Preheat the oven to 350°F.
Gather your ingredients:
16 tablespoons (1 cup) unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 cups granulated sugar
1 teaspoon salt
4 large eggs, at room temperature
2 teaspoons baking powder
3 cups (12 3/4 ounces) King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
1 cup milk
1 T Lemon Paste or lemon extract
Beat together the butter, sugar, and salt, first until combined, then until fluffy and lightened in color. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl once all the eggs have been added, and beat briefly to recombine any residue.
Measure the flour by gently spooning it into a cup, then sweeping off any excess. Whisk the baking powder into the flour. Add the flour mixture to the batter in three parts alternately with the milk, starting and ending with the flour.
Mix until everything is well combined; the batter may look a bit rough, but shouldn't have any large lumps. Stir in lemon paste/lemon extract.
Thoroughly grease a 10- to 12-cup Bundt pan, making sure to coat all the pan's nooks and crannies. Spoon the batter into the prepared pan, leveling it.
Bake the cake for 45 to 60 minutes, or until a cake tester or toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
While the cake is baking, make the glaze:
1/3 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice; the juice of about 1 1/2 juicy lemons
3/4 cup granulated sugar
Stir together the lemon juice and sugar. Microwave or heat over a burner briefly, stirring to dissolve the sugar. You don’t want to cook the lemon juice, so microwave just until very warm, but not uncomfortably hot — less than 1 minute should do it. Set the glaze aside.
Remove the cake from the oven, and carefully run a knife between cake and pan all around the edge. Place the pan upside down on a cooling rack. If the cake drops out of the pan onto the rack, remove the pan. If the cake doesn’t drop onto the rack, let it rest for 5 minutes, then carefully lift the pan off the cake. But if the cake still feels like it's sticking, give it another 5 minutes upside down, then very gently shake the pan back and forth to loosen and remove it.
Brush the glaze all over the hot cake, both top and sides. Let it sink in, then brush on more glaze, continuing until all the glaze is used up.
Allow the cake to cool completely before icing and serving.
To make the icing:
1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted
pinch of salt
2 to 3 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
Mix the sugar and salt, then mix in 2 tablespoons of the lemon juice, adding just enough additional juice to create a thick glaze, one that's just barely pourable. Drizzle it artfully over the completely cool cake.
