East 62Nd Street Lemon Cake - cooking recipe

Ingredients

3 cups sifted all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
8 ounces unsalted butter (2 sticks)
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
1 cup milk
2 lemons, zest of, large
Glaze
1/3 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice
2/3 cup sugar

Preparation

Position oven rack 1/3 up from the bottom of the oven; preheat oven to 350\u00b0.Butter a 12-cup capacity bundt pan; dust it lightly with fine, dry breadcrumbs; set aside.
Sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt; set aside.
In a large bowl of an electric stand mixer, beat the butter until soft; add in the sugar and beat until incorporated.
Beat in the eggs one at a time, scraping the bowl as necessary (the mixture might look curdled-that is ok).
On lowest speed add the dry ingredients alternately in three additions with the milk in two additions, beating only until incorporated after each addition.
Remove the bowl from the mixer; stir in lemon rind.
Turn the batter into the prepared pan; level the top of the batter by rotating the pan briskly from left to right-and from right to left.
Bake for 1 hour and 5-10 minutes until a pick comes out clean.
Let the cake stand in the pan for 5 minutes, then cover with a rack and invert.
Remove from the pan, leaving the cake upside down.
Place over a large piece of foil or wax paper; prepare the glaze.
The glaze: the glaze should be used immediately after it is mixed; mix the lemon juice and sugar together; brush it all over the hot cake; the cake will absorb it.
Let cool completely and then transfer to a cake plate; it is best to wait a few hours before cutting the cake.
**May substitute 1/2 cup key lime juice for the lemon juice, but Ms. Heatter recommends not changing the lemon rind to lime rind.