mixture is smooth and pale yellow, about 4-5 minutes.
- Add the milk and vanilla extract; mix until combined.
- Reduce speed to low and add flour mixture, beating together until moistened.
- Slowly add the butter and oil mixture, beating just until it is incorporated.
- Pour batter into the pan and bake for 30 minutes. Check cake at 25 minutes. When done, the cake should spring back when pressed with in the center.
- Prepare lemon syrup by heating 1/4 cup water, sugar, lemon juice in small pan. Heat on medium low until sugar is dissolved. Set aside, and cover to keep warm.
- After cooled, remove cake from pan.
- Gently drizzle and brush lemon syrup over the top and sides of *warm* cake.
What a beautiful cake, I mean it’s so pretty!! And love that lemon drizzle! Happy moving!!
Lazy Sunday mornings are perfect for flipping through cookbooks as well! I spent some time yesterday morning with the Bouchon Bakery cookbook and a cup of coffee and picked out a few recipes to try soon. That lemon cake looks wonderful!
I’ve made this cake twice. It’s very good, however, each time I’ve made it, the middle is uncooked. Any thoughts? I used a springform and cooked it a few minutes longer.
Hi there. I didn’t have that issue, but it sounds like you just need to bake it a few minutes longer. If the outside looks too done, you may need to bake at a lower temperature. Hope that helps.
Made this for a lady for her birthday. Recipe was really good, simple and easy to follow. Thank you for the recipe. 🙂
Good to know! Thank you!
I’m making tandoori chicken for dinner tonight–this sounds like it would be perfect for an after dinner treat
Tandoori chicken sounds wonderful. I need to try that! I think this would be a good dessert for that menu!
Just made this after my son requested a lemon birthday cake. Im a very experienced baker and typically bake things wheat free and/or dairy free for an illness i have but this one was a speacial request so had to do it properly. Easy to make and I left it a few extra minutes in the oven too. Absolute perfection. Great cake so I’m told by all who ate it.
Thank you so much for sharing! I love this cake too. 🙂
Step 5 says to add milk and vanilla, but I don’t see vanilla in the ingredients.
Thanks for letting me know. I will add one teaspoon of vanilla extract to the ingredient list. If you made it without, I’m sure it would have been fine. 🙂
FABULOUS cake! Thanks so much for this recipe. I made it and snapped a pic – http://www.weirdlittlefrenchcookie.com/mediterranean-lemon-cake/ – I would definitely make this again.
So glad you enjoyed!!!!
This looks heavenly! Sadly I don’t have a springform pan is there any chance I could substitute for something else?
Try a larger cake pan. You would then just cut out the pieces like a pie (and it wouldn’t look as lovely) – but it would work.:)
Can you make this ahead of time? Like the day before or a couple hours before the party?
Yes, I would freeze the cake part only. Before the party, drizzle with the lemon and sprinkle the powdered sugar. Enjoy!