• Preheat oven to 350F and butter your baking dish. I like to line it with a sling of parchment paper so I can remove it for easy glazing and serving, but that's optional.
• If your ricotta is wet or loose, pop it in a strainer over a bowl to drain while you get on with the cake.
• Make my famous lemon sugar first: put the sugar and the lemon peel into your food processor and process until the sugar is moist and pale yellow, with no big chunks of zest left (you will see tiny flecks of yellow in the sugar.
  
• Transfer the sugar to a stand mixer or a bowl with electric beaters and cream the lemon sugar with the softened butter and oil until light and fluffy. Smells good already!
• Beat in the eggs, one at a time, scraping down the sides of the bowl after each one. Blend in the salt and vanilla, the ricotta, and poppy seeds.
• With the mixer on low add in the baking powder and flour, a bit at a time. Finish with a silicone spatula to make sure everything, especially the bottom of the bowl, is well incorporated.
• Turn into your prepared pan and spread out evenly. Bake in your preheated oven for about 35 minutes. The cake will be risen and a light golden on top. You can check with a toothpick ~ moist crumbs are fine but if you see wet batter, bake the cake a little longer but be careful not to over bake or the cake can dry out.
• Let the cake cool on a rack before glazing.

make the glaze

• Stir together the powdered sugar and enough lemon juice to make a spreadable glaze. Add more lemon juice to thin it down, or more sugar to thicken it. Spread across the cooled cake and let the glaze set up before serving.