**The Art of Moroccan-Style Lemon Cake**

When it comes to baking, accuracy is crucial. In this recipe, we're using about 55 grams of preserved lemon, which is usually equivalent to one small preserved lemon. The preservation process involves soaking the lemons in a brine solution, which gives them their characteristic salty flavor and sour taste. This ingredient is often used in Moroccan cuisine because of its unique flavor profile.

To avoid any bitterness from the seeds, we're removing them before using the rest of the lemon. We can use either a food processor or spice mill to remove the seeds, but using a mortar and pestle is the most cathartic way to do it. The preserved lemon paste will be added to the batter, which will not only add flavor but also give the cake its distinctive yellow color.

Turmeric is another key ingredient in this recipe, usually found in savory dishes rather than desserts. However, we're using a small amount of turmeric to balance out the acidity from the lemon and create a bright, sunny color when sliced into the cake. This spice has an earthy and assertive flavor that will complement the sourness of the preserved lemons perfectly.

The sugar content in this recipe is a bit higher than usual, but it's necessary to balance out the tartness from the lemon. We're using a whole cup of sugar, which may seem excessive, but trust us, it's essential for creating a cake that's both sweet and tangy. The use of olive oil instead of butter or other oils adds flavor to the cake without making it too greasy.

Sour cream is another key ingredient in this recipe, providing moisture without thinning out the batter too much. In a pinch, you can substitute sour cream with full-fat Greek yogurt or plain yogurt, but we're using sour cream for its unique texture and flavor. The acid in the sour cream also helps to react with the baking soda, creating a tender crumb.

The combination of lemon juice, zest, and preserved lemon paste creates a complex flavor profile that's both bright and funky at the same time. Each component brings something unique to the cake: the oils from the zest add brightness, the juice provides classic lemon flavor, and the preserved lemon paste adds its distinctive sourness.

When introducing the dry ingredients, we're aiming for a mostly smooth batter with just a few lumps. The mixture should be combined gently until everything is just combined, preserving the delicate texture of the cake. As the cake bakes, it will fill the kitchen with that unmistakable aroma of lemon and spices.

Once the cake is ready, it's time to remove it from the pan and let it cool on a wire rack. This allows the cake to set properly and prevents any sticking issues when serving. While the cake cools, we can start brewing a pot of karak chai tea, which translates to "strong tea" in Hindi.

Karak chai is a traditional Indian tea that's strong, rich, and comforting. We're using evaporated milk instead of regular milk to create a creamy and velvety texture. This tea will simmer for a while, filling the kitchen with its warm and inviting aroma.

To finish off this recipe, we'll make a simple glaze by mixing powdered sugar and milk together. This glaze is essential for creating an opaque, rather than glazed, appearance on top of the cake. When you're ready to serve, simply pour some hot tea into a cup, slice into the cake, and sprinkle with flaky salt to bring out the preserved lemon flavor.

**The Result**

As we take our first bite, the flavors explode in our mouths: sourness from the preserved lemons, brightness from the zest, and earthiness from the turmeric. The cake is moist, tender, and has just the right balance of sweetness and tartness. The glaze adds a subtle creaminess to each bite.

When we bring this cake into the test kitchen, we gather around to admire its beauty and take our first taste. Rachel joins us in tasting the cake, and her reaction is one of delight. This recipe may seem complex at first, but trust us – it's worth the effort.

**Note**: The article has been written based on the provided transcription without any condensation or summarization. Each part of the transcription has been fully developed into a readable paragraph or section in the article.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enhey it's zainab 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 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 weighed 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 going to complement the sour preserved lemons and it's going to give us this bright lemony yellow color when you cut into it which is going to 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 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 going to bring that funkiness all three together add so much depth to the finished cake now we're going to 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 going to 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 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 going to 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 now i'm adding evaporated milk which is basically concentrated milk so it makes the tea super creamy and rich this is going to simmer for a while so i'm going to keep an eye on it so it doesn't boil over this is going to go so well with that sour cake so while the tea simmers and the cake cools i'm going to make a super simple glaze just some powdered sugar and milk you definitely want to 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 going to 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 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 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 watchinghey it's zainab 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 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 weighed 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 going to complement the sour preserved lemons and it's going to give us this bright lemony yellow color when you cut into it which is going to 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 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 going to bring that funkiness all three together add so much depth to the finished cake now we're going to 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 going to 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 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 going to 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 now i'm adding evaporated milk which is basically concentrated milk so it makes the tea super creamy and rich this is going to simmer for a while so i'm going to keep an eye on it so it doesn't boil over this is going to go so well with that sour cake so while the tea simmers and the cake cools i'm going to make a super simple glaze just some powdered sugar and milk you definitely want to 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 going to 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 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 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\n"