Passport & Plate - Lemon Sponge Cake
USA | Friday, March 6, 2015 | 5 photos
Ingredients
For the Cake:
200 grams unsalted butter
1 cup maple syrup
Zest of 3 lemons
Seeds of 1 vanilla bean
280 grams almond flour/almond meal
4 eggs
5 tablespoons psyllium seed husk powder
Two pinches of salt
For the Syrup:
Juice of 3 lemons
2/3 cup maple syrup
How to prepare this recipePreheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Butter either a 9 inch spring form cake pan or a 9 inch bunt pan and line with parchment. The pan you use is a matter of preference, if you want a traditional cake with a dense vanilla center or a taller cake with more citrus flavor.
Take a small pairing knife and slice open the vanilla bean. Use the side of the blade to scrape out the seeds.
Place vanilla bean seeds, butter, and zest in the mixer with paddle attachment and mix until butter is fluffy. Reduce speed and slowly add the maple syrup. Begin to add the almond meal and the eggs, alternating between the two in 3 batches, ending with eggs. Add the psyllium seed husk powder and the salt. Blend until just incorporated. Detach the bowl and mix for a moment by hand with a rubber spatula, making scraping down the sides and making sure there are no lumps.
Pour batter into your pan of choice and gently level out the batter with your rubber spatula.
Bake in the oven for 50-60 minutes until the top is browned and a skewer comes out clean. If the sides of the cake are pulling away from the pan, it's definitely ready.
When the cake is almost done, begin to make the syrup. Place both ingredients in a small saucepan and heat until bubbling. Reduce to heathy simmer and stir regularly until reduced by half, about 15 to 20 minutes.
Once the cake comes out of the oven, brush the cake immediately with the syrup. Be sure to generously brush the sides. It seems like a lot of syrup but continue to brush the cake until all the syrup has been absorbed. Allow the cake to cool for 20 minutes and serve warm or allow to cool completely in the pan and serve at room temperature.
The story behind this recipeLemon cake was the first thing I ever baked on my own. From a young age, cakes from a box weren't enough, so I opened my grandmother's handed down copy of "Joy of Cooking" and labored over Lemon Cake. I began to make this my very own tradition and started to make it every year for my birthday, proud of my cake and overjoyed by the recognition it got me in my family of cooks. Then one year, disaster struck. I had set the oven for the wrong temperature and instead of the fluffy, towering cake I had grown to love, I pulled out a dense, solid pudding. My family and friends at my birthday party ate it and loved it, but I was still horrified. That was the last time I ever made that cake.
Fast forward to winter of 2013. I was in college studying my other passion, theater, but food was still a huge part of my life. I was cooking all the time, mostly savory food, exploring what was my distinct palate and style. The kitchen, in a lot of ways, was my home away from home, a way to connect with my far-away family and my self. That fall, I was doing a semester abroad in London, studying theater. I was struggling to find connections with the people and grappling with the challenges of the school work. After a particularly hard day, I finally went into the store front that I had passed so many times but never entered; Ottolenghi's. And there, in the window, were the most beautiful lemon pistachio cakes. It was love at first bite. I was transported by his flavors, his colors, and his fresh look at traditional recipes. I bought his cookbook and began to experiment with his citrus cake recipes, especially the ones with nut flour. Not only did I like the idea of baking only with whole foods, but these moist rich cakes seemed to redeem that cake I made all those years ago. So here's my latest version of the lemon cake I made as a child, now meant to be dense and delicious for it.
