Lemon Buttermilk Cake

So I had a carton of leftover buttermilk that I did not want to waste and heaps of lemon sitting in the pantry. I relied on Mr Google to spit out recipes as I type buttermilk and lemons in the search engine as ingredients. There was heaps on recipe to sieve through and I settled on the following.

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cup cake flour

1 tsp baking powder 

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

3/4 cup buttermilk

3 tbsp grated lemon zest

1/4 cup lemon juice

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 3/4 cups caster sugar

12 tbsp unsalted butter

3 large eggs plus 1 yolk

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line a 9 x13 baking pan with foil and lightly spray with oil.
2. Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl
3. Combine buttermilk, lemon juice and vanilla in a liquid measuring cup
4. With electric mixer on medium speed, beat sugar and lemon zest until moist and fragrant about 1 minute.
5. Transfer 1/4 cup sugar mixture to small bowl, cover and reserve.
6. Add butter to remaining sugar mixture and beat light and fluffy about 2 minutes.
7. Beat in eggs and yolk one at a time, until incorporated. Reduce speed to low.
8. Add flour mixture in 3 additions, alternating with 2 additions of buttermilk mixture and mix until smooth. 
9. Scrape batter into prepared pan and smooth top. Bake until cake is golden brown for about 25 to 30 minutes, insert a toothpick and if it comes out clean the cake is ready. Transfer to a wire rack and let cool for 10 minutes.

Glaze:

3 cups icing sugar

2 tbsp lemon juice

2 tbsp buttermilk 

Method:

• Whisk icing sugar, lemon juice and buttermilk until smooth. Gently spread glaze over warm cake and sprinkle evenly with reserve sugar and zest mixture. 
• Cool completely for at least 2 hours before serving.

The sponge cake had a nice hint of lemon in it, it was soft and spongey. Hubby felt that it could have done without the icing as he's trying to cut down on his sugar intake but I felt that it make the cake look "naked" without anything to cover the top so I told him to scrape off the icing if he did not want it on his cake. Easy problem solved, anyway do try the recipe and if you like do without the icing.