Lemon Spice Cake

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp ground ginger
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp ground cloves
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 med lemon
• 1 Tbsp vegetable shortening, oil, or butter
• 1 tsp apple cider vinegar
• 1 cup water
• 1 cup powdered sugar

Directions

1. Set your oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, add the flour, granulated sugar, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, salt, cloves and lemon zest, then whisk or stir until the mixture looks evenly blended.
2. Use your spoon to make 2 wells in the dry mixture. Add the cider vinegar to 1 well, and put the shortening, oil or butter in the other, melting the shortening or butter first if that is what you are using. Pour the water across the bowl and mix only until the dry ingredients are moistened. A lumpy batter is just fine; you are simply looking for no big dry patches hiding at the bottom.
3. Transfer the batter to a loaf pan or 8x8 baking dish coated with non-stick spray. Bake for 30-40 minutes, until a toothpick poked into the center comes out clean. The cake sits lower in the square dish, so it will bake more quickly than it will in the loaf pan. Keep an eye on the surface too; once the top begins to crack, you are probably there. Set the cake on a wire rack to cool.
4. As the cake cools, stir together the lemon glaze. Put the powdered sugar in a small bowl, then mix in the juice from the lemon. Your lemon may give you more juice than you need, so add it with a little judgment. Let the cake cool before you pour over the glaze, because a warm cake will send it sliding straight off.