Sheep in Wolf's Clothing

The loaf shaped dessert cake has long meant one thing to me - pound cake -intensely rich, a dangerously decadent treat. But all that has changed. Behold the lemon cake.

I can already see you puckering up your lips. But you don't have to, it's not that lemony. It's very delicate. Something to have a slice of with tea. Or for breakfast, if you're my husband. Even though I've made it a few times now, I'm still always surprised at exactly how light it is. And I'm excited for the summer, because come raspberry season, I'm doubling this recipe and baking it in round tins, adding some lemon curd filling and some raspberry filling and making into the showpiece it deserves to be. But for now, it's one tasty non-threatening treat.

LEMON CAKE
adapted from Barefoot Contessa, episode Going, Going, Gone
INGREDIENTS:
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup plain yogurt (I used non-fat)
1 1/3 cups sugar, divided (1 cup for cake, 1/3 for glaze)
3 extra-large eggs (I used egg-beaters)
2 teaspoons grated lemon zest (2 lemons)
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/3 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice + 2 T
DIRECTIONS:
Preheat oven to 350.
Sift together flour, baking powder and salt. Mix. In another bowl, mix together the yogurt, sugar, eggs and lemon zest, and the 2 T of lemon juice (save the 1/3 of a cup of juice for later). Slowly add the dry ingredients and whisk until incorporated. Add the vegetable oil and fold in with a spatula. Pour into a greased and floured loaf pan. Cook for 50 minutes or until a knife comes out clean. Right before it's done, mix together the 1/3 C sugar and 1/3 C lemon juice on low heat until it's clear. Set the finished cake on a baking rack and pour over the glaze. (I actually ended up glazing all sides of it, because I like the lemony part). Allow to cool.