The Summer Place 62nd Street Lemon Loaf

I'm still cooking my way through the Summer Place Cookbook from a restaurant that was popular in Houghton in the 1980s when I was a student.   This recipe for lemon cake caught my eye to be the base for strawberry shortcake.   Like many recipes in this cookbook, it was not an original recipe but a famous one elsewhere.   This one was featured by Craig Claiborne in the 1970s.  It was a Maida Heatter recipe.  Maida Heatter was a famous pastry chef that got started late in life; she died last year at 102.   She is an inspiration to me as I want to publish a cookbook after I retire.  Her daughter illustrated her cookbooks like my daughter will.   This recipe was her daughter's originally, the name comes from where she lived at the time.   Here's how it was shared in the Summer Place Cookbook:

Here at the lakehouse, I don't have a tube pan or a Bundt pan, so I knew I'd have to do some tinkering to make this work for a bread pan.    I love my Bundt pans in my collection, but they really are huge cakes anyway.   Here is how I made the recipe:

62nd Street Lemon Loaf

1 1/2 c. flour
1 t. baking powder
dash salt
1 stick butter (1/2 cup)
1 1/2 c. sugar, divided
2 eggs
1/2 c. milk
1 lemon and it's zest

Preheat oven to 350F.  Butter a loaf pan (I used a 7.75"x3.75" size pan) and line with parchment paper.    In a medium bowl, mix together flour, baking powder and salt with a fork until well blended.    I don't have a stand mixer at the lake house, but if I did I would use it to cream the stick of butter and 1 cup sugar.    I used my $2 garage sale handheld mixer instead.    Add eggs, one at a time, and mix until well blended.   Mixing slowly, add half of the flour mixture, then add milk, then the other half of the flour mixture.    Add the zest from the lemon.

Pour into prepared loaf pan and bake for 60 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.   Cool on a rack for a couple minutes while making the glaze from the lemon juice from the naked lemon, plus the remaining 1/2 cup sugar.    Using the parchment paper, remove the loaf and glaze it while still warm with a pastry brush.

This cake is fantastic with some Chassell strawberries, sliced with some sugar, and a dollop of whipped cream.    There is nothing better than Keweenaw berries!