Tuesday, May 1, 2012

Easy Peasy, Lemon Squeezy!!!!

 I am excited to share this cake with you. I made it for our Easter celebration and it was a BIG hit. It was fun to make and very easy.

 I found in one of my old cookbooks, Better Homes and Gardens, 1963, a recipe for a dear little yellow cake that is not only easy to whip up but really good. It turns out moist with a light crumb so I decided to use it a a base for my Lemon cake. I wanted my Lemon cake to turn out bright and sunny and taste of fresh lemons and I do believe I succeeded as there was not one crumb left on the plate, even after our ham dinner.
 The recipe is as follows:      Busy Day Cake

1 1/3 cups all purpose flour * see note at bottom*
2/3 cup white sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
2/3 cup milk
1/4 cup melted butter or oil
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla

Cream butter until fluffy. Add everything but the flour and beat well. Add flour last and combine. Pour into a 9 inch greased and floured caked pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 to 30 minutes or until a toothpick come out clean.
This makes a single layer, cake. Perfect for a quick, light desert. You can use your imagination and add so many things to this recipe. I have served it with strawberries and whipped cream.
*note; To make all purpose flour into self rising flour which is better for some cakes etc you simply add 1 teaspoon baking powder to the 1 cup measuring cup and then finish off with flour to one cup.* Cool trick since I buy my flour in bulk and always all purpose. You can make all purpose into pastry flour by adding 1 Tablespoon of cornstarch in the same manner, I do that for my pie crusts.
Lemon Glaze
1/2 cup lemon juice
2 cups sugar
1 Tbs butter
The zest of one lemon, save some for the top of the cake if you want.
Put lemon juice and sugar in a small saucepan and stir over medium heat just until sugar dissolves and butter melts. You don't need to actually cook it you just want the sugar to dissolve really well. Add lemon zest.

To make Lemon cake. Double the recipe for the busy day cake and bake in 2, 9 inch round cake pans. While baking make up your glaze and sit aside.

While cakes are still warm from oven poke holes all the way down to the pan with a wooden skewer or a fork. Make sure you poke alot of holes and make them deep. Pour the gaze over the top of the cakes and, make sure you get the sides too, and let them cool to room temperature. It will seem like a lot of glaze, but don't worry it will sink in. When your ready to decorate your cake, Place one cake on a plate, smear a bit of frosting and add second layer. Top with remaining frosting and sprinkle with lemon zest. It would be so pretty just like that but I added a few flowers from the bouquet I had that day. You could serve it with vanilla bean ice cream but believe me....It can stand alone.
Oh yes.... I cheated and used a tub of Pillsbury vanilla icing..
Please, please , please let me know if you make this. I would love to hear how it turned out. If you have any questions just ask in the comments.
Sunshiny Blessings, Sue

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