Great-Grandma’s Lemon Cake

Name: Great-Grandma's Lemon Cake
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 1 h 5 min
Total time: 1 h 25 min
Yield: 2 cakes (24 servings).
Cuisine: Comfort Food Desserts, Comfort Food Recipes
Ingredients: 5 large eggs, separated; 1 cup butter, softened; 3 cups sugar; 1 tablespoon finely shredded lemon zest; 3 tablespoons lemon juice; 4 cups all-purpose flour; 1/2 teaspoon baking soda; 1 cup milk; Confectioners' sugar

"Baking and giving" is a hobby of mine, and I love to bake my gifts by using old-fashioned recipes like this one, which was my great-grandmother's. There aren't too many shortcuts in these directions, but I enjoy aspect of "measuring and mixing"! This is one of my favorites, copied down from my mother's old cookbook.

Ingredients

5 large eggs, separated
1 cup butter, softened
3 cups sugar
1 tablespoon finely shredded lemon zest
3 tablespoons lemon juice
4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup milk
Confectioners' sugar

Directions

Let eggs stand at room temperature for 30 minutes. In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar. In a small bowl, beat egg yolks until thick and lemon-colored. Add to creamed mixture and beat well. Stir in lemon zest and juice. Combine flour and baking soda; add alternately with milk. In another bowl, beat egg whites on high speed until stiff peaks form; fold into batter.
Pour into two well-greased 9x5-in. loaf pans. Bake at 325° for 65-70 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pans to wire racks to cool completely. Dust tops with confectioners' sugar.

If Cooking for Two: Wrap and freeze one cake to enjoy later.

Nutrition Facts

1 piece: 262 calories, 9g fat (5g saturated fat), 66mg cholesterol, 122mg sodium, 42g carbohydrate (25g sugars, 1g fiber), 4g protein.

Originally published as Great-Grandma's Lemon Cake in Reminisce July/August 1993

Reviews

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Average Rating:

Grannymoira

Sep 20, 2012

Quite a nice cake but not lemony enough. I added twice the amount of lemon peel & juice too,. Drizzled lemon juice mixed with sugar over the top as soon as it came out of the oven- made it lovely & moist on the top but slightly dry underneath.