It struck me the other day how soaping and baking are sorta similar. There are measuring cups and measuring spoons involved in both, and there's a lot of mixing and stirring. And there's a bit of anxiety when it comes time to turn out, or "unmold," the creation that you've slaved over. In soaping and baking, you take a bunch of ingredients that aren't too terribly useful on their own and combine them to make a practical yet lovely thing.
Anytime a potlock or family gathering comes along, I volunteer to make dessert. I pull dessert duty on Easter, too, for our family get-together, and it seems that I make a lemon-something every year. This year, I made a lemon cake with a lemon cream cheese frosting and a lemon curd filling. Definitely not low-calorie, but every dang calorie is worth it.
I got this Lemon Cake recipe from the About.com: Southern Food website. I followed the recipe exactly except for one small tweak -- I added a tablespoon of fresh lemon zest to the flour mixture.
RECIPE
Ingredients for cake:
* 3 cups cake flour
* 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
* 1 tsp baking soda
* 1 tsp ground ginger
* 1/2 tsp salt
* 1 Tbsp fresh lemon zest
* 3/4 cup unsalted butter (1 1/2 sticks), softened
* 2 cups sugar
* 4 large eggs, separated, at room temperature
* 2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
* 1 tsp vanilla extract
* 1 1/3 cups buttermilk
* 1/4 tsp cream of tartar
Ingredients for frosting:
* 8 ounces of cream cheese, softened
* 3/4 cup unsalted butter (1 1/2 sticks), softened
* 2 cups confectioners sugar (sift before measuring)
* 1/4 cup heavy cream
* 1/3 cup lemon curd
Ingredients for filling:
* 1 cup lemon curd
(Note: You can make your own lemon curd if you want to, but I ain't gonna. Store-bought lemon curd is just fine, and you can usually find it wherever you find the jams and jellies in your grocery store.)
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter or grease two 9"x2" round cake pans and dust generously with flour. Tap out the excess flour.In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, ginger and salt. Sift into another large bowl. Stir in the tablespoon of lemon zest.
In another large bowl, beat the butter and sugar at medium speed for 2 minutes until fluffy. Beat in the egg yolks, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in the lemon juice and vanilla. At low speed, beat in flour and buttermilk, alternating between the two and beginning and ending with the flour mixture (about four flour additions and three buttermilk additions). Beat until just blended.
To make the frosting:
In a large mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese and butter for 2 minutes until fluffy. At low speed, beat in the confectioners sugar, heavy cream, and 1/3 cup lemon curd until smooth. Cover with plastic wrap and chill for 20 minutes or until the frosting is of a spreadable consistency.
Tips:
* To grease my cake pans, I just smeared the bottoms and sides of my pans with a hunk of butter and then put about a 1/4 cup flour in the pans. Then I picked up the pans and swirled the flour across the bottom and sides of the pan. Dump out the excess. This helps your cake to not stick when you turn it out.
* If you're like me, you never remember to leave your butter out to soften. You can microwave the butter in short 15- to 20-second bursts to soften it up in a hurry.
* You should be able to find cream of tartar wherever spices and dried herbs are sold in your grocery store. If it's not there, check the baking aisle. Cream of tartar is a white powder that looks like baking soda.
* Don't forget to scrape the sides of your mixing bowls often while beating to make sure everything get mixed in!
This makes a very nice lemon-y, moist cake. The lemon zest in the batter really helps bump up the lemon flavor.
Happy baking (and soaping)! ☺
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