Lemon Moon
Around 50 years ago, a big Danish cake producer started making a cake called citronmåne or lemon moon, owing to the crescent shape and yellow colour. It quickly became one of those popular, convenient cakes your mum would pick up at the store when she didn’t have time to bake and the neighbour was due to pop over to discuss the latest gossip. This tangy, beautiful version of the supermarket classic is several degrees more delicious than the plastic-wrapped variety. It has certainly earned its prominent place in our ‘staples’ at our café.
Ingredients
- 200 g butter
- 200 g caster sugar
- 100 g marzipan minimum 50% almond content
- Seeds from 1 vanilla pod/ bean
- 5 eggs plus 1 yolk
- 200 g plain flour
- 1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- a pinch of salt
- grated zest and freshly squeezed juice of 1 lemon
- ICING/FROSTING:
- 150 g icing sugar sifted
- freshly squeezed lemon juice to taste
- 1 tablespoon hot water
- Grated zest of 1/2 lemon
- 1 teaspoon vanilla sugar or extract
- Chopped almonds to decorate
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 160°C (300°F) Gas 2.
- In a stand mixer or using a hand-held electric whisk, cream together the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. Grate the marzipan into the mixture, add the seeds from the vanilla pod/bean and mix again. Next add the eggs, one at a time, ensuring you incorporate fully between each addition and scraping down the sides of the bowl if necessary.
- Combine the flour, baking powder and salt. Sift into the cake mixture and fold with a spatula until combined. Add the lemon zest and half the juice and fold again. If the mixture seems too thick, you can add a bit more lemon juice.
- Pour the mixture into the prepared pan and bake in the preheated oven for around 1 hour or until a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean. Turn out the cake onto a wire rack and leave to cool completely before decorating.
- To make the icing, place the icing sugar in a bowl and add 2 tablespoons lemon juice and 1 tablespoon hot water, mixing in well. Add more lemon juice until you get to the consistency of runny honey: spreadable, but not so liquid that it runs off the cake.
- Add the lemon zest and vanilla and stir until smooth. If the icing/frosting becomes too runny, add a bit more icing/confectioners’ sugar.
- Decorate with chopped almonds or make a pattern with a darker coloured icing for a more traditional look.
Notes
Taken from the book Fika & Hygge by Bronte Aurell, published by Ryland Peters and Small.
