meyer lemon syrup cake

for the last 12 or so weeks, i have been attending as many of the master gardener classes as possible.  each week, a small group of certified members has attended in a sort of welcome wagon capacity.  we also bring refreshments for the break.  they have dubbed me the cake lady because i bring a cake each week.  i suppose they could call me worse things than that...

a recent trip to the store yielded a mesh bag of meyer lemons.  these lemons with orange colored skin, have a flavor that is not quite lemon and not quite orange and it is definitely worth seeking them out when they are in season.

if i am baking with citrus, the zest is the part i use.  i used the juice to make a glaze that i brushed over the cake.

meyer lemon syrup cake

1 (10-12) cup bundt cake serving about 16

8 ounces unsalted butter, softened

2 1/2 cups sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

zest of 2 meyer lemons

4 eggs

4 cups unbleached all purpose flour

4 teaspoons baking powder

2 cups buttermilk

2 tablespoons freshly squeezed juice from the zested lemons

3 tablespoons sugar

preheat the oven to 350.  grease and flour a bundt pan and set it aside.  place the butter into a mixing bowl with the sugar, salt and zest and on low speed, mix to combine.  turn the mixer up to medium and allow the mixture to cream until light and fluffy.  add the eggs, one at a time and mix to combine.  scrape the bowl as you go. from here on, it is best to mix by hand so if you are not using a wide shallow bowl, transfer the batter to different bowl that will make folding the batter by hand a little easier.  place the flour and baking powder into a sifter and sift it over the batter.  fold this a couple times.  sprinkle the buttermilk over the batter and gently fold until no streaks remain.  scrape the batter into the prepared pan and bake until a pick inserted comes out clean, about 1 hour and 10 minutes.  

make the glaze by combining the juice and the sugar along with 2 tablespoons of water in a small pan.  bring to a gentle boil and let it cook for a minute or two.  be sure to do this over low heat or you will evaporate most of the glaze and be left with either a thick syrup or a burned pan...brush a little of this over the cake while it is still in the pan.  after it has cooled in the pan for about 10-15 minutes, invert the cake onto a rack, pierce it with a fork a few times and brush the remaining glaze over the top and the sides of the cake.  allow it to cool completely before cutting.