CitronMåne (Lemon Moon)

Citronmåne, literally translated to lemon moon in English, is a very Danish cake. I was told if police officers were to have cake, this is the one they go for. It's commonly available on Danish supermarket shelf as citronhalvmåne (lemon half moon cake), literally, half the circular cake. Unfortunately, the supermarket version contains too much artificial flavoring & coloring that I think does this cake a lot of injustice. 

When home baked, this cake is moist, full of lemon freshness and well balanced with the sweetness of the glazing, everything is so well balance. I think it deserves much more attention and credit than what it gets today as the dry supermarket version. Did I forget to mention how nice my kitchen smell when I'm making this cake? :)

This is a recipe from Mette Blomsterberg, who, from a baker, turns into a baking TV celebrity with her own line of baking goods (both materials & utilities) and even writes her cook book. We normally see her on TV during baking competition or as Christmas approaches, she has special shows with her kids doing Christmas baking. 

As the same goes for many recipe, the better the quality of your ingredient, in this case, especially vanilla, butter and lemon, the better the cake will turn out. So don't save on buying the cheapest possible, go for the best, you won't regret it.

Makes a 10 inch cake

Ingredients:-

Dough A

1 Polynesia vanilla pod/stick

125g light brown sugar

250g butter (room temperature)

125g icing sugar

150 whole eggs (room temperature) 

100g egg yolks (room temperature)

190g flour

65g cornstarch

Zest and juice of 1 lemon

Dough B

125g marzipan (almond paste for baking)

85g caster sugar

50g butter (room temperature)

75g whole eggs (room temperature)

Lemon glaze

Zest of 1 lemon (let the zest dry up a bit)

Juice of ½ a lemon (about 1.5 - 2 tbsp)

150g icing sugar

A little bit of water (if needed)

Method:-

Dough A

1. Sift the flour and cornstarch together, set aside. Butter / oil the spring form, set aside. Preheat oven to 190degC.

2. Split the pod lengthwise into two halves, still holding the hooked area down on the cutting board, run the un-sharpened side of your knife down the length of each of the pod halves. Mix the vanilla beans with a little bit of light brown sugar so the beans are separated.

3. Mix the butter, light brown sugar, icing sugar and vanilla sugar (light brown sugar that is mixed in with vanilla beans) until incorporated. 

4. Add whole eggs and yolks into the mixture a little bit at a time while continue beating / stirring. Do not over mixed. 

5. Mix in flour and cornstarch mixture, then fold in the lemon juice & zest.

Dough B

1. Mix marcipan and sugar together with hand (or food processor), then add in butter, a bit at a time. When the mixture is well mixed, add eggs in a bit at a time.

Mix Dough A and Dough B together and then pour into the prepared spring form. Bake the cake in oven for 35 - 40 minutes until the cake is golden brown and yield to a gentle press. Cool the cake completely before removing it from the spring form (if you use silicon form, then the cake needs to be freeze a little before you can remove it from the form).

Lemon Glaze
1. Mix the lemon juice and icing sugar in a little saucepan. Heat up the glaze slightly, when the mixture turns a bit translucent, remove from heat and spread it quickly to the cooled lemon cake. Dress the cake with air dried lemon zest.