Adding lemon juice to cake batter

Question

Does it matter if you add lemon juice (and/or zest) to wet ingredients, or to batter after dry ingredients have been folded in?

Smaug · Answer

I note that in that recipe he does fold some of the wet ingredients- lemon juice, vanilla, rosewater- into the batter after adding the dry ingredients to the eggs.  This strikes me as a bit unusual- you don't want to work the cake anymore than you have to once the flour is wet, and it will take some doing to disburse them evenly- but who am I to say tell him no?  It's a small amount of lemon juice- most of it is added as a syrup after the cake is baked.

boulangere · Answer

I've seen that, and it looks heavenly.

Jim K. · Answer

Thank you.

Jim K. · Answer

Thank you. Working on Ottolenghi's Pistachio Rosewater Semolina cake.

boulangere · Answer

The general formula for adding anything acidic that was not called for originally is to add 1/2 teaspoon baking SODA to the dry ingredients to neutralize the acid, otherwise the acid will diminish the leavening ability of baking POWDER. Sift the baking soda in with the dry ingredients, and add the lemon juice along with the wet stuff. Sounds delicious, by the way.

Smaug · Answer

It would depend on your recipe- zest is ph neutral so seldom causes problems.  Juice should be mixed with wet ingredients to get dispersed, but I'm not clear- are you working from a recipe that fails to specify, or adding it to the recipe on your own?  In the latter case it could change the way the leavening works, so you'd need to know pretty exactly how the recipe is working.

Adding lemon juice to cake batter

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