Lemon Cake (Bake it or "Cook" it with Rice Cooker)

Today I will share how to make a lemon cake. This lemon cake is great addition to your coffee break or tea time. It´s citrus flavor that makes me love this cake. The flavor comes from lemon zest and lemon juice, which added to the batter. Zest is the outer layer (the colorful layer) of citrus fruit skin. The citrus flavor and the sweetness of this cake give you a sweet fresh kick to get through the day :)

With this recipe, you can obtain a great result by either baking or "cooking" it with rice cooker. This recipe is suitable for the family size rice cooker. If you have the mini one (0,7 L), you can halve the amount of the ingredients! 

Lemon Cake

Ingredients:

Cake batter:

200 gr (20 tbsp) all-purpose flour   

50 gr (3 tbsp) corn starch

1 ½ tbsp baking powder 

¼ tsp salt

250 gr unsalted butter (soft)

220 -250 gr (16-18 tbsp) granulated sugar 
 4 medium egg,

5 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice ( from ca. ½ of big sized lemon)

Lemon flavored glaze:

100 gr powdered sugar (icing sugar)

4 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice

Methods:

For the cake:

1. Preheat oven to 180°C and place the oven rack in the middle of the oven.  Grease your  rice cooker pan with butter.  (If you want to bake it with oven, don´t forget to flour your pan)
2. Mix flour, corn starch, baking powder and salt in a mixing bowl then set aside.
3. In another mixing bowl, beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
4. Zest the lemon with zester tool or with fine grater.  While zesting,  be careful not to include the white pith. It is bitter.  Add lemon juice then mix until the batter combined.
5. Add the flour mixture alternately with eggs to the lemon-flavored butter-sugar mixture.  After each addition, mix until combined.
6. Beat until the batter becomes smooth.
7. Pour the batter into  the prepared rice cooker pan or baking pan.
8. After placing the rice cooker pan into rice cooker, press the cook button. Cooking time will vary.  The button could shift to "keep warm" mode, just wait for another 10 minutes. But don´t force it. Your cake still can be cooked even in "keep warm" mode.                                                                                                                                    Or, if you want to use oven, bake it for 25-30 minutes.  
9. Insert  a skewer to the center of the cake to check if it is done. If the skewer comes out clean, your cake is done. 
10. Remove the cake from the rice cooker pan or baking pan then invert it onto the serving plate.
11. Glaze the cake before you serve it.

For the glaze: 

1. Combine powdered sugar with lemon juice then mix until all  powdered sugar dissolved.
2. Spread the lemon flavored glaze over cooled cake. Store cake in refrigerator.

Note:

• My cooking time for lemon cake is 50 minutes.  
• If you bake the cake and wanting the cake to be lighter in color, after 15 or 20 minutes you should cover our cake with aluminum foil then bake it again until it is done.