Outrageous lemon cake

If you like lemons -- this cake is perfect for you!  It's very easy to make and tastes amazingly.  I changed the original recipe by adding more than triple (!) the amount of lemon juice and zest to boost the lemon flavor.  Although they say baking is an exact science and you shouldn't experiment with the amount of ingredients, I got away with this by adding a bit more sugar and flour.

The result is a delicious, over-the-top lemon cake, enhanced by the very sour-sweet icing make purely of lemon juice & zest, and sugar. 

This cake is perfect for any occasion.  Exquisite enough to be served during special celebrations or holidays, but so easy that it can also be made on an ordinary day.  In fact, it's just so good, that there is no point in not making it all the time.

I first prepared it for the Easter holidays -- the lightness and freshness of the cake are a great reflection of the lightness and freshness of the coming Spring.  Meanwhile, any excuse has become good to prepare it, so I baked it during last Christmas season -- though strictly speaking there is nothing really Christmassy or Wintery about it.  But my family made it very clear they wanted this cake for Christmas too, and this was not up for any discussion.  "Who cares what it reflects, cut the bla-bla-bla, just bake the cake!"

If you have a nice bundt cake form, you can definitely use it, as the cake will easily take any shape and come out of the form.  You can also experiment with the decorating.  I usually ice it, and decorate it with caramelized lemon -- quick, delicious and the effect it easy on the eye.

So -- what are you waiting for?  Grab some lemons and bake!

The recipe is adapted from a recipe by gosiowo, that I found about 8 years ago on a Polish discussion forum.

Ingredients:

• 180 g of flour
• 130 g of good quality butter (room temperature)
• 100 g + 2 tbsp of sugar
• 3 eggs
• 1 package of lemon kissel (available in any Polish store, e.g. by Dr. Oetker)
• Juice and zest of 2 lemons
• 1 tsp of baking powder
• 1 additional lemon for decoration
• Confectioner's sugar for decoration

Directions:

• Preheat the oven to 180 °C.
• Mix the butter, 100g of sugar and eggs until smooth.  Add flour, kissel, baking powder, lemon juice and zest and mix again to combine.
• Butter a round baking tin (23 cm in diameter) and sprinkle with flour or breadcrumbs.  Pour batter in tin.
• Bake cake for around 40 minutes.  Let cool.
• Prepare icing: gently heat 2 tbsp of lemon juice with the zest of 1/2 lemon and enough confectioner's sugar to make a smooth icing.  
• At the same time, slide the other half of the lemon (cut the slices in half if you want), put in a pan over high heat and sprinkle with 2 tbsp of sugar.  Let the sugar caramelize, turn the lemons and watch them closely.
• Decorate the cake with the icing and caramelized lemons.

Bon appetit!