Lemon Cake

   I was searching the web the other day when I came across a recipe for a lemon cake. I have been searching high and low for a good lemon cake recipe for a while now. Lemon cake is one of my favorite things!

    I loved the one they had at Costco, but sadly I haven't been able to find it lately. I crave that cake all. the. time. I thought to myself "You bake... why don't you try a whole bunch of recipes, then combine your favorite parts of each and make your own cake!"
 
   So this is the first attempt at many  (I really hope!) lemon cakes, on my search for the perfect cake.

This is the recipe I used for the cake - lemon cake

I decided I wanted a glaze on my cake. So, I made one with lemon in it to bring out the flavor in the cake.

Lemon Glaze -
1 C powdered sugar
Juice of half a lemon
2-3 t of milk
3 drops of yellow food coloring

Begin by preheating your oven to 350 degrees F.

Then prepare your pan with shortening and flour.

Sift flour, baking powder, and salt together into a bowl.

In a mixer beat butter, shortening, and sugar.

Next, add in the eggs one at a time. Mix well in between each addition.

Now it's time to add in your flour mixture and milk. Start with the flour mixture, then milk, flour, milk, and flour one last time.

Stir in lemon juice and lemon zest.

 We received a bunch of fresh lemons from a lovely neighbor awhile back and didn't want any of them to go to waste so we zested them and then juiced them. We took the juice and froze it in ice cube trays and we took the zest and put it in a jar in the freezer. It has worked out wonderfully for us. The zest is ready to use and the lemon juice just needs time to defrost. 

Pour the batter into your pan.

Put the cake in the oven to cook for about an hour or until a toothpick comes out clean. Let the cake cool for about ten minutes and then remove it from the pan onto a wire rack.

   The only problem I had with this recipe was too much batter. Sadly I did not realize this until it was overflowing in our oven. The second time I made this recipe I used two loaf pans which I thought might help the situation, but I had spillage in the oven again. So my suggestion to you is to not put all the batter into your pan. You can throw the excess away if you like but my heart could not bear that so next time I will probably make a couple of cupcakes with the extra batter.

While your cake is cooling you can make the icing. Mix together powdered sugar, lemon juice, and milk.

Add more milk if needed to reach desired consistency. Once you reach the consistency you like add in the food coloring.

When the cake is completely cool pour the icing over top.

And there you have it... lemon cake!

Enjoy! Lane Elizabeth

Pavlova

   We were having a birthday celebration a little while ago... and we were trying to find a dessert to make. My mom and I wanted to make a sugar free recipe for the birthday girl. After looking online at lots of recipes we decided that we wanted to make a pavlova. What could be better!?! Fresh fruit, whipped cream, and meringue. So we ended up making a pavlova using a sugar substitute instead of sugar.

Here is the recipe I used - Pavlova

I made two... one with strawberries, and one with kiwi and blackberries.

Start by drawing a 9 inch circle on parchment lined baking sheets. Then preheat your oven to 300 degrees.

Separate your egg yolks and your egg whites.

Pour the egg whites into your mixer and beat until stiff.

 Start adding in your sugar substitute (or sugar) 1 T at a time, beating well in between. Continue this process until all of your sugar substitute is incorporated into your egg whites. You egg whites should be stiff and glossy when you are done.

Take your mixing bowl off your mixer and add in lemon...

... cornstarch...

... and vanilla...

... gently fold this together until just combined.

Spread your meringue to fit the circle on your parchment paper, making the edges slightly higher than the center.

Put the meringue in the oven to bake for 1 hour. Remove from the oven and let cool on a wire rack. For some reason when I took mine out of the oven they had become a toasted brown instead of white... I don't know why this happened. I don't know if maybe it was the sugar substitute or if it was too close to the top of the oven when it was cooking, but it shouldn't looked so toasted (it tasted just fine but just wasn't quite the right color).

Now it's time to make the whipped cream... put both pints of whipped cream into your mixer.

Add in 1 t of vanilla...

... and 2-3 t of your sugar substitute.

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Beat this until just whipped.

Cut up your fruit... you can use whatever type of fruit you like we used -

2 containers of strawberries
2 kiwis
1 container of blackberries

Now that your fruit is ready take your whipped cream and spread it on top of your meringues.

Top with your fruit...

... and there you have it...

... Pavlova!!!

Enjoy! Lane Elizabeth