Lemon Crunch Top Cake

To make this delicious, lemony treat, you need an 8-inch square cake pan, parchment paper to fit (and overlap), and a 350F preheated oven. You also need a sifter or a sieve, wax paper and a bowl or 2 bowls, a mixer or strong arms, toothpicks or a cake tester, and a rack to cool the cake on. You might also like some whipped cream. An aerosol will do, but homemade is better.

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter
• 3 cups cake flour

• 2t baking powder
• pinch of salt (optional)
• 3/4 c whole milk
• 2t vanilla extract or vanilla paste

• 1 1/2 c (heaping) sugar
• 1 lemon
• 3 egg whites (save the yolks for lemon meringue pie) or just whites from the dairy case at the grocery

Instructions

• Butter the cake pan, line it with parchment paper with an overhang of perhaps 2 inches on each side. Then butter the parchment paper and dust it with flour. Turn the pan sideways over a sheet of waxed paper and tap out the excess. You don’t want extra flour to clump things up.
• Preheat the oven to 350F. I do that second because my oven preheats so quickly.
• On a sheet of waxed paper, sift together about 2 1/2 cups cake flour, the baking powder, and salt if you are using it. Set aside.

• In a measuring cup, add vanilla to milk. Set aside.
• Take the lemon, wash it thoroughly, and grade the yellow parts of the skin until you have grated all of the zest from the lemon. Squeeze the juice from the lemon and pick out the seeds.

• In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites until they make soft peaks. I add a tiny bit of sugar, like a teaspoon.
• Using a mixer or your strong arms, beat the remaining butter (approximately 10 tablespoons) until it is light and fluffy. Add the remaining sugar (no more than 1 1/3 cup) and continue beating until it is completely incorporated. I use a stand mixer, and I stop and scrape down the sides so I don’t miss any of the sugar. Add the lemon juice and grated zest and mix in gently.
• Set the mixer on low and add the flour in 3 batches. Be careful, because if the mixer is too fast the flour will go everywhere (been there, done that). Alternate adding the milk with the flour, starting and ending with the flour. Do not overbeat. You aren’t trying to develop the gluten like in bread making, you just want to mix it in.
• Then fold the egg whites into the cake batter. Put into the prepared cake pan and smooth the top. Sprinkle the top with a little sugar. You can use regular granulated sugar, or golden sugar, or raw sugar. If you want to be fancy, you can add strips of thinly sliced strips of lemon zest, but I save that for guests.
• Bake until done, for about 30-40 minutes. If your oven runs hot, start checking at about 30 minutes. Use a toothpick or cake tester. Cool in the pan for about 20-30 minutes, then use the overlapping parchment to lift the cake out of the pan. Let it finish cooling on a rack.
• Serve with whipped cream for a wonderful light summer lemon cake.