A Three Cake Week: Cake One

It is going to be a busy week. I’ve got two birthday cakes to make, a special tempting dessert for a school meeting and maybe even something special for my book club. That is a lot of cakes for one week – even at my house.

Cake 1 - Luxury Lemon Cake

The first cake is for a meeting for my daughters’ school – a meeting that I’m trying to get people to come out for at my house to help me organize a fun event that is coming up in March. Let’s face it – this dessert is a bribe to get my friends to come out on a cold January night when they could be snuggling up at home. It has to be amazing, over the top and not that complicated – since I have a very busy day myself tomorrow. Also, it had to be both nut and chocolate free because of food allergies... this cake is both. The Luxury Lemon Cake wins for amazingly delicious – rich and moist and very very lemony. I’m going to serve it with my January strawberries (see my 1/16/07 entry) and a dollop of lemon mousse. I’m sort of cheating on the mousse, but really one has to cut corners somewhere. I’m going to fold some Stonewall Farms lemon curd into some Fat Free Cool Whip. My idea is to have lemon in different textures and forms and then the strawberries will brighten up the plate.

A few notes about this recipe. I don’t bother using super fine sugar. Feel free to use it if you have it or if you really want to use it and can’t find it in the store you can process regular granulated sugar in your food processor to make super fine sugar yourself.

I sift the dry ingredients into a mixing bowl and then stir them for about a minute with a wire whisk to ensure that they are thoroughly combined.

Anytime the recipe calls for wax paper I use parchement paper - because I have it on hand. Either one will work.

I’ve made this recipe in a regular bundt pan and it was fine – so if you already have a bundt don’t feel like you have to run out and buy a 10-inch tube. I did invest in one finally because I love this cake so much and know I’ll be making it often.

And one final plea: Don’t skip the glaze! This glaze is designed to be absorbed into the warm cake – it ups the lemon ante as well as tenderizing the cake. So no matter what – don’t skip that step it takes this cake to higher level.

-----------------------------------------------
Luxury Lemon Cake
(recipe by Lisa Yockelson)

Makes one 10-inch cake


CAKE

Shortening (for the pan)
Flour (for the pan)
Finely grated rind of 3 lemons
2 teaspoons lemon extract
3 1/4 cups flour
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt (preferabley fine sea salt)
1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
2 3/4 cups superfine sugar
5 eggs
1 cup buttermilk

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Grease a plain 10-inch tube pan, line the bottom of the pan with a circle of waxed paper. Dust the pan with flour, tapping out the excess; set aside

2. In a small bowl, combine the lemon rind and extract.

3. Sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt into a mixing bowl or onto a piece of waxed paper.

4. In an electric mixer, beat the butter at medium speed for 3 minutes or until smooth and creamy. Add the sugar in three additions, beating for 1 minute after each one. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, mixing for 30 seconds after each one. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula to keep the batter even textured.

5. Blend in the lemon mixture. On low speed, add the flour mixture in 3 additions, alternately with the buttermilk, beginning and ending with flour.

6. Spoon the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the surface with a rubber spatula.

7. Bake the cake for 1 hour and 15 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the cake is clean when withdrawn and the cake pulls away slightly from the sides of the pan.

GLAZE

2/3 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice

1. In a small saucepan, combine the sugar and lemon juice. Set over medium heat and cook, stirring occasionally, about 7 minutes. Bring to a rapid boil, the remove the pan from the heat.

2. When the cake is done, cool it in the pan for 10 to 12 minutes. Carefully invert onto another cooling rack, peel away the waxed paper, then set right-side up on another rack. Brush the top and sides of the warm cake with glaze.

3. Leave the cake to cool completely.