Showing posts with label Lemon. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Lemon. Show all posts

Wednesday, May 5, 2010

Lemon and Blueberry Cake

So, after a full 9 hour day at work followed by a 4 mile run and grocery shopping I finally arrived home last night at 7:30 pm. And I still had to make dinner. We had sausage, rice and brocolli. Not much effort put in there.


Back to the point...I pulled into the garage last night and swung open the door where I had tossed the groceries in a hurry to get out of the rain and guess what happened...the eggs came crashing down onto the hard concrete floor of my garage. OF COURSE that had to be the one bag to hit the floor. Not that eggs are all that expensive, it just the principle that out of my own ignorance and stupidity that the eggs hit the floor. Its just kind of how my week is going.


So I managed to salvage 4 eggs out of a dozen, but they were broken so they had to be used. Luckily I also had a lemon on my counter and sour cream in my fridge that need to be used also. I've had the intentions of making this recipe for about 2 weeks now after I found it on My Baking Addition, but everyone I know seems to be on some sort of carbohydrate free diet so I haven't had anyone to share my sweets with.

Before I give you the recipe let me tell you a few things about my picture above here. Remember it was 7:30 pm when I broke the eggs? And I still had to cook dinner? Well, it was 9:45 before I pulled it out of the oven...and it didn't quite bake completely. It probably could have used an additional 10 minutes, but I still had to put the kids to bed and take a shower so I pulled it out and said poo on it. Also, when I was young and just starting my kitchen collection, the silicone bakeware was the in thing. So, I bought a silicone bundt pan and have never replaced it with a real pan. Well, the batter for this cake is rather heavy, and resulted in a very flat top on my bundt cake. Please use a metal bundt pan...and if you could buy me one too! And last of all, there is an icing that goes with this cake but it was way to late to pull that together. And once I tasted the cake with powdered sugar sprinkled on the top I decided it was sweet enough to forgo the icing. But the recipe is listed below just in case you'd like to use it!

Blueberry-Lemon Bundt Cake
Adapted by My Baking Addiction from Everyday Foods

For the Cake:
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus 1 teaspoon for blueberries and zest
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup packed light-brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
4 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup sour cream
2 cups blueberries
2 tablespoons grated lemon zest
juice of one lemon
Nonstick cooking spray, for pan (I used Baker's Joy and it worked great)

For the Cream Cheese Glaze:
1 (4 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
1 tablespoon butter, softened
2 cups confectioners’ sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon milk

Directions for the Cake:
*For best results, coat the inside of the Bundt pan with cooking spray just before filling it with the batter to prevent it from pooling in the bottom.
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a bowl, whisk 2 1/2 cups flour with baking powder and salt; set aside.
2. In a mixing bowl, cream butter and sugars on high speed until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until incorporated. Beat in vanilla and lemon juice. Reduce speed to low; add flour mixture in three additions, alternating with two additions of sour cream.
3. In a bowl, toss blueberries and zest with remaining teaspoon flour; gently fold into batter. Coat a 12-cup nonstick Bundt pan with cooking spray. Spread batter in prepared pan.
4. Bake cake on bottom rack of oven until a toothpick inserted into center of cake comes out clean, 60 to 70 minutes. Cool in pan 20 minutes. Invert onto a rack; cool completely, top side up. Dust with confectioners’ sugar before serving or drizzle with the cream cheese glaze.

Directions for the Cream Cheese Glaze:
Mix the cream cheese with the butter, confectioners’ sugar, vanilla extract, and milk in a bowl. Heat in a microwave oven for 10-15 seconds. Drizzle spoonfuls over the cooled cake.

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Lemon Bars


When life gives you lemons...you make lemon bars right? All that sugary, sour sweetness is exactly what I need to bring a little sunshine into some not so sunny days here in Minnesota. Spring is great...but lately the warm days have also brought a lot of wind which has forced my running back indoors. I really don't like the extra work to run into the wind along with the blowing sand and dirt that comes with it. But, on the bright side I've been able to use the track to time my miles again and see where I'm at. And guess what? I've gotten my miles down to 9 minutes and 15 seconds since hitting the outdoors this last February. That's 45 seconds faster per mile from last summer! I'm proud of that.
I learned today that there is a Triathlon Club in a city near mine and they meet every Tuesday and do hill sprints! Boy, that sounds crazy doesn't it? I mean, who the heck wants to run uphill on purpose for 30 minutes? Me...that's who. I am so there! Run up the hill, walk down and repeat. With other crazy people who want to do it too. Did you know that sprinting uphill actually will improve your over time in distance running? Yep! And I bet it burns extra calories so I can eat a few more lemon squares...

Lemon Squares
From Belle of the Kitchen (click to see her blog post)

For the Crust
1 3/4 c Flour
2/3 c Powdered Sugar
1/4 c Cornstarch
3/4 tsp Salt
1 1/2 sticks Unsalted Butter

For the Filling
6 eggs, room temperature
3 cup sugar
Zest from 2 lemons
1 cup Lemon Juice (I used 5 lemons to get this much)
1 cup Flour
Powder Sugar for dusting

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 13x9 lasagna pan with cooking spray and line with parchment paper, letting the paper come up the sides.

Add flour, powdered sugar, cornstarch and salt to food processor and pulse to blend. Cut butter into pats and add to food processor, blending for about 10 seconds. Then pulse until mix is pale yellow and looks like coarse meal...it should be about an additional 3 seconds of blending. Put mixture in your lined dish and press firmly with your fingers or a measuring cup to form an even layer over the entire pan. You should end up with about a 1/4" thick crust. Refrigerate for 30 minutes then bake 20-25 minutes until golden brown.

While the crust is baking, whisk together eggs, sugar, lemon zest, lemon juice and flour. When crust is done, pour lemon mixture over crust and bake an additional 30 to 35 minutes until the filling is firm and set. Allow to cool completely at room temperature. Use the parchment paper to remove from pan before cutting (make it easy on yourself). Peel down the sides and use a knife or pizza cutter (my favorite) to form however many bars you'd like...but these suckers are sweet and sour so you might want to keep them on the small side. Sprinkle with powdered sugar before serving.