Lemon Tea Cake

Ingredients:

9 oz. (2 cups) all-purpose flour; more for the pan
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. table salt
4 oz. (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, softened at room
temperature; more for the pan
1/4 cup lightly packed, finely grated lemon zest
1 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs, at room temperature
2 tsp. ground coriander
3/4 tsp. ground mace
3/4 cup whole milk, at room temperature
2 tsp. caraway seeds
Lemon Curd

Lemon Curd:

3 oz. (6 Tbs.) unsalted butter, softened at room temperature
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
2 large egg yolks
2/3 cup fresh lemon juice
1 tsp. grated lemon zest

How to make curd...

In a large bowl, beat the butter and sugar with an electric mixer, about 2 min. Slowly add the eggs and yolks. Beat for 1 min. Mix in the lemon juice. The mixture will look curdled, but it will smooth out as it cooks.

In a medium, heavy-based saucepan, cook the mixture over low heat until it looks smooth. (The curdled appearance disappears as the butter in the mixture melts.) Increase the heat to medium and cook, stirring constantly, until the mixture thickens, about 15 min. It should leave a path on the back of a spoon and will read 170°F on a thermometer. Don't let the mixture boil.

Remove the curd from the heat; stir in the lemon zest. Transfer the curd to a bowl. Press plastic wrap on the surface of the lemon curd to keep a skin from forming and chill the curd in the refrigerator. The curd will thicken further as it cools. Covered tightly, it will keep in the refrigerator for a week and in the freezer for 2 months.

Directions:

Position a rack in the middle of the oven and heat the oven to 350°F. Generously butter and flour a 4-1/2 x 8-1/2-inch loaf pan (Pyrex is fine).

Sift the flour, baking powder and salt together into a medium bowl. In a large bowl, beat the butter and lemon zest with an electric mixer on medium speed until light and smooth, about 1 minute (if you're using a stand mixer, use the paddle attachment). Add the sugar, eggs, coriander, and mace; beat until smooth. Add half of the milk and beat until just blended (the batter may look curdled; that's fine). Reduce the speed to low, add the flour mixture in two batches, beating just until blended and scraping the bowl with a rubber spatula as needed. Add the remaining milk and mix on low just until blended. Stir in the caraway seeds with a rubber spatula. Transfer the mixture to the prepared pan and smooth the top with a rubber spatula.

Bake until a wooden pick inserted in the center comes out clean, 60 to 65 minutes. Let cool in the pan on a rack for 10 minutes. Run a table knife around the inside of the pan, invert the cake out of the pan, flip it right side up onto the rack, and let it cool completely. (The cake will keep, tightly wrapped, at room temperature for up to three days.) Use a serrated knife to slice (the slices are fragile, so take care not to make them too thin). Seve with lemon curd, if you like.