1 tablespoon butter, plus 8 tablespoons melted

2 tablespoons fine dry bread crumbs

1/2 cup whole blanched almonds

1 1/2 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

3/4 teaspoon fine salt

1 1/3 cups plus 2 tablespoons sugar

2 eggs

1/2 cup milk, at room temperature

2 tablespoons lemon extract

Zest and juice of 2 Meyer lemonsHeat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a loaf pan measuring 8 1/2-by-4 1/2-by-2 3/4 inches with 1 tablespoon of the butter and dust it with bread crumbs. Invert and tap out excess crumbs; set aside. In a food processor, grind almonds until very fine, about 1 minute; set aside. In a bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, and salt and set aside.

Put remaining butter into a large bowl and add 1 cup of the sugar. Mix with an electric mixer on low speed until combined, about 1 minute. Add eggs, one at a time, beating just long enough to incorporate, about 30 seconds. Add flour mixture and milk mixture in 3 batches, beginning and ending with the flour. Beat until mixed after each addition, scraping down sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula, about 3 minutes total. Mix in the lemon extract. With the spatula, fold in lemon zest and ground almonds. (The mixture will be thin.) Turn batter into prepared pan and bake until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean and dry, about 65 minutes.

Transfer pan to a cooling rack. Prepare the glaze: Combine remaining sugar and lemon juice in a small saucepan over medium heat and cook, stirring, until sugar is dissolved, about 2 minutes (Do not boil.) Brush glaze over hot cake. (The excess liquid may pool along the sides of the pan; it will absorb completely as it sits.) Once the cake has absorbed all the liquid, turn it out of the pan with the aid of a sheet of parchment paper. Turn cake right-side up on a rack, and remove parchment. Once it’s cool, wrap the cake with plastic wrap and let it stand at room temperature for 24 hours before serving.

Adapted from a recipe published in Saveur magazine, April 2008