Friday, January 29, 2010

Yummy Lemon Bundt Cake



I had to give in to my lemon cake craving! When i used to live in Brighton, England, every so often my lemon cake craving led me to a cafe called Mock Turtle. This is an old victorian tea room hidden down an alley that locals flock to for the best cakes and afternoon tea in town. I cannot emphasise how delicious their lemon cake is, ahh the best :)
Moist and delicate crumb with a crunchy topping, bliss!



So..... now living on the other side of the world and desperate for lemon cake, what is a girl to do? I searched the internet for lemon cake recipes and just couldn't find one that i thought would fit the bill, until i founf this one.



This cake was delicious and very easy to make. I made double the amount so that i could give some away to family. I made one large bundt and also mini bundts stuffed with dates. My family loved this cake!




Much as i love this cake, it was not quite the same as the one at Mock Turtle. This cake was a little more dense. Alas i think its not just the cake i miss, the atmosphere of the cosy tea room and cool sea breeze is missed too. Nevermind, its a good reason to go back and visit.

You can find the recipe here or below:

Ingredients:
1 cup butter or margarine, softened
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons lemon extract
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk
1 tablespoon grated lemon zest

Glaze:
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 tablespoon water
1/2 teaspoon lemon extract
3/4 cup sugar

Directions:
Combine flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl and set aside.

In another mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in extracts.

Add flour mixture to creamed mixture, alternating with milk, starting and ending with the flour. Stir in lemon zest. Pour into a greased and floured 10-in. fluted tube pan. Bake at 350 degrees F for 60-70 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the centre comes out clean.

Cool for 10 minutes; invert onto a wire rack. Cool 10 minutes longer. Place rack on waxed paper. Combine glaze ingredients; drizzle over the warm cake. Cool completely before serving.

Delicious!

Wednesday, January 6, 2010

Christmas Cupcakes



I have been meaning to write these up for the longest time. I made these just before christmas. I taught my first baking class and thought these would be great to make. Ok, my students were all cousins of mine, but they had all approached me to show them how to bake something. It was a fun day but i was exhausted by bedtime. I was glad i chose these as they had a great time decorating the cupcakes.



The recipe i used was an Ina Garten one taken from SmittenKitchen. You can find the recipe here. I made two batches so that everyone could take some home. These were delicious and were gone after 1 day! I gave one to a friend and he was blown away and thought they were from an upscale bakery. I hope you have as much fun making these as i did :)