I am really excited to share this recipe with you because it's SO GOOD.  If you make this cake and don't eat it all yourself, you will look like a rock star in the kitchen, and hey, even if you do eat it all yourself, you'll at least know you're a rock star.



This cake is perfect for this time of year- it's light, lemony, creamy, and just all around dreamy.  The filling seriously could be as light as a cloud, if they were made of cheese.  It's pretty in its simplicity.  No need to break out piping bags or even icing spatulas.

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This frosting.  Oh, this frosting.  If you're below the age of 40, you know it well.  It adorned at least half the cupcakes you ate as a child, and I have also been known to eat it as a dip with graham crackers.  So creamy, so tasty.  So discontinued.  A generation mourns.  There are imitators out there, but it's just not the same.

Until now, when it gets better.  I found this recipe for a homemade version on Pinterest, and it really does have the taste and close to the texture of the original.  Unfortunately, no homemade frosting will ever perfectly mimic the texture of canned frosting because it's more of a science project than food, and all those hydrogenated oils, syrups, and shelf stabilizers give it the texture we know (and many of us, like me, prefer).  This recipe, though, with its cream cheese icing base, comes pretty close to being that creamy, sort of light, spreadable frosting texture.  The flavor of this frosting is amazing, and since you make it, you of course get to play with how it tastes.

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I've had this recipe on my "share as soon as spring feels like it's here and here to stay" list.  It may be the only one in that category, actually.  I made it last September, for my mom's birthday.  It was a huge hit, and it was delicious.  I just didn't share it with you then because I felt like I needed to wait until spring, because for some reason nothing says SPRING! like lemon or strawberry flavors.  Maybe it's the brightness.  Maybe it's the cheery yellow color, reminding me of daffodils and the sunshine.  I don't know, but this would make an awesome Easter or Mother's Day dessert.

Like all cheesecakes, it's dense, but the lemon gives it some lightness, too.  The curd on top just accentuates the lemon flavor even further, sending lemon lovers into lemon-flavored Heaven.



Since it's baking, I don't like to fool around much with the recipe, so I made it as-is, except that I used generic animal crackers rather than the brand called for.  The recipe comes to us by way of America's Test Kitchen, so their test chefs have spent loads of time perfecting the recipe.

ATK's Lemon Cheesecake
from America's Test Kitchen

Crust
5 ounces animal crackers
3 tablespoons sugar
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and kept warm

Filling
1 1/4 cups (8 3/4 oz.) sugar
1 tablespoon grated zest and 1/4 cup juice from 1-2 lemons
1 1/2 pounds (3 8-oz. packages) cream cheese, cut into 1 inch chunks, at room temperature
4 large eggs, at room temperature
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup heavy cream
\
Lemon Curd
1/3 cup juice (from about 2 lemons)
2 large eggs plus 1 large egg yolk
1/2 cup (3 1/2 oz.) sugar
2 tablespoons cold butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1 tablespoon heavy cream
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
pinch of salt

Place the oven rack in the lower half of the oven and preheat to 325°F.

Place the animal crackers in a food processor and pulse until they are fine crumbs. Add in the sugar and pulse again. Add the butter in a steady stream and continue to pulse until the mixture starts to come together, about 10 1-second pulses.

Transfer the crumb mixture to a 9-inch springform pan and press evenly into the bottom. Bake until it is golden brown, about 13-15 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to cool. Once cool, wrap the pan with 2 18-inch pieces of foil. Set in a roasting pan and set aside.

To make the filling, place 1/4 cup of the sugar and the lemon zest in a food processor and process until the sugar turns yellow and fragrant. Add in the remaining zest and pulse a few times to combine.
In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the cream cheese for about 5 seconds. With the mixer on low, add in the lemon sugar in a steady stream, then switch to medium and beat until creamy and smooth, about 3 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Reduce the speed to medium-low and add the eggs, 2 at a time, scraping down the bowl in between additions. Add in the lemon juice, vanilla and salt and mix to combine. Add in the cream and beat to combine, another 5 seconds. Scrape the bowl again to make sure everything has been incorporated and pour into the springform pan.

Place the pan in the oven and carefully add enough water to the roasting pan to make it halfway up the sides of the springform pan. Bake until the center is slightly giggly and the sides start to puff and the surface is no longer shiny, about 55 to 60 minutes. Turn off the oven and prop the oven door open with a towel or wooden spoon. Allow the cake to cool in the oven for 1 hour.

Remove from the roasting pan and transfer to a wire rack. Run a small paring knife around the edges of the cake and let it sit at room temperature for 2 hours.

While the cheesecake is baking, make the lemon curd. Heat the lemon juice in a small pan over medium heat until it is hot, but not boiling. In a small bowl, whisk the eggs. Gradually whisk in the sugar. Whisking constantly, slowly pour the hot lemon juice into the egg mixture, then pour the mixture back into the pan. Continue to cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture reaches 170°F, or until it is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. Remove the pan from the heat and whisk in the butter until it is melted. Stir in the cream, vanilla and salt. (If you have lumps in the curd, pour through a fine mesh strainer to strain any lumps.) Pour the curd into a small nonreactive bowl. Cover the surface of the curd directly with plastic wrap and refrigerate until needed.

When the cheesecake is cool, top it with the lemon curd while still in the springform pan. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 5 hours, but 24 hours is better.

Notes

• As far as concerns the lemon juice, I think I used a total of 4-5 lemons for this recipe.  I definitely used at least 3 for the curd portion.  
• I bought a cheesecake pan years ago from Magic Line, because they're made in the USA, as opposed to the springform pans that I found.  Cheesecake Pans have fixed sides and a removable bottom, so you can use other pans, but take extra care to make sure the cheesecake is not still attached to the side.

Finished cake- I only lament I couldn't take a picture of the inside for you, but that's against family reunion rules.

This past weekend was a family reunion, which of course is a good opportunity to catch up with family, but a good opportunity to experiment with recipes.  I've got two new ones to share with you, and this is the first of the two.  It's a great introduction into fall recipes. 

While the pumpkin is currently enjoying a reign of fall produce homecoming queen, the apple shouldn't be overlooked.  I love apple recipes, from the sweet to the savory.  It's such a versatile fruit, eaten both raw and cooked.  One particular favorite is the apple cake, and I've probably made 3-4 different recipe variations.  I love it heartiness, moisture, and even that it's a bundt cake.  This year's version comes from a 2010 special periodical publication of Southern Living Recipes.  It's Honey Apple Cake, drizzled with a sauce made with honey, butter, and brown sugar, and it's delicious.  I wanted to share it with you as soon as possible.

The delicious honey-sugar mixture

It's easy to throw together, and not temperamental.  It has a relatively short ingredient list, and even after two days, it's moist and flavorful.  What's not to love?!

Honey Apple Cake
from Southern Living

1 cup chopped pecans, divided
2 cups sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup clover honey
3 large eggs
3 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 Golden Delicious apples, peeled and chopped
Honey Sauce (recipe to follow)

Preheat your oven to 350.  Grease and flour a 12 cup Bundt pan; sprinkle bottom of pan with 1/4 cup pecans. 

Beat the sugar, oil, and honey at medium speed with an electric mixer until well blended.  Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating until well blended.  Combine the flour and next 4 ingredients in a bowl .  Gradually add to sugar mixture, beating at low speed just until blended.  Stir in vanilla, remaining pecans, and chopped apples.  Spoon batter over pecans in pan. 

Bake at 350 for 55-60 minutes or until a cake tester inserted in center comes out clean.  Cool in pan on a wire rack 15 minutes.  Remove from pan, and place on a wire rack over wax paper.  Drizzle 1/2 cup Honey Sauce over warm cake.  Let cool 1 hour or until completely cool.  heat remaining Honey Sauce and serve cake with sauce, and if desire, ice cream. 

Honey Sauce
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
1/4 cup milk
1/4 cup honey

Bring all ingredients to a boil in a medium saucepan over medium heat, stirring constantly; boil, stirring constantly, for 5 mintues.

Notes

• Know your oven.  My oven has four possible rack placements.  I started the cake out on the next to lowest rack (where the top of the cake pan is about middle of oven) and after 45 minutes, the cake wasn't done in the middle, but the top of the cake was very dark.  I moved it up a level and it finished baking on the next to highest rack position, which was a good place to finish.  Total baking time for my crazy oven: 55 minutes.
• I used Granny Smith apples rather than Golden Delicious.  They were a better price and I like them better.

Who doesn't love a good ice cream cake?  Aside from the lactose intolerant, most people go crazy over them, and I once saw a Semi Homemade episode where Sandra Lee made her own ice cream cake.  Since that time, Drew and I have made several.



The beauty of your own, homemade or semi-homemade ice cream cake is that you are able to make the possibilities of flavor almost endless.  For this particular cake, we had a chocolate cake paired with mint chocolate chip ice cream and whipped chocolate frosting.  I will post the chocolate frosting for you maybe tomorrow or Wednesday, but for now, I'm focusing on the cake itself.  This is another of those posts that I really don't want to call a recipe because of its simplicity; call it what you want, but the results are always quickly eaten!  I wanted to share this one with you because it's great for the summer and so much fun.



Ice Cream Cake
Inspired by Sandra Lee

2-3 cake layers, baked  and cooled (homemade or box mix)
1- carton ice cream (45-64 oz)
Frosting of your choice (4 cups or two cans)

Let the ice cream sit on the counter about 10 or so minutes until it is scoopable and softened, but not melted.  Unmold the cakes from the pans.  Wash 1-2 of the pans and line with wax or parchment paper.  Using an ice cream scoop or large spoon, scoop the ice cream out of the carton and into one or two cake pans, distributing the ice cream evenly among the pans.  It's ok if you don't use all the ice cream.  Place back in freezer about 30 minutes or until refrozen. 

Once the ice cream is frozen in the cake pan(s), assemble your cake.  Place one layer of cake onto a plate or cake base.  Top with one layer of the ice cream (of course, removing the wax paper).  Top the ice cream layer with another cake layer.  Repeat if you have another layer of ice cream and cake, beginning and ending your cake with a cake layer.  Frost and enjoy!  Store leftovers in the freezer. 



Notes

• You can make this cake to contain as few as three layers (2 of cake and 1 of ice cream) or as ridiculously many as your heart desires.  I liked the thought of 3 cake layers and 2 ice cream layers.  The main thing is that you want cake layers on the top and bottom. 

This is the final post of the wedding cakes series, and it's probably my favorite of the cakes.  Thanks for sticking with me!  This same recipe will be featured in another post at another time (do you like how vague I am?) in its intended incarnation, but for now, it is here. 

When looking for a chocolate cake recipe for the wedding cake, I wanted something that would be sturdy enough to withstand the weight of the cake tier on top and something that tastes very chocolatey.  I detest chocolate cakes that only have a hint of chocolate flavor.  What's the point? 

This particular recipe, also from Sky High: Irresistible Triple Layer Cakes is intensely chocolatey, moist, and a little more sturdy than the Southern Living recipe I posted earlier.  It's also able to be made without a mixer, and I was glad to give the Kitchen Aid a break. 

While in the wedding cake I used two nine inch square pans, I will be writing the recipe as is in the book.

Sour Cream Chocolate Cake
from Sky High

2 cups all purpose flour
2 1/2 cups sugar
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, preferably Dutch Process
2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1 c. neutral vegetable oil, such as canola
1 cup sour cream
1 1/2 cups water
2 tablespoons white vinegar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.  Butter and line with parchment three 8 inch round cake pans. 

Sift the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt into a large bowl.  Whisk to combine them well.  Add the oil and sour cream and whisk to blend.  Gradually beat in the water.  Blend in the vinegar and vanilla.  Whisk in the eggs and beat until well blended.  Scrape down the sides of the bowl and be sure the batter is well mixed.  Divide the batter among the three cake pans.

Bake at 350 for 30-35 minutes or until a tester comes out clean.  Let the cakes cool in the pans for about 20 minutes.  Invert onto wire racks, peel off parchment paper, and let cool completely. 


Notes

• Don't be worried- the cake batter will be very runny.  I am finding that I like the cakes produced by runny batters rather than fluffy, viscous batters.
• A great cake tester is a dry spaghetti noodle. 
• That slice is from the "another post at another time" incarnation of this cake.  Boy are you in for a treat when I post that!  Just hark back to the original wedding cake photos to see the finish.

I apologize for not having posted in a week!  It's been hectic, and if you will, please pray for Zach Sisk and the Sisk family.  I wouldn't usually request that on a food blog, but I feel that the more people who are praying the better for the whole situation. 

So, on to the cake.  My apologies for only having one picture!  I was very bad about photographically documenting the wedding cake tiers.  The top tier of the square wedding cake was a white cake, and the bride and groom wanted a vanilla flavor to it.  You can of course find a plethora of white cake recipes in cook books and online, but all of the ones I've tried have been a little...lackluster.  There usually isn't a lot of flavor, and they can tend to the dry side of things.

I turned to a great cake book, Sky High: Irresistible Triple Layer Cakes by Alisa Huntsman and Peter Wynne.  This was the first cake book I purchased, and almost solely on the accolades given by Deb of Smitten Kitchen.  I haven't been disappointed.  For the vanilla cake tier, I used the recipe for Vanilla Bean Cake With White Chocolate Buttercream, found on pages 82-83.  I didn't make the white chocolate buttercream for this particular cake, so I can't tell you about that.  What I can tell you about is this cake.  It is fluffy but dense, moist, and the vanilla flavor is very pronounced due to the use of vanilla extract and vanilla bean.  It's no ordinary white cake.  It is officially a vanilla cake. 

Below are the original instructions to make one triple layer, 8 inch round cake.  I actually made 2 square six inch layers and a dozen cupcakes. 

Vanilla Bean Cake
3 cups cake flour
2 cups sugar
4 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 whole vanilla bean, split in half lengthwise
2 sticks plus 2 Tb. (9 oz) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 1/3 c. milk
5 egg whites
1 Tb. vanilla extract

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.  Butter the bottoms and sides of three 8 inch round cake pans and line the bottoms with parchment paper.  Butter the parchment. 

Place the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a large mixer bowl.  With the mixer on low speed, blend well.  With the tip of a small knife, scrape the tiny seeds from inside the vanilla bean into the bowl; discard the bean pod or reserve for another use.  Add the butter and 1 cup of the milk and mix to blend.  Raise the mixer to medium speed and beat until the batter is light and fluffy, about 2 minutes.  In a mixing bowl, whisk the egg whites with the vanilla extract and the remaining 1/3 c. milk.  Add this to the batter in 2 to 3 additions, scraping down the bowl well and mixing only to incorporate.  Divide the batter among the prepared pans.

Bake for 30 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean.  Allow to cool in the pans for 10 minutes; then invert onto wire racks, remove the parchment paper, and cool completely, about 1 hour. 


Cook's Notes

• I think I used cake flour here, but due to my aversion to cake flour I would just as readily use White Lily All Purpose, taking out 2 Tb. flour from each cup I used. 
• The "other use" for which you can reserve the vanilla bean is limited only by your imagination and desire to think something up.  One popular thing people do with it is to stick it into some sugar.  The pod will perfume and flavor the sugar. 
• What to do with all those leftover egg yolks?  While I didn't do anything to mine in time enough, you could use it to make lemon curd, hollandaise sauce, or zabaglione.  One day those will be posted on here.  Hold me to that. 

White Chocolate cake served as half of the four tier wedding cake, comprising the base tier and second tier from the top. 

While this cake doesn't taste like biting into white chocolate, the cocoa butter from the white chocolate gives a rich moisture to the cake, which has a fairly open texture with the richness of pound cake.  One thing that I like about this cake is its high fat content that causes it to retain moisture.  It's not moist like a cake that has been doused with sugar water or milk.  It's a cake that doesn't easily dry out, and I like that.  I mean, really, who doesn't like that?  How many times have you been excited over a slice of cake that looks lush and delicious, only to be disappointed because the moisture comes only from the icing?  It's also a sturdy cake that can take most any icing you want to put on it. 

I first discovered the white chocolate cake when planning my own wedding and trying to find my perfect cake flavor.  I think I went with white and lemon in my cake, but I tried the white chocolate recipe out and have used it in a ton of cakes since. 



You start by melting white chocolate with water and then letting them cool. 












I hope that if you bake it you will let me know in the comments section what you think!

White Chocolate Cake
from allrecipes.com, submitted by VanDerStad

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
6 (1 ounce) squares white chocolate, chopped
1/2 cup hot water
1 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cups white sugar
3 eggs
1 cup buttermilk
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Sift together the 2 1/2 cups flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Set aside.


In small saucepan, melt 6 ounces white chocolate and hot water over low heat. Stir until smooth, and allow to cool to room temperature.

In a large bowl, cream 1 cup butter and 1 1/2 cup sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating well with each addition. Stir in flour mixture alternately with buttermilk. Mix in melted white chocolate and 1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla.

Pour batter into two 9 inch round cake pans. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes in the preheated oven, until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.
 
 
Notes
Just one today- I have never made this cake in the specified pan sizes; I have always used other pan sizes, like 6", 8", 10", and 12" round.  One thing I like about this recipe is that even if I overbake a bit it still tastes great and is moist!

 Red velvet cake served as the base tier in the square cake and as the top and third tiers in the round wedding cake, so I've made a lot of red velvet cake in the past couple weeks.  The leftovers from trimming make great cake balls!

I didn't grow up with a lot of red velvet cake, so even looking at recipes was a challenge as I didn't know what the resulting cake was supposed to taste like.  I just knew it needed to be red.  After searching library books and the internet and after testing three or four separate recipes, I came across one that I personally like and that I feel represents the cake well. 

Red velvet cake is a butter cake, which is a bit confusing when you'll see my recipe below actually utilizes canola oil for the fat rather than butter, but bear with me.  In my tests, I tried recipes using shortening, butter, and canola oil.  I tested out all purpose vs. cake flour recipes.  Almost every recipe varied its amount of cocoa.  Some tasted dry.  Some were too chocolatey.  You can of course test all these out on your own, but in the end I used this recipe as a major guideline and jumping off point and sort of came up with my own version.  I am happy with the end result, and hope that if you try this recipe, you will be too.











Red Velvet Cake
adapted from The Confetti Cakes Cookbook

3 cups plus 1 tablespoon White Lily All Purpose Flour (see notes)
1/4 c. unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 tsp. salt
2 cups canola or vegetable oil
2 1/4 c. granulated sugar
3 eggs
3 oz. or 6 tablespoons liquid red food coloring
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 1/4 c. buttermilk
2 tsp. baking soda
2 1/2 tsp. white vinegar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Prepare three 9-inch round baking pans (spray with Baker's Joy or grease and flour) and place parchment in the bottoms of each pan.

Whisk flour, cocoa, and salt in a bowl.

Place oil and sugar in bowl of an electric mixer and beat at medium speed until well-blended. Beat in eggs one at a time. With machine on low, very slowly add red food coloring. (Take care: it may splash.) Add vanilla. Add flour mixture alternately with buttermilk in two batches. Scrape down bowl and beat just long enough to combine.

Place baking soda in a small dish, stir in vinegar and add to batter with machine running. Beat for 10 seconds.

Divide batter among pans, place in oven and bake until a cake tester comes out clean, 40 to 45 minutes. Let cool in pans 20 minutes. Then remove from pans, flip layers over and peel off parchment. Cool completely before frosting.











Notes

• White Lily is only found in the South.  I am sorry if you don't live here and can't get it.  I specify White Lily because as a Southern flour, its protein content is lower than that of national brand all purpose flours, but slightly higher than cake flour.  In my tests, I found that cakes made with White Lily as opposed to cake flours actually tasted more moist.  You can try doing the same amount of regular all purpose flour.  If you want to use cake flour, the original recipe called for 3 1/2 cups cake flour. 
• For your information, I used Happy Home red food coloring, which I bought in a local cake supply shop.  It's much more economical than what you'll find in grocery stores.  While they don't supply a complete list, you can check their website to find out where it's sold near you or to order online.
• The original recipe called for more cocoa, but I felt that it turned the cake into more of a chocolate cake.  I suppose you can adjust this according to your own tastes.
• I used white vinegar, but a friend tells me that red wine vinegar is good, too.  I plan to try that when I'm making this recipe for fun.   

This past week my friend Kim's daughter turned 4.  Her party had a pink and yellow flower theme, and the birthday girl requested chocolate cupcakes and buttercream frosting.  Kim asked if we could do pink flowers with yellow centers on top of 3 dozen cupcakes.



After modifying the original design plan a bit, we settled on the ones you see in the picture.  Aren't they cute?!

The actual chocolate cupcake recipe is what I'm sharing with you.  The recipe in my Southern Living special edition magazine (the same one where I got the pound cake recipe) said that it made 36 cupcakes.  Perfect!  When I make cupcakes to decorate and need the tops slightly flat, I make sure I fill it less than the recipe suggests, which usually means about halfway.  That also means extra cupcakes to enjoy.  Those few extra cupcakes that I made into minis from the leftover batter are all but one gone because they're so delicious!  This is probably my favorite chocolate cake recipe so far.  It has an unapologetically chocolatey flavor and a very light texture.  They're moist and just delicious!  They're very bad for dieters. 

My only complaint, and this could be baker error (not baking them long enough, etc), are that they're difficult to ice without the crumbs getting into your white icing.  Yikes!  Other than that my only complaint is that I can't stop eating them if I make them. 

If you make these, let me know what you think by posting in the comments section!

Chocolate Layer Cake With Vanilla Buttercream Frosting

from Southern Living special edition magazine, Our Favorite Dessserts
1 ½ c. semisweet morsels
½ c. butter, softened
1-16 oz. pkg light brown sugar
3 large eggs
2 c. AP flour
1 tsp baking soda
½ tsp. salt
1- 8 oz container sour cream
1 c. hot water
2 tsp. vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350. Melt chocolate in a microwave safe bowl on high 1 ½ minutes or until melted and smooth, stirring at 30 second intervals.

Beat butter and sugar at medium speed with an electric mixer until well blended (about 5 minutes). Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating just until blended after each addition. Add melted chocolate, beating just until blended.

Sift together flour, baking soda, and salt. Gradually add to chocolate mixture alternately with the sour cream, beginning and ending with the flour mixture. Beat at low speed just until blended. Stir in vanilla. Gradually pour in hot water and mix until all is blended.  Batter will be runny. 

Pour into cupcake pans and bake at 350 for 18 minutes or until a tester comes out clean.

Makes 36 cupcakes.


Notes

• Did you know that approximately 1 1/2 cups of semisweet chips is the same as 8 oz. of chips?  Thankfully I did and used my Baker's brand semisweet chocolate and didn't have to make that mad dash to the store to buy chips.
• You can also melt the chocolate on a stove in a double boiler. 

Here are the ingredients that will make it happen- part of the uniqueness of this recipe are its use of sour cream and brown sugar.











Sifting the dry ingredients together.  This is how I do it.  Alton Brown uses his food processor.  The goal is to break up clumps and incorporate air.







Oh, yum.  How can you go wrong creaming butter and brown sugar together AND THEN adding chocolate?!








Here's the batter when it's finished and about to be poured.  It's much less viscous than other cake batters, so don't be alarmed. 







Enjoy!

For those that don't know me well, I took a cake decorating course a couple years ago and fell in love with it as a new creative outlet.  Since taking the course, I've had the privilege of decorating a wedding cake for a friend and doing other friends' baby shower, wedding shower, and birthday cakes. 

This weekend I was able to make a baby shower cake.  This post will focus on the cake itself and not the decoration. 

Underneath the ribbon, fondant, and icing are two layers of a delicious cake I recently discovered:  Perfect Party Cake by Dorie Greenspan.  Unsure of what to choose as the flavor for this cake as the person who ordered it and I forgot to discuss that part, I opted to go with a white cake.  I had just made Rose Levy Beranbaum's White Velvet Butter Cake as a wedding cake sample, and I liked it.  I just decided that I wanted to try something different.  I like trying different things, especially when they're baked so closely together. 

So, I looked through my cookbooks and on the internet, and everybody seemed to love the Perfect Party Cake.  All the reviews I read about it said that people rave about its taste, and that the lemon perfectly accents its lightness and helps to offset the sometimes eggy or floury taste white cakes have.  That caught my attention.  The recipe is in Dorie's book, Baking: From My Home to Yours.  If you don't have this book and you love to bake, I would highly recommend it.  There's even a blogging community called Tuesdays With Dorie devoted to baking the recipes of this book. 

The feedback I got from this cake was that it "was great, and everyone loved the way it tasted."  Success! 

Due to the zesting of the lemon, the infusion of the sugar, and separating the eggs, this recipe has a couple more steps than your average cake, but it's very worth it. 


My husband hates the egg separator because it's a unitasker, but it's so handy. 
I recommend a Microplane for zesting- they're found in kitchen stores, Bed Bath, and Beyond, etc.  They're amazing!  I also have a cheese grater. 



1 tablespoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
1 ¼ cups whole milk or buttermilk (I prefer buttermilk with the lemon)
4 large egg whites
1 ½ cups sugar
2 teaspoons grated lemon zest
1 stick (8 tablespoons or 4 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature
½ teaspoon pure lemon extract

Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter two 9 x 2 inch round cake pans and line the bottom of each pan with a round of buttered parchment or wax paper. Put the pans on a baking sheet.


Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt.

Whisk together the milk and egg whites in a medium bowl.

Put the sugar and lemon zest in a mixer bowl or another large bowl and rub them together with your fingers until the sugar is moist and fragrant.

Add the butter and working with the paddle or whisk attachment, or with a hand mixer, beat at medium speed for a full 3 minutes, until the butter and sugar are very light.

Beat in the extract, then add one third of the flour mixture, still beating on medium speed.

Beat in half of the milk-egg mixture, then beat in half of the remaining dry ingredients until incorporated.

Add the rest of the milk and eggs beating until the batter is homogeneous, then add the last of the dry ingredients.

Finally, give the batter a good 2- minute beating to ensure that it is thoroughly mixed and well aerated.

Divide the batter between the two pans and smooth the tops with a rubber spatula.

Bake for 30-35 minutes, or until the cakes are well risen and springy to the touch – a thin knife inserted into the centers should come out clean

Transfer the cakes to cooling racks and cool for about 5 minutes, then run a knife around the sides of the cakes, unmold them and peel off the paper liners.

Invert and cool to room temperature, right side up (the cooled cake layers can be wrapped airtight and stored at room temperature overnight or frozen for up to two months).

Notes

• The first time I made this cake (I ended up making it twice because one layer fell apart upon unmolding), I forgot the lemon extract, so I used lemon juice.  The second time I actually got the extract.  The difference is significant- go with the extract for a better flavor.
• As just mentioned, one of the cakes fell apart when I unmolded it (or took it out of the pan), so the second time I made it I left it in the pan to cool longer.  These cakes are delicate!
• My hot oven had the cakes done in 25 minutes.
• To get the batter in the pans to be as smooth on top as possible, I spread them with a spatula as directed, but then I gave the pans a couple quarter turn spins (put one hand on each side of the pan and turn clockwise and then counter clockwise, like turning a steering wheel).  It's much gentler than banging the pans on the counter as some people do.  That lets air bubbles out, making for a more dense cake, and that's not what you want.

No Southern girl is worth her salt if she can't make a good pound cake.  Pound cakes often get a bad reputation as being too dry, too dense, or just plain unappealing because they either are not well made or they come from a store, pre-packaged and as old as the Queen Mother.  In their true form, pound cakes are a delicious deviation from your standard butter cake because they are appropriately sweet, dense, velvety, and moist.  A good one is perfect on its own but can be enhanced topped with fresh fruit, whipped cream, or ice cream. 

I, being a Southern girl, felt unworth my own salt because I had never attempted to make a real (by real I mean a full pound of butter) pound cake.  Until now.  Or, rather, until Mother's Day.  You see, every gift giving occasion I have a bit of a dilemma to contend with.  Most of the people in my life are ridiculously hard to buy a gift that you feel confident giving to them.  Take my great grandmother.  She is 103 years old.  I will give you a minute to read that sentence again.  What do you get for a 103 year old?  She's not able to see well anymore, so books are out.  Her hearing isn't what it used to be, either, so music is out, too.   When trying to get ideas off my mom, she mentioned that pound cake was her favorite dessert and that I could make her one of those. 

This suggestion must have been orchestrated by God Himself, because just the previous week my grandmother gave me a special Southern Living Desserts magazine (possibly still on newsstands) featuring a recipe called Million Dollar Poundcake.  This came at the same time that the Southern Living May issue featured a basic, Two Step Pound Cake that was nearly identical to the Million Dollar Poundcake, except for extract choices.  I went with the Two Step recipe.  I had two similar recipes and the perfect occasion to try it out. 

This pound cake is large; it is not made in a loaf pan but a tube pan.  As you will see, it contains a full pound of butter and doesn't apologize for it.  For those of you who don't know a lot about the chemistry of baking, butter and other fats give moisture to baked goods.  Therefore, the more the better! 

To my unending delight, my grandmothers both said that it was one of the best pound cakes they had ever had.  I believe Mother's Day was a success.  I, unfortunately, was only able to eat a few crumbs from where I trimmed the excess off the top of the pan to level the cake.  Here is the recipe below:

Two Step Pound Cake
from May 2010 Issue of Southern Living

4 cups all-purpose flour
3 cups sugar
2 cups butter, softened
3/4 cup milk
6 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract 
 
Preheat oven to 325°. Place flour, sugar, butter, milk, eggs, and vanilla (in that order) in 4-qt. bowl of a heavy-duty electric stand mixer. Beat at low speed 1 minute, stopping to scrape down sides. Beat at medium speed 2 minutes.


Pour into a greased and floured 10-inch (16-cup) tube pan, and smooth. Bake at 325° for 1 hour and 30 minutes or until a long wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan on a wire rack 10 minutes. Remove from pan to wire rack, and cool completely (about 1 hour).


Cook's Notes

• The only pan I had that would work for this recipe was my 10 cup Bundt pan.  It would really be best if you had the suggested size as my batter overflowed in the oven, creating a small fire on the oven coils.  NordicWare makes this size; it is their larger angel food pan.
• Lesson 1- put a sheet pan or heavy duty aluminum foil under your pan to avoid an overflow creating a big mess in the bottom of your oven
• Lesson 2- if you do cause a fire, listen to Firefighter Drew and just shut the door.  The lack of oxygen will put the fire out.
• It is important to properly mix it because the only leavening in this cake is the air incorporated during the mixing.
• This recipe is forgiving!  I forgot to add one of the ingredients in the order listed and it still came out great.
• Due to the temperamental nature of my oven and the fact that my pan was too small, my cake only took an hour to bake.  Watch your cake!