From Maida Heatter's Cakes, Cader Books, New York, October 1997.

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10 portions

Cake

3 cups sifted all-purpose flour 2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt 8 ounces (2 sticks) unsalted butter
1 cup granulated sugar 4 eggs
1 cup milk Finely grated rind of 2 large and firm lemons

Adjust an oven rack one-third up from the bottom of the oven and preheat to 350º. You need a 9x41/2 inch tube pan or a bundt pan. Butter then pan and then dust it all lightly with fine, dry bread crumbs. Set aside.
Sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt, and set aside. In the large bowl of an electric mixer, beat the butter until soft. Add the sugar and beat until incorporated. Beat in the eggs one at a time, scraping the bowl as necessary with a rubber spatula. (The mixture might look curdled - it's okay.) On lowest speed add the dry ingredients alternately in three additions with the milk in two additions, beating only until incorporated after each addition. Remove the bowl from the mixer and stir in the lemon rind. Level the top of the batter by rotating the pan briskly from left to right. Bake fore 1 hour and 5 to 10 minutes until a cake tester comes out clean. Let the cake stand in the pan for 5 minutes then cover with a rack and invert. Remove the pan, leaving the cake upside down. Place over a large piece of foil or wax paper and prepare the glaze.

 

Glaze
1/2 cup lemon juice 1/2 cup sugar
The glaze should be used immediately after it is mixed.
Mix the lemon juice and sugar and brush it all over the hot cake. The cake will absorb it.
Let cool completely and then transfer to a cake plate.
It is best to wait a few hours before cutting the cake.