Lemon-Spice Visiting Cake
Updated Oct. 12, 2023
- Total Time
- 1 hour 25 minutes
- Prep Time
- 15 minutes
- Cook Time
- 70 minutes
- Rating
- Notes
- Read community notes
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Ingredients
Yield:10 servings
- Butter and flour for the pan
- 1½cups/190 grams all-purpose flour
- 1¼teaspoons baking powder
- 1teaspoon ground cardamom
- ½teaspoon ground ginger
- ½teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1¼cups/250 grams sugar
- 1large (or 2 small) lemons
- 4large eggs, at room temperature
- ½cup/120 milliliters heavy cream, at room temperature
- 1½teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 5½tablespoons/75 grams unsalted butter, melted and cooled
- ⅓cup marmalade, for glaze (optional)
- ½teaspoon water, for glaze (optional)
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (10 servings)
335 calories; 14 grams fat; 8 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 4 grams monounsaturated fat; 1 gram polyunsaturated fat; 49 grams carbohydrates; 1 gram dietary fiber; 32 grams sugars; 5 grams protein; 201 milligrams sodium
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
Powered byPreparation
- Step 1
Center a rack in the oven, and heat it to 350. Butter an 8½-inch loaf pan (Pyrex works well), dust with flour and tap out the excess. (For this cake, bakers’ spray isn’t as good as butter and flour.) Place on a baking sheet.
- Step 2
Whisk the 1½ cups flour, baking powder, cardamom, ginger and salt together.
- Step 3
Put the sugar in a large bowl, and grate the zest of the lemon(s) over the sugar. Squeeze the lemon(s) to produce 3 tablespoons juice, and set this aside. Using your fingers, rub the sugar and zest together until the mixture is moist and aromatic. One at a time, add the eggs, whisking well after each. Whisk in the juice, followed by the heavy cream. Still using the whisk, gently stir the dry ingredients into the batter in two additions. Stir the vanilla into the melted butter, and then gradually blend the butter into the batter. The batter will be thick and have a beautiful sheen. Scrape it into the loaf pan.
- Step 4
Bake for 70 to 75 minutes (if the cake looks as if it’s getting too dark too quickly, tent it loosely with foil) or until a tester inserted deep into the center of the cake comes out clean. Transfer to a rack, let rest for 5 minutes and then carefully run a blunt knife between the sides of the cake and the pan. Invert onto the rack, and turn over. Glaze now, or cool to room temperature.
- Step 5
For the glaze: Bring the marmalade and water to a boil. Brush the glaze over the top of the warm cake, and allow to it to set for 2 hours. The glaze will remain slightly tacky.
- Step 6
When the cake is completely cool, wrap in plastic to store. If it’s glazed, wrap loosely on top.
Private Notes
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Cooking Notes
Eilonwy
Zest a few lemons when they are on sale (or zest lemons you are using only for juice in other recipes) and freeze the zest in a small plastic bag. Then when you need the zest, just pull out the required quantity.
Jean Paulson
With this, as with any cake or sweet bread, I prep the pan with butter and sugar. Yes, sugar. Adds a crunchy note, and has never, ever produced a stuck loaf or cake. Taught to me long ago by a CIA- graduate co-caterer. Forget parchment,flour and all that other business...this is no-fail, and delicious.
stacy
Trader Joe's has shelf stable boxes of cream you can buy and keep in your pantry
jill
I had a similar spicy, lemon cake recipe which I also used as a "visiting" cake. On Easter Sunday a few years ago, we packed up the cake to bring from Long Island to Connecticut for dinner. The traffic was so heavy, we were so hungry and the spicy, lovely scent of the cake was so good that after 3 hours in traffic we unwrapped the cake and gobbled it all up before we reached Milford. So be cautious of how long your trip when you plan to bring this cake.
Shweta Jani
Hi, This is what i do..I remove the seeds from the cardamom individually & grind it with one or two tablespoon of sugar. This always gives me cardamom scented sugar which can be readily used in cakes or other desserts. Hope it helps you too. shweta
Golem18
Just curious: I keep all the ingredients at hand all of the time except heavy cream. Are there any options to substitute? I like the option of making the cake at a moment's notice but would not like to run to the store for the cream.
Elle
When I buy lemons, I grate the zest off before I squeeze them. If I'm not using the zest, I put it into a small plastic bag, squeeze out the air, and freeze it. I do the same for limes, and the frozen zest is still flavorful even after months in the freezer.
Elle
I freeze leftover cream. When I thaw it, I shake or stir it if it separated. It's worked well for me for many years.
Beverly
I wish the New York Times would make a concise, printer friendly version of all recipes. This one straggles out in a single column.
Laura
Go to print but use the save as PDF option. Then save and/or print. It formats it perfectly.
Elise
Wonderful, dense cake. I'd recommend 1 cup of sugar (the full amount would be too sweet) and parchment paper to prevent sticking. The tin foil tent helps a lot with over-browning. I haven't ever needed to cook it more than 65 minutes. It might be dry with a full 75 minutes.
myrna
I will probably try this cake. But I wish you had published the recipe for the cake that comes together so quickly it is ready (or at least in the oven) by the time your unexpected visitors are comfortably settled in the living room.
Kathryn H
By googling Swedish Visiting Cake, found a recipe from D.G. for SVC Bars on saveur.com (12/9/16). It says: "This recipe, originally for a cake (not bars), was given to me by a Swedish friend who prized it for its flavor, and the fact that it could be made in minutes. I enjoyed it for years before discovering the pleasures of using the recipe to make bar cookies. The crisp, beautiful almond topping was a late and welcome addition as well. Adapted from Dorie's Cookies."
Kate
I baked this in a 9" loaf pan and it worked just fine. Made as written but didn't use the marmalade for the glaze--I had lemon glaze on hand and used that and liked it very much. I'm thinking of trying this with orange instead of lemon and the marmalade glaze. The texture of this is lovely and it slices beautifully.
jp
I agree with myrna & Katherine, what happened to Ingela Helgesson's mother's recipe that was so quick?
EmilyD
I skipped the glaze and cut down on the sugar- was still sweet & delicious. Will definitely make this again.
V
+1 to all the bakers saying reduce the baking time, mine only needed 55m to be perfect. I overbaked it the first time I made this thanks to my mantra of always follow the recipe the 1st time. Using half the sugar was enough, and I enjoyed replacing the vanilla with 2tsp almond extract the 2nd time I made it. The ground ginger is a genius move to brighten and add complexity to the lemon flavor without being known.
joyceann
I loved the lemon flavor of this cake but found the spice to be underwhelming…next time I will use grated ginger and cardamon peeked from seeds…
JJ
Made exactly as written and it’s tasty! Lightly spiced, not too sweet. I skipped the glaze and ate a slice warmed with salted butter. Yum!
Lisa Rosenberg
I brought this cake to a dinner party (for six) and it was devoured in record time. People seriously raved. I used a full 6 (rather than 5.5) tablespoons of butter and switched out the cardamom for cinnamon. (My cardamom was old and I thought cinnamon would work nicely with the lemon and ginger.) Also, I made my own lemon glaze instead of using marmalade. So delicious! I will be making this again the next time I go "visiting."
Glen
The cake bakes in 60 minutes, not 75. Within 75 minutes the cake becomes dry. Make sure you check it within 60 minutes
ShaneK
Easy and tasty, but the flavors were quite mild. Next time I will significantly increase the lemon, ginger and cardamom amounts. It was also a little dense, so perhaps a bit more baking powder.
David
I wanted to take this cake to a friend for his birthday but was disappointed when it burned around the edges and on the bottom when using a metal loaf pan. So, still having enough of the ingredients I just made another straight away using a pyrex loaf pan as the recipe suggests. Same thing happened. I think 350F/176.33C is just too high and 70 to 75 minutes is too long. for cooking. I think perhaps a fan forced oven at a lower temperature and shorter cooking time would help.
Mary
60 minutes was perfect. Wonderful cake!
catpeebs
I made this gluten free, with the following adiustments: Used "Better Batter" GF flour (scant cup and a half) 2 tsp baking powder 1.5 tsp baking soda 1 cup sugar An extra tablespoon lemon juice in batter An extra egg (5 instead of four - GF flour tends to need an extra egg) Zest of two medium lemons And lemon juice instead of water in the marmalade glaze. Baked at 350 for 35 minutes. Rave reviews! Will definitely make again.
Catherine
Made this gluten-free with the following changes: Used an eight-inch square pan Used butter and sugar (rather than butter and flour) to line the pan -- not a bit of sticking! Used "Better Batter" GF flour 2 tsp baking powder 1.5 tsp baking soda 1 cup sugar Zest of two medium lemons (not one) An extra tablespoon lemon juice in batter An extra egg Added lemon juice, not water, to marmalade Baked at 350 for 35 minutes Rave reviews on flavors and texture! Making again soon.
lemon enthusiast
Just make the recipe as it's written! I didn't put any glaze on and it turned out beautifully!
Shannon
Lovely texture and flavor. Can be sliced very thin. I ground fresh cardamom seed with a teaspoon of the sugar for this and cut the sugar to 1 cup, but next time I'd use a whole cup & 1/4. I also used sour cream, thinned with milk for the cream, because that's what I had on hand.
Kathleen O'Connor
Good, but not as moist as I would have liked. I used the amounts of cardamom and ginger called for in the recipe, but the cake could have used more. I made a glaze of 1/4 cup lemon juice and 1/2 cup water, heated until the sugar dissolved. I'm not sure why folks thought this was a time-consuming recipe to make; I thought it came together quickly. I cooked the cake for 70 minutes, the last 20 of which I covered the pan with aluminum foil, but wish I had cooked it for at least 5 minutes less.
jo
Great recipe, and super simple. I substituted 190g whole grain pastry flour (soft white) for the APF, reduced sugar to 200g, and baked ~35-40 minutes in an 8x8 cake pan. Substituted a simple lemon glaze of 2T lemon juice, 1T sugar since I didn’t have marmalade.
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