[upbeat music]
Hey, it's Zaynab,
I'm an Associate Food Editor here at Bon Appetit.
Today, I'm in the test kitchen
making preserved lemon tea cake.
It's so simple to make and it's delicious any time of day.
It feels pretty full circle
that I'm making a video about this recipe,
it was actually a part of my job application to work here.
I had to pitch ideas for recipes and this was one of them.
There are lots of lemon cake recipes out there
but I wanted to try something a little different.
[oven beeping]
The first thing to do is to prep the preserved lemon.
By the way, using a scale when you're baking
is so important, it's just so much more accurate.
So I weigh out about 55 grams,
that's usually about one small preserved lemon.
They're often used in Moroccan cuisine
because they're quite salty
and usually used in savory preparations.
Don't worry, the cake won't be salty per se
but it won't be overwhelmingly sweet either.
I'm just removing the seeds from the lemon
to avoid any bitterness.
But the rest of the lemon, you can use, even the peel.
You can do this in a food processor or spice mill
but using a mortar and pestle is pretty cathartic
so I highly recommend
You don't typically find turmeric in desserts
because it's pretty earthy and assertive.
We're not using too much
and that earthiness is really gonna compliment
this sour preserve lemons.
And it's gonna give us this bright lemony yellow color
when you cut into it,
which is gonna be really visually striking.
This recipe uses a whole cup of sugar.
That might seem like a lot
but we need it to balance all the sourness from the lemon.
I really love baking with olive oil
because of the flavor it brings out
but you can definitely use melted butter
or another oil if you prefer.
I don't know what that red string. [laughing]
One of the advantages of using olive oil
as opposed to butter is that
it's not solid at room temperature
so your cake will stay moist on the counter for days.
This cake uses sour cream instead of milk.
It'll add moisture without thinning out the batter too much.
In a pinch, you can definitely use full fat Greek
or plain yogurt or even buttermilk instead.
The acid helps make this cake so tender.
There's a lot of lemon in this recipe
and each type brings something different.
The oils in the zest bring brightness.
The juice gives that classic lemon flavor
and the preserved lemon paste is gonna bring that funkiness.
All three together add so much depth to the finished cake.
Now we're gonna introduce the dry ingredients
and mix gently until they're just combined.
I'm going for a mostly smooth batter,
a few lumps are totally okay
and I can see a few small bits
of that preserved lemon paste as well.
At this point, you'll really be able to smell
all of that lemony flavor.
Once it's ready, I'm gonna put it on a wire rack
to hang out for a little,
just until it becomes cool enough to handle.
Then I'll take it out of the pan to finish cooling.
This is the moment of truth.
All of that work we did to grease the pan
and line it with parchment comes in handy now
so that we don't have any difficulty
removing the cake from the pan.
I always need tea or coffee when I have something sweet.
So I'm gonna start on a pot of chai to serve with the cake.
This isn't a traditional masala chai,
it's called karak chai
which translates to strong tea from Hindi.
I grew up seeing my mom make it
and so it's super nostalgic for me.
The vanilla isn't typical but it perfumes the kitchen
and makes everything smell great so I love to use it.
[chai bubbling]
Now I'm adding evaporated milk
which is basically concentrated milk
so it makes the tea super creamy and rich.
This is gonna simmer for a while
so I'm gonna keep an eye on it so it doesn't boil over.
This is gonna go so well with that sour cake.
So while the tea simmers and the cake cools,
I'm gonna make a super simple glaze.
Just some powdered sugar and milk.
You definitely wanna make sure you do this
when the cake is cooled so that
your icing doesn't melt and thin out
and this way you'll be left
with an opaque blanket instead of a glazed sheen.
Just look at how gorgeous this cake is.
The glaze is thick but still pourable
and it just looks perfect.
It's gonna look even more amazing
when we cut into it thanks to that turmeric.
The last step is a little sprinkle of flaky salt
just to really bring home that preserved lemon flavor.
Then we're gonna let the glaze set for a little
and that's it.
And everything is ready.
So I'm gonna slice into it and pour some chai.
I can't wait to try this,
just look at that bright yellow interior
and the crumb looks perfect.
You would never know that there was turmeric in this cake
based on the taste but the color it's giving
is so bright and gorgeous.
It's preserved lemon.
[Rachel] Oh!
In the test kitchen we usually bring our finished dishes
up to this marble bench.
We take pictures of whatever we've made
and gather around to taste and talk about flavors
and also ask for suggestions
if we're in the development phase of a recipe.
Rachel was in the test kitchen today
so I asked her to come and try the cake
and she really loved it, which was so nice.
These recipes are super special to me
and they're both flavorful and pretty easy to make
so I hope you try them and thanks for watching.
[peaceful music]
