Meyer Lemon Cake with Chocolate Filling and Lemon Glaze

Meyer Lemon Cake with Chocolate Filling and Lemon Glaze

Yes, I baked again. I feel as though I bake very often - it's what the kids like - but I DO make savory dishes ... I promise. I couldn't help but make this cake. I came across Meyer lemons at Wegmans the other day (so early in the season!) and had to buy them; they're so difficult to find here. Once I had them I honestly had no clue what I was going to do with them.

Then came work. A very dear woman who was working with us for about half a year left us to go home to Florida this week and another worker made her a lemon cake as a sweet send-off. Now, the worker who made it was raised on boxed cake mix and quite honestly doesn't have much time at home to make anything from scratch, so she did her very best, and sweetest, and whipped up that cake for our friend. I then knew what I would be doing with those lemons - making a cake the way I was raised ... from scratch.

The kids were interested in the smooth-skinned specimens and all wanted to try this slightly sweeter lemon. They all liked it and milled about the kitchen as I made the cakes. Once they were baked and cooled and I was making the chocolate filling they were even more interested and the only question on their lips at the sight of the smooth chocolate icing was, "Is that for dessert after dinner?" Though I was done by 1 in the afternoon I had to crush their little hopes and tell them that it was indeed not going to be consumed until later in the day. Poor dears.

Here's the recipe in all its lemony-chocolaty loveliness. Please do let me know if you've made it so we can swap notes.

Beautiful, light and delicious cake!

Meyer Lemon Cake with Chocolate Filling and Lemon Glaze
Makes 1 cake

Ingredients:

3 cups sugar
1 Tablespoon grated Meyer lemon zest
2 sticks unsalted butter cut into cubes
4 1/2  cups cake flour
2 Tablespoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 cups buttermilk
8 large egg whites

Chocolate Filling*
Lemon Glaze**

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour two 10-inch round cake pans.
2. In a large mixing bowl pour in sugar and add lemon zest. Work zest into sugar well until fragrant. Add butter and beat until fluffy. Set aside.
3. In another smaller bowl combine flour, salt and baking powder.
4. In a third bowl combine egg whites and buttermilk.
5. Add flour and buttermilk mixture to sugar and butter a little at a time until well combined. This makes a thick batter.
6. Pour evenly into both cake pans and bake until a toothpick inserted in the center of each comes out clean. Cool completely before removing from pans.
7. Cover bottom layer with chocolate on the top only. Add second layer and pour glaze over the top. Serve at once.

Notes: Meyer lemons are very hard to zest - I removed the skin and scraped the pith before mincing with a knife. When using zest, always rub it together with the sugar for the very best fragrance and flavor.


*Chocolate Filling:

1 cup semi-sweet chocolate morsels
2 Tablespoons butter
1 - 2 cups confectioner's sugar
Milk as needed

Melt together chips and butter. Add in confectioner's sugar 1/2 cup at a time until smooth and spreadable. Add milk if needed to thin as you go.


**Lemon Glaze:

3 cups confectioner's sugar
2 Tablespoons Meyer lemon juice
Milk as needed

Combine sugar and juice. Stir well and add milk as needed to thin into a drizzling consistency.

Peanut Butter Torte

Peanut Butter Torte

I'm really using the term "torte" loosely here; there is no layering of this cake, but there's so little flour that it can nearly be classified as torte, which as a rule breaker, is good enough for me.

I've been making a cake similar to this for years and years (see that here) and I had a bag of peanut butter baking chips sitting around for some time that I wasn't finding a good use for. I had a moment of clarity and this cake was the result.

Top it with chocolate, of course, for a rich and delicious after-dinner or just with coffee, dessert.

Peanut Butter Torte
Printable Recipe

Makes One 8 or 9 - inch cake

Melt together until smooth:

1 (10 ounces) bag of peanut butter baking chips
6 Tablespoons butter

Allow to cool for 10 minutes

Blend together:

5 egg yolks (set aside whites)
1Tablespoon all purpose flour
1Tablespoon powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Add peanut butter mixture to egg mixture and blend until smooth.

Beat until stiff:

5 egg whites

Gently fold egg whites into peanut butter/egg yolk mixture until well blended.
Do NOT overbeat!

Pour into a greased 8 or 9 -inch spring form pan and bake 425 degrees F for 12 minutes or until center is slightly moving, but not jiggly. If you over bake this is will be dry.The center will set as it cools.

Cut into slices when cooled and served with your favorite chocolate sauce - we like hot fudge.

The Cutest Cakes Ever!

I was recently browsing around FamilyFun.com and found page after page of adorable cakes in The Best Cake Face-Off. Choose a category and vote between two at a time until you narrow it down to just two cakes for that category. See if the cake you pick is among the favorites.

It's so fun that the kids and I did it several times! The cakes are really great - far above my personal decorating (or lack thereof) skills. From Nemo to Wall-e and Disney Princesses to Darth Vader. Don't miss it! Click HERE to get started.

I'm Not Trendy~and I Like it That Way

Recently I was reading a magazine and came across an add for a chocolate fondue fountain. My first thought was "Who on earth would buy one of those?". A local chocolatier in town has one but other than that I can't see spending money on something that trendy. I'm not big into food trends at all unless it's the "everything old is new again" type of trend.

I try to stay up on "what's hot" and "what's not" for the sake of any potential clients but other than that, I don't follow trends myself. Mostly because they are just that, trendy, which just means that all too soon they'll fizzle and not be heard from again for 20 or 30 years (how many of you recall getting a fondue pot for your wedding?)

I'd love to be one of these hip new young chefs armed with current fads and ready to take on the culinary world. It just isn't me though. I find a classic baked macaroni and cheese every bit as satisfying as any funky eclectic new dish~probably more satisfying.

Food isn't just a building block to me, detached and meaningless, it has a deep emotional rooting for me and everything I make is infused with love and care, not just for the individual it was made for but for the food it is made from as well. I don't want to make a dish simply because "Hey wow, that looks cool!".

Don't get me wrong, food properly plated is a lovely thing because we really do eat first with our eyes. But if that food, plated so expertly, isn't fulfilling, I see no point in having made it to begin with. I think one can tell which dishes have been made with love and which have been made with "wow" in mind.

This is one of my most treasured "full of love" recipes:


Cream Cheese Pound Cake
Printable Recipe

1 1/2 cups butter-softened
8 oz. cream cheese-softened
3 cups Sugar
6 Eggs
3 Cups sifted flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla

Grease and floured a 10 inch tube or Bundt pan. Set aside.
Cream the butter and cream cheese, gradually adding sugar, beating until light and fluffy.
Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each.
Add flour and salt, stirring until combined. Stir in vanilla.
Pour batter into prepared pan.
Bake at 325 degrees F for 1 1/2 hours or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan 10 minutes; remove from pan and cool completely on a rack.