Lightly butter and flour an 11 x 17" baking sheet. Preheat oven to 350°.

Using a hand mixer, beat butter until lightened in colour. Add eggs one at a time, alternating with sugar. Combine flour and baking powder, gently mixing in by hand. Add lemon zest.

Spread onto prepared baking sheet. Bake at 350° for 25 minutes, until top is golden and a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean. Allow to cool.

Make lemon icing: combine icing sugar with lemon juice, stir to combine well pressing out any lumps. Spread evenly over the lemon cake.

For a special presentation, stack lemon squares and top with Roasted Strawberry Basil Compote. To make compote, combine sugar, water and basil stems into a small pan. Heat on high and bring to boil. Stir for one minute until sugar has dissolved, and remove from heat. Add basil leaves, stir to cover with the sugar syrup, cover and set aside to cool.   

Hull and slice strawberries into an 8x8 glass baking dish. Once basil syrup has cooled, discard basil leaves and stems, and pour syrup over the strawberries. Place into a preheated 350° oven for 50 minutes, shaking the pan once or twice to prevent strawberries from drying out.

Remove compote from oven and allow to cool completely. Top Lemon Squares with compote immediately before serving.