Lemon pound cake

• ¾ cup infused olive oil

  Set your infusion strength above and this splits into infused and plain olive oil to hit whatever dose you want.

• 1 cupgranulated sugar
• 2lemons — zest of both, juice reserved for the glaze
• 3large eggs — room temperature
• 1½ cupsall-purpose flour
• ½ cupplain whole-milk yogurt
• 1½ tspbaking powder
• ½ tspfine salt
• 1 cuppowdered sugar — sifted
• 3 tbsplemon juice

Method

1. 01

   Heat the oven to 350 °F. Line a 9×5 loaf pan with parchment up the long sides.

   350 °F

2. 02

   Rub the lemon zest into the granulated sugar with your fingertips until the sugar is damp and smells strongly of lemon. The abrasion breaks the oil cells in the zest; zest stirred in at the end never gives the same flavor.

   2 min

3. 03

   Whisk the eggs into the lemon sugar until pale and thickened, about two minutes by hand.

4. 04

   Pour in the infused olive oil in a thin stream while whisking steadily. Added slowly it emulsifies into the eggs and stays suspended; dumped in at once it sits on top and marbles through the batter unevenly, which is exactly the kind of unevenness you do not want here.

5. 05

   Fold in the yogurt, then the flour, baking powder and salt, stopping as soon as the flour disappears.

6. 06

   Scrape into the pan and level the top. Bake at 350 °F until a skewer in the center comes out with a crumb or two, tenting with foil once the top has browned.

   350 °F · 55 min

7. 07

   Cool in the pan for ten minutes, then lift out and cool completely on a rack before glazing. A warm loaf soaks up the glaze instead of holding it.

   60 min

8. 08

   Whisk the powdered sugar with the lemon juice until it ribbons thickly off the spoon, then pour it over the loaf and let it set.

9. 09

   Mark twelve equal cuts along the top with the tip of a knife before you slice. A loaf is a dosing trap: the end pieces come out smaller than the middle ones every time unless you measure first. Store wrapped at room temperature for four days.