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Cakes Extra Goodies

Sweet, Tart and Tangy Lemon Cake

This year I have been blessed with an abundance of lemons.  Years ago we planted two different kinds of lemon trees.  One has been supplying us with lemons for eight years, and the other tree, maybe five lemons a year.  I gave up on that tree; it’s nice and green, produces fragrant flowers but no lemons.  That was until this year, and not only did it produce lemons, but really nice tart, juicy, yellow beauties.  So now I have two trees and more lemons than I can handle.  Even friends and family have nicely told me to stop bringing lemons to them.

What do you do with so many lemons?  We have a constant pitcher of lemonade in the fridge and containers of frozen lemon juice and zest in the freezer for the time when I realize I have no more lemons.  Even my family has grown a little tired of everything having lemons in it.  We have a constant supply of baked goods from lemon bars, lemon meringue pie, lemon brownies, lemon shortbreads and what was our favorite the Sweet, Tart and Tangy Lemon Cake.

I had this cake at a party and begged for the recipe.  Lately, I have been inundated with layer cakes covered in buttercream and was happy to have a nice, simple cake with great flavor.  The other attraction to this cake is the pieces of lemon that are baked into the cake which added extra lemon flavor and just made it more fun.

I hope you try making this cake, it mixes up fast and looks so pretty.  Add some raspberries or strawberries on the side for some extra color.  Enjoy!

 

Just picked lemons

Here’s the beauty.  I used my angel food cake pan but a bundt pan would be so pretty too.

The Cake:
Preheat oven to 325 degrees and prepare your pan, grease and flour.
4 washed and dried lemons
3 cups cake flour
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup softened butter, unsalted
3 cups superfine sugar
6 eggs
1 cup sour cream
1.  Zest the four lemons
2.  Remove the pith from the lemons by cutting it away vertically.  Next holding the lemon over a bowl, supreme each lemon by cutting each segment on either side of the membrane to remove the flesh.  When done make sure to remove any seeds and break up the lemon segments in the juice.
3.  Combine the sugar and lemon zest in a small bowl and mix with your fingers until the sugar becomes moist and grainy; and you can small the zest.
4.  In a mixing bowl beat the butter for two minutes. Add half the sugar/lemon mixture, beat again for two minutes then add the remaining sugar/lemon mixture; beat for four minutes.  Make sure to scrape the bowl occasionally.
5.  Add the eggs to the above mixture one at a time, beating each just until combined.
6.  On the lowest setting beat in the dry ingredients.
7.  Beat in the sour cream.
8.  Fold in the lemon segments and the juice.
9.  Pour the batter into your prepared pan.
10.  Bake about 1 to 1 1/2 hours until cake tester at center of cake comes out clean.  Let cool and turn out cake.
The Glaze:
2 lemons
2 cups sifted powered sugar
1.  Juice the 2 lemons into a small bowl.
2.  Add the powdered sugar and mix until smooth and pourable.
3.  Pour half the glaze over the cake and let sit about 10 minutes to set.
4.  Pour the remaining glaze of the cake, let sit to firm up the glaze.
5.  Cover the completed cake.
Here it is, sliced and ready to eat. It’s moist and tangy, and the sweet glaze rounds out the flavor.
Yum.
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