lemon cake with lemon glaze
You know when you were in college and you used to fantasize about when you graduated and moved to the city and it would be just like Friends where you would have a great apartment and your friends would live right across the hall and hang out whenever you wanted them to? Well I've finally stumbled into that situation. Except it's even better because Nate and Natasha are not constantly over at our apartment, eating our turkey and staring at our boobs while making dry sarcastic remarks. Instead they live three floors above us and are always up for a game of Risk or watching some HBO. Last night, they had us over for dinner, a scrumptious meal of cheesy potatoes gratin, old-skool green bean casserole, a delectable salad, and a roasted chicken homegrown (!!!) by Nate's father. We brought the wine and dessert. I knew I wanted to make something worthy of such a momentous meal but something that wouldn't be too rich after a heavy winter feast. And this was the perfect occasion to try the meyer lemon cake I had been drooling over in this month's Domino magazine (a gift from my lovely sister-in-law, Molly).
Unfortunately they did not have meyer lemons at the store, so I had to make do with regular lemons. I also added one orange to the recipe since I've heard that meyer lemons are sweeter than regular ones. I don't have a lot of baking experience but the cake turned out great - it was light, moist and super lemony. My only regret is that my glaze did not turn white like in the magazine photo. But I would definitely make this again. Between the four of us, we devoured the whole thing while watching an episode of Lost projected onto a movie screen in Nate & Tasha's swanky media room. A perfect ending to the week.
Meyer Lemon Cake when you can't find Meyer Lemons
Unfortunately they did not have meyer lemons at the store, so I had to make do with regular lemons. I also added one orange to the recipe since I've heard that meyer lemons are sweeter than regular ones. I don't have a lot of baking experience but the cake turned out great - it was light, moist and super lemony. My only regret is that my glaze did not turn white like in the magazine photo. But I would definitely make this again. Between the four of us, we devoured the whole thing while watching an episode of Lost projected onto a movie screen in Nate & Tasha's swanky media room. A perfect ending to the week.
Meyer Lemon Cake when you can't find Meyer Lemons
adapted from Domino magazine
Ingredients:
(makes one 9-inch cake)
8 tbsp. unsalted butter
4 large eggs, separated
3¼ cups sugar
2/3 cup buttermilk
4 lemons
1 orange
2 cups cake flour*
1¼ tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1 2/3 cups confectioners' sugar
Instructions:
Preheat the oven to 325° F.
Melt 1 stick of butter in saucepan. Cool and set aside.
Zest 2 of the lemons and the orange. Set aside zest. Squeeze the juice from the zested lemons and orange to yield about 2/3 cup of juice. Set aside.
Butter and flour a 9-inch cakepan or Bundt pan.
In a mixing bowl, using an electric mixer, beat egg yolks with 1 cup of the sugar until thick and light in color, about 2 to 3 minutes. Beat in buttermilk, 1/3 cup of citrus juice, and zest.
Sift together cake flour, baking powder and salt.
In a separate bowl, beat egg whites with an electric mixer until they hold soft peaks. Then add ¼ cup of sugar and continue beating until stiff peaks form.
Fold half the flour mixture into egg-yolk mixture, followed by half the egg white mixture—so you don't deflate the batter. Repeat with remaining flour and egg white mixtures.
Take about 1 cup of the batter and stir it into melted butter. Gently fold butter mixture into the rest of the cake batter.
Pour into buttered and floured 9-inch cake pan or Bundt pan, and bake for about 50 to 60 minutes until cake is lightly brown and pulling slightly away from the edge of the pan.
While cake is baking, make glaze and candied Meyer lemon slices. For glaze, combine the remaining citrus juice (about 1/3 cup) and the confectioners' sugar in a saucepan. Heat, stirring occasionally, until sugar is dissolved. Set aside.
For the candied slices, cut Meyer lemons widthwise, in ¼ inch slices, and discard end pieces. Remove seeds. In a saucepan, combine 2 cups of water with 2 cups of sugar. Bring to a gentle boil and simmer five minutes. Add lemon slices and simmer about five more minutes, until fruit is soft but not falling apart. With a slotted spoon, remove slices and place on waxed or parchment paper.
When the cake is baked, cool in the pan for 5 minutes, and then invert onto a cooling rack.
With a long toothpick, poke the top of the cake to make about two dozen small deep holes. Slowly spoon the warm glaze over the cake, allowing to sink in before adding more. Poke extra holes if needed, eventually using all the glaze.
Arrange the candied lemon slices in a random pattern on top. Cool the cake completely and serve.
*PS I didn't use cake flour either. This is only like the 3rd cake I've ever baked - I'm don't have the frame of mind/amount of cabinet space to own cake flour yet. But all-purpose flour worked just fine.
(makes one 9-inch cake)
8 tbsp. unsalted butter
4 large eggs, separated
3¼ cups sugar
2/3 cup buttermilk
4 lemons
1 orange
2 cups cake flour*
1¼ tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1 2/3 cups confectioners' sugar
Instructions:
Preheat the oven to 325° F.
Melt 1 stick of butter in saucepan. Cool and set aside.
Zest 2 of the lemons and the orange. Set aside zest. Squeeze the juice from the zested lemons and orange to yield about 2/3 cup of juice. Set aside.
Butter and flour a 9-inch cakepan or Bundt pan.
In a mixing bowl, using an electric mixer, beat egg yolks with 1 cup of the sugar until thick and light in color, about 2 to 3 minutes. Beat in buttermilk, 1/3 cup of citrus juice, and zest.
Sift together cake flour, baking powder and salt.
In a separate bowl, beat egg whites with an electric mixer until they hold soft peaks. Then add ¼ cup of sugar and continue beating until stiff peaks form.
Fold half the flour mixture into egg-yolk mixture, followed by half the egg white mixture—so you don't deflate the batter. Repeat with remaining flour and egg white mixtures.
Take about 1 cup of the batter and stir it into melted butter. Gently fold butter mixture into the rest of the cake batter.
Pour into buttered and floured 9-inch cake pan or Bundt pan, and bake for about 50 to 60 minutes until cake is lightly brown and pulling slightly away from the edge of the pan.
While cake is baking, make glaze and candied Meyer lemon slices. For glaze, combine the remaining citrus juice (about 1/3 cup) and the confectioners' sugar in a saucepan. Heat, stirring occasionally, until sugar is dissolved. Set aside.
For the candied slices, cut Meyer lemons widthwise, in ¼ inch slices, and discard end pieces. Remove seeds. In a saucepan, combine 2 cups of water with 2 cups of sugar. Bring to a gentle boil and simmer five minutes. Add lemon slices and simmer about five more minutes, until fruit is soft but not falling apart. With a slotted spoon, remove slices and place on waxed or parchment paper.
When the cake is baked, cool in the pan for 5 minutes, and then invert onto a cooling rack.
With a long toothpick, poke the top of the cake to make about two dozen small deep holes. Slowly spoon the warm glaze over the cake, allowing to sink in before adding more. Poke extra holes if needed, eventually using all the glaze.
Arrange the candied lemon slices in a random pattern on top. Cool the cake completely and serve.
*PS I didn't use cake flour either. This is only like the 3rd cake I've ever baked - I'm don't have the frame of mind/amount of cabinet space to own cake flour yet. But all-purpose flour worked just fine.
