Lemon or Orange Cake (Cake Citron ou Cake Orange)

Ingredients

• 0.8 teaspoon double-acting baking powder 
• 250 grams cake flour sifted
• 5 large eggs at room temperature
• 30 grams grand marnier dark (for the lemon cake) (for the orange cake)
• 165 grams heavy cream homemade at room temperature
• 3  lemon zest grated
• 0.3 teaspoon salt 
• 335 grams sugar 
• 7.5 tablespoons butter unsalted cooled melted ()

Equipment

• bowl
• frying pan
• baking sheet
• oven
• knife
• whisk
• wire rack
• loaf pan
• aluminum foil
• spatula

Directions

1. Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C). Butter and flour a 9 x 5 x 3-inch (22.5 x 12.5 x 7.5-cm) loaf pan, dust the interior with flour, and tap out the excess.
2. Put the pan on an insulated baking sheet or on two stacked regular baking sheets and set aside.
3. Sift the flour, baking powder, and salt together and keep close at hand. Toss the sugar and zest together in a large bowl and rub them together with your fingertips until the sugar is moist and aromatic.
4. Whisk in the eggs, beating until the mixture is pale and foamy, then whisk in the crème fraîche and rum. Switch to a large rubber spatula and gently stir the sifted flour mixture into the batter in three or four additions—the batter should be thick and smooth. Finally, fold in the cooled melted butter in two or three additions.
5. Immediately spoon the batter into the pan and slide the baking sheet(s) into the oven.
6. Bake for 1 hour and 25 to 30 minutes, or until a thin knife inserted into the center of the cake comes out dry and free of crumbs. (Check the cake at the 40-minute mark. If it is browning quickly, cover it loosely with a foil tent for the remainder of the baking period.)
7. Remove the cake from the oven and allow it to cool for about 10 minutes on a cooling rack before turning it out of the pan; invert and cool to room temperature right side up.
8. Wrapped airtight, the cake will keep for 1 week at room temperature or up to 1 month in the freezer. Stale cake is delicious lightly toasted and spread with marmalade.
9. Taste
10. Book, using the USDA Nutrition Database
11. From Paris Sweets by Dorie Greenspan. Copyright (c) 2002 by Dorie Greenspan. Published by Broadway Books.Dorie Greenspan is the author of numerous acclaimed cookbooks, including Baking with Julia, The Café Boulud Cookbook (with Daniel Boulud), and Desserts by Pierre Hermé, which won the IACP Cookbook of the Year Award. She divides her time between Paris and New York.