Maida Heatter’s Best Damn Lemon Cake

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Over the weekend, I told a friend that I was running out of ideas of things to bake. That’s not exactly accurate. I have a lot of ideas, I just can’t seem to put them into action. My perfectionism gets in the way. It seems I have a sort of “baker’s block”.

I think the antidote to that (not being able to produce something, either from fear of failure and uncertainty, or wanting something to be perfect and/or unique) is to just make something that others have made already, including yourself. And to just accept that you are not going to make something that is your personal thing, with your unique spin on it.

But at least you will make something good.

Enter Maida Heatter. She has several baking books out. She is an authority on baking. She’s been baking for decades. She doesn’t do the internet. She is 98. (Here is an interview a few years back with the LA times. Adorable.) If you ever have baker’s block, get some of her books and make one of her recipes. You’ll be glad you did.

Several months ago I purchased a used copy of Maida Heatter’s New Book of Great Desserts, finding a receipt from a grocery store in Austin, Texas, tucked somewhere in the middle of the book. On the back of the receipt (dated 1983!), someone had scribbled three recipes that I’m assuming they either wanted to try, or maybe they were just making a note of what recipes they liked best. This was one of the three. Having seen photos from other food bloggers of this “damn” cake, I decided that this was the cake to make. I already made the Budapest Coffee Cake, and the Robert Redford Cake. Both are fantastic.

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Maida Heatter declares this the best damn lemon cake. It is called “The Best Damn Lemon Cake” in her book.

She is not exaggerating. It is sturdy without being dry. Lemony without being overkill. Moist without being sticky, which is unbelievable considering how much of the glaze has to be absorbed into the cake. But all that thick, syrupy, liquid glaze magically disappears when you give it time to do so. There is much to like about this cake.

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The key to making the best damn lemon cake is to follow the directions as close as you can to the original. I did not try to toy with making it my own or to try adding something to make it stand out. Because it already stands out, and why mess with a good thing?

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The Best Damn Lemon Cake (by Maida Heatter, from her book, Maida Heatter’s New Book of Great Desserts)

ingredients

1/4 # butter, plus more for greasing the pan

fine bread crumbs for pan

1 1/2 cups sifted All-Purpose Flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

1/2 cup milk

1 ounce lemon extract

1/2 cup blanched almonds (toasted and very finely ground)

zest from two large lemons

glaze

1/3 cup sugar + 2 Tablespoons sugar

1/3 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice

method:

Preheat oven 350 degrees F. Butter a 6-cup loaf pan (typically 8.5 by 4.5 inch. A pan with the same volume but different dimensions will still work, it just may have a different bake time.) An aluminum pan is best. Do not double the recipe for a larger loaf (I’m usually guilty of doing just that!). Avoid using a glass pan. (My only sin with not following the recipe exactly. I used a glass pan, because that’s all I had. :-/ Oh well. It still turned out good.)

Dust the pan with plain, fine bread crumbs. Set aside.

Sift together flour, salt, baking powder. Set aside.

Melt the butter on medium, in a small saucepan, and remove as soon as butter is all melted.  Add butter to a medium bowl and add the sugar, mixing well with a hand held mixer. Add the eggs, one at a time, scraping down the sides as usual. Add the zest and blend well. Add the lemon extract, mixing well also.

Starting with the flour mixture, add one third of the flour mix to the butter mixture (i.e., the butter, eggs, sugar, extract, and lemon zest), mixing on low, then half the milk to the butter mixture, repeat, mixing only on low. End with the last third of the flour mixture. Add the ground almonds and fold into the mixture.

Pour the batter into the container and smooth the top with a spoon or spatula. Bake for an hour, more or less or until toothpick test in the center comes out clean.

2 to 3 minutes before taking out of the oven, make the glaze by adding the lemon juice and sugar to a small saucepan and heating only until the sugar is dissolved. Do not boil glaze.

When cake comes out of the oven, let cool for a few minutes, in pan. Brush glaze over cake in pan, letting it soak in slowly. Try not to do this all at once, but spend about 5 minutes only glazing a  little at a time, until all the liquid has been brushed over the entire area of the cake, soaking in sides and bottom. I gently pushed the cake from the sides with a butter knife, allowing the glaze to go to the bottom and sides of cake.

Let cool until warm in the pan before removing the pan, then let it cool completely before taking it out of pan and wrapping in wax paper and refrigerating overnight before cutting. Maida also says that you can wrap it in wax paper and put in the freezer for a couple of hours before cutting. (Which is what I did, because there was no way in hell I was going to wait a day to cut into this!)

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Also according to Maida, this cake keeps well, and actually tastes better the longer it sits. It lasts several days. (As If something like this would ever last in our household! Ha!)

28 responses to “Maida Heatter’s Best Damn Lemon Cake”

  1. Tried and true are the best! This looks absolutely delicious and so moist. Every time I think I’ve made something I feel is unique, I hear from someone telling me that they make that too! That’s fine, I’ll just keep a cookin’ 🙂

    Liked by 2 people

    • Thanks Julie! Yup I know the feeling. Was talking with a friend how everything has been done and it’s just a question of finding them through the internet! Have a good week!

      Like

  2. That looks so fabulous – I love the detail you have gone into and feel slightly ashamed to not have heard of this lady before. But never mind, I’ve gone onto Amazon and ordered a copy from the used sectioned as there is no hope that I will find a copy here in the UK!!

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  3. Your definitely right about this lemon cake being the best.. it looks SO incredibly delicious and moist too. Think I have to try the recipe out as I am craving a slice to devour right now!

    Liked by 2 people

    • Hi Marie! Yes. You can grind it in a food processor, blender, or coffee grinder. You can also use pre-ground almond meal, or almond flour. You want to grind it fairly well. Thanks for stopping by!

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  4. Damnit Jim, this does look like a great lemon cake, but not sure if it will help Scotty and the warp drive!! I’m guilty of trying to change things up as well, but in baking, it’s a dangerous idea sometimes. I recently came up with a Big red “red velvet” cake…omg it’s good but I haven’t shared it because I have a local BBQ place I basically designed it for and may sell it to them,, they have been slow in deciding though, so I just might post it anyway,,😁

    Liked by 1 person

  5. Thank you for posting this recipe. It’s a family favorite, but I loaned my Maida cake book to a friend, so I turned to the internet today. Just a few items for editing: the recipe is missing a few units- “1/2 ____ blanched almonds”, “1/3 ____ sugar” and there is no mention of combining the butter/sugar/eggs/lemon zest with the other ingredients – it just refers to alternating milk and flour mixture- might be a bit confusing if you’re a virgin Best Damn Lemon Cake baker. Thanks again- especially from my lemon loving daughter!

    Liked by 1 person

    • Thanks! I will be amending the method section to include those things! Thanks so much for taking the time to help me be a better writer of recipe!!

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  6. This is not the same recipe I have – makes a smaller cake and the original uses buttermilk and fresh lemon juice – are there multiple “authentic” recipes?

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    • Interesting. I do not know if there are other “authentic” recipes out there, but I did get the recipe straight from the book. I noticed other people online using the same recipe and calling it the same name and giving credit to Maida Heatter, so as far as authenticity goes, this is what I found in the book.

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    • I figured it out! She also has a buttermilk lemon cake recipe that’s different from this one. So it’s not the same recipe.

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  7. ONE OUNCE of an extract?! But extracts are so concentrated! Is this an “error” or are there different strengths of lemon extract out there…?

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    • Hi Monika,
      It’s true! I know, it’s crazy, huh! My edition of her book says very specifically “one 1-ounce bottle lemon extract” and I looked online at other people’s posts of this recipe, and they say either “1 ounce” or “2 Tablespoons.” It’s been a while since I’ve made this, but I’m certain I followed the recipe exactly and used 1 ounce of lemon extract, but being that the recipe was from a long time ago, it does make me wonder whether extracts were possibly less concentrated in the past. I don’t recall thinking that the lemon flavor was too much, and I remember really liking it, so maybe it’s how Maida intended it to be, but you are not wrong to point that out. I’ve not used that much extract in anything before or since this cake. And the few other recipes where I’ve used lemon extract has always been a lot less of lemon extract, like 2 teaspoons, sometimes less.

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      • Many decades ago when I first made this loaf, I couldn’t afford lemon extract. Instead I upped the lemon zest from 3 medium lemons to 5, and added 4 TBSP of vanilla. It was still pretty wonderful. Thank you for posting Maida Heatter’s recipe online, so that many other bakers may discover her recipe.

        Liked by 1 person

  8. I’ve made this cake before and it really DAMN DELICIOUS. Used modern time lemon extract as directed. She’s a great baker. Next try her chocolate mousse cake!

    Liked by 1 person

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