Edie’s son told her she had to post “those bacon wrapped thingies” on our blog.  My son told me I had to post “that lemon-y lemon cake”.  He said that lemon cake is the best dessert he has ever tasted IN HIS LIFE!  At 13, he’s not exactly a connoisseur but, he’s been around long enough and sampled enough desserts to be a trusted source.  So here it is, courtesy of my son Sawyer, the Glazed Lemon Cake straight from the Silver Palate Cookbook. If you own the cookbook, grab it off your shelf and make this cake now.  If you don’t own the cookbook, you should strongly consider this purchase. Every recipe is a winner. In the meantime, here is the recipe, straight up, no modifications.  And my motto…..if you have lemons, make lemon cake!

Ingredients

2 sticks salted butter, softened
2 cups sugar
3 eggs
3 cups all-purpose flour, sifted
½ tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
1 cup buttermilk
2 tightly packed Tbsp grated lemon zest
2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
Lemon Icing (see below)

Method

Preheat oven to 325 and grease 10 inch tube pan. Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.  Beat in eggs, one at a time, blending well after each addition.

Sift together flour, baking soda, and salt. Stir dry ingredients into egg mixture alternating with buttermilk, beginning and ending with dry ingredients. Add lemon zest and lemon juice.

Pour batter into prepared tube pan. Place in oven and bake for 1 hour 5 minutes or until cake pulls away from the sides of the pan and a tester inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean. (I only bake this cake for 50-55 mins but my oven tends to cook things faster than what most recipes call for – so check cake early to see if it’s done early),

Cook cake in pan for 10 minutes.  Remove cake from pan and spread icing on it while cake is still hot.

Lemon Icing

1 pound confectioners’ sugar
1 stick salted butter, softened
3 tightly packed Tbsp grated lemon zest
½ cup fresh lemon juice

Method

Cream sugar and butter thoroughly.  Mix in lemon zest and juice. Spread on warm cake.

 

Editorial comments from Sue

The frosting can pack quite a PUCKER. You can tone it down a bit depending on your tastes by cutting the lemon zest and lemon juice amounts by maybe a third.  We all love the pucker at my house so we go full tilt.

Bring It!

Full disclosure, this cake is a bit of a mess.  Bringing this cake from your kitchen to a party, well, it might not be pretty but it will still taste great. If you have one of those round cake Tupperware containers, perfect. Use that.  Or, you can bring the cake unfrosted on a plate wrapped in foil. Transport the icing in a separate container and frost when you get there. Also, adding fresh fruit to the top, such as blueberries or strawberries would be a great addition.  Enjoy and pucker up!