adapted from a Betty Crocker recipe
Lemon Custard:
1/4 cup granulated sugar
2 Tbsp cornstarch
3/4 cup cold water
3 egg yolks
1 Tbsp grated lemon zest
3 Tbsp lemon juice
Cake:
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
5 eggs
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp grated lemon zest
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp vanilla
1/3 cup pine nuts, lightly toasted
(250 degrees for 2 to 3 minutes – watch them VERY carefully to prevent burning)
Two possible garnish options:
a sprinkle of powdered sugar
OR
Make a glaze of 4 Tbsp lemon juice and enough powdered sugar to make a drizzling consistency (about 1 cup). Drizzle over cake, using a fork. Sprinkle each glazed cake slice with a tiny bit more grated lemon zest.
1. In small, heavy saucepan, whisk together 1/4 cup of the granulated sugar and the cornstarch. Stir in water and egg yolks with a wire whisk until well mixed and no lumps remain. Heat to boiling over medium heat, stirring constantly, until mixture begins to thicken. Cook and stir 1 minute, remove from heat. Stir in 1 Tbsp lemon zest and the lemon juice. Refrigerate, uncovered, 20 minutes, stirring once, until room temperature.
2. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease bottom and side of a 9-inch springform pan with butter; lightly flour. In large bowl, beat butter and 1 cup granulated sugar with electric mixer on medium speed about 1 minute or until smooth.
3. Beat in eggs, one at a time, until just blended, then continue beating on medium speed 2 minutes, scraping bowl once. On low speed, beat in flour, 2 tsp lemon zest, the baking powder and vanilla about 30 seconds or until just blended.
4. Spread half of cake batter (about 2 cups) in bottom of pan. Spoon custard evenly onto batter, spreading to 1/2 inch of edge. Drop remaining batter by tablespoonfuls around edge of custard and pan. Spread batter evenly and toward center to cover custard. Sprinkle pine nuts over top.
5. Bake 45 to 55 minutes or until center is set, cake is firm to the touch and top is golden brown. Cool in pan on wire rack at least 1 hour (center will sink slightly). Run think knife around side of cake; remove side of pan. Sprinkle with powdered sugar before serving. Serve warm or cool. Store covered in refrigerator.
Makes 12 servings.
Skip to content
The leading authority on basketball cupcakes and Basil-Lime martinis…
You didn’t say how you liked this….
It was actually quite good. If I make it again, I will add more lemon zest to make it a little tangier, since I like things that way. I also think it would be better if drizzled with a little lemony glaze, rather than the powdered sugar. It’s not super-sweet, so it’s great for people that don’t like cloyingly sweet desserts. If you prefer less sweet desserts, I would NOT do the glaze, but would stick with the powdered sugar. The original recipe called for almonds, but I definitely think the pine nuts were nice. Also, I sure have spread the custard out a little thicker at the edges. The custard seemed to concentrate near the middle, so each slice really only had custard at the pointed end and the back (“crust”) part of the cake was a little dry. I’m being way picky about it…it was really good, I would just make those minor modifications for next time and it will be STELLAR. It’s very impressive-looking, too. It looks really “fancy gourmet”, but it’s not hard to make at all.