
I don't eat too many sweets these days, a happy side effect of increasing the amount of protein I eat (if you have an uncontrollable sweet tooth, protein can curb sugar cravings!)
However, I still love to bake and enjoy the occasional sweet treat.
In the grip of winter, when fresh florida citrus arrives at my family's farm store, I go crazy over lemons, oranges and grapefruit.
This lemon loaf is moist and intensely flavored with both lemon zest and juice, and isn't too sweet. I use olive oil because I think it pairs well with the lemon, but melted butter would work as well.
The brightness of this teacake is owed to the lemon syrup brushed on top of the cake while it's still warm. If you want a more mellow loaf, omit the syrup, and just use the lemon glaze.
Teacake ingredients:
-1 cup almond meal
-1 cup gluten free all purpose flour blend (I use Bob's Red Mill "1 to 1", I imagine other blends would work just as well)
-2 teaspoons baking powder
-1/2 teaspoon sea salt
-2 tablespoons poppy seeds (optional)
-3 lemons, zested (set juice aside for lemon syrup and glaze)
-3/4 cup cane sugar
-3 eggs
-1/2 cup olive oil
-1/2 cup plain, unsweetened yogurt
Lemon syrup ingredients:
-1 tablespoons sugar
-2 tablespoons lemon juice
Lemon glaze ingredients:
-1 cup powdered sugar
-1-2 tablespoons lemon juice
Method:
Preheat oven to 325 F. Prepare a 8"x5" loaf pan by lining it with parchment paper. Alternatively, rub softened butter all over the inside of the loaf pan.
In a large bowl, combine almond meal, gluten free flour blend, baking powder, salt, and poppyseeds, whisk well to combine.
In a separate mixing bowl, combine sugar and lemon zest, using your hands to massage the sugar into the zest to release the lemon's oils. Then add in the eggs, olive oil and plain yogurt, whisking thoroughly until smooth.
Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and whisk well, until the batter is smooth. No need to fear over-mixing here, because gluten free flour does not contain gluten, which is the culprit for toughness in baking with ingredients that contain gluten.
Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan, and bake for 25 minutes. Rotate the loaf pan at the 25 minute mark, and bake for another 25 or so, until the cake is lightly golden brown, and a knife or toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, with no sign of wet batter.
Set cake aside to cool in the loaf pan, while you prepare the lemon syrup. In a small saucepan over low heat, combine lemon juice and sugar and bring to a simmer while stirring to dissolve the sugar. Once the sugar is dissolved, brush the syrup repeatedly over the top of the cake until the syrup is gone and the cake has absorbed it all.
Once the cake has cooled to room temperature, gently remove from the loaf pan using the parchment paper to lift the cake out of the pan.
Finally, prepare your lemon glaze by whisking powdered sugar with 1 tablespoon of lemon juice to start. Add more lemon juice if needed to make a thick glaze- you want it thicker than heavy cream, but thin enough that it will slowly fall from a spoon in ribbons. If you add too much lemon juice, simply whisk in a bit more 10x sugar until the consistency is right. Slowly drizzle over the cooled cake.
This cake can be served right away, but I think it's even better day 2 and 3, if kept in an airtight container. The lemon syrup and glaze keep the cake moist and the flavor intensifies a bit as the cake sits.
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