Recipe: Double Lemon Loaf Cake

The cake on the balcony

Bonjour! Bonjour!

Loaf cakes are a sturdy reminder that life is good. And that sweetness is within reach. They’re among the simplest cakes to make and the easiest to serve. And so many of them are play-aroundable – this one’s the key to a panoply of pleasures. It’s also the same kind of cake that was cooling on my Paris balcony in the last edition of xoxo Dorie

For this one, I went long on lemon – there’s zest (smushed – see last week’s newsletter for a how-to) and there’s all the pulp, too. Using the pulp makes the cake surprising – you get the tang of the fresh fruit only here and there, but when you do, it’s the kind of ping that makes you skip a half beat and take notice.

If you’ve never cut segments from citrus – in culinaryese, the segments are called supremes – it’s a good technique to know. After you’ve grated the zest, cut each end of the fruit to make a non-tipsy base. Cut the top and bottom deeply enough to expose the fruit. Using a sharp paring knife, start at the top of the …