It all began innocently enough. The search for Tex-Mex recipes led me to the Homesick Texan. I felt an instant kinship–being an ex-pat Texan myself, with a Texas-sized craving for authentic Tex-Mex food–which does not exist on the East coast. I must confess, in addition to delicious recipes, Lisa’s witty and colorful stories pulled me right in–I’ve read her whole archive. Then–I noticed a list of her favorite food blogs. Little did I know what wonders awaited. So the trail led to something called Daring Bakers. After reading a dozen or so accounts of Potato Bread, Buche de Noels, and Lemon Meringue Pie, I just had to play too. I was too late to get in on the French Bread, but seeing the spectacular results some of the other bakers had (Peabody, you inspire me), I could barely contain my enthusiasm.
The March Challenge is Perfect Party Cake, a delicious recipe by Dorie Greenspan from her Baking from My Home to Yours (page 250). A big Thank You to Morven for hosting this month’s challenge!
As you can see, my result was very nice. I did not get quite the volume I had hoped for, but I think that may be because I missed the “put pans on a baking sheet” instruction, even though I had read the entire recipe completely several times before starting. The layers were, however, thick enough to split, and the cake did not become soggy from the filling. Look closely and you can see the lemon filling in the splits.
Start with Butter, Sugar and Lemon Zest
When I read the entire recipe, including the buttercream frosting, I had to double check to make sure it wasn’t a Paula Deen recipe. Now, I love butter almost as much as Paula, but aside from a pound cake, I seldom make anything that requires a whole pound of the sublime stuff. Creaming is generally my favorite part of cake-making. I love to see how the sugar takes up the butter, turning it fluffy and light. This time, mixing the lemon zest into the sugar was my favorite part. The aroma of the zest wafting up from the bowl perfumed the entire kitchen.
Kicking up a Little Sugar
Making cakes “the right way” is almost a lost art–cake mixes are so easy and they have gotten so much better over the years. And lives have gotten so busy. Sifting flour and dry ingredients together is seldom done anymore. It was my job when I was a little girl–the sifter seemed so heavy and I tried so hard to keep all the flour in the bowl. Making this cake was a trip down memory lane for me.
Nice and Smooth and Glossy Cake Batter
Part of the reason this cake came out so nicely is the attention paid to pan prep. Buttering the pans, cutting parchment rounds and buttering again assured a nice cake bottom. And OMG–you should smell the butter when the cake is taken out of the pans! I decided to make a simple lemon filling for the layer splits and have buttercream between the two layers. The recipe for the filling makes a lot more filling than this cake requires, but it will make a nice few tarts for later in the week.
Here’s a Piece of Cake for You!
Mom’s Lemon Filling
1 1/2 cups water
1 1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup water + 7 Tbsp cornstarch
3 egg yolks
3 Tbsp butter
juice of 2 lemons (squeeze fresh)
zest of 1 or 2 lemons
Method :
Bring water and sugar to a boil, stir in cornstarch/water mixture and boil 1 minute, stirring constantly. Lightly beat eggs with fork, fold in a spoon of the pudding to temper eggs, then add eggs to hot pudding and continue cooking 1 more minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat, stir in remaining ingredients. Cool with lid on to prevent film from forming. Refrigerate till ready to use. Makes a good Lemon Pie, too.
You are so sweet….I’m glad I inspire you!
Your mom’s lemon filling sounds wonderful…I’m sure it does make good pie too.
What a great post. Your story and photos are wonderful. Glad you could join us this month.
thanks for the lovely piece of the fluffy cake!
Congrats on your first DB challenge! Your cake looks delicious!
Lovely cake! I am certain the lemon filling was a great addition! Welcome to the Daring Bakers!
Beautiful tall fluffy picture perfect cake. Great job and congratulations on your first successful DB challenge.
I want to lick that fluffy icing right off my computer screen! Nice!
Welcome to DB and congrats on your first challenge! I know what it was like to wait around to be able to join. So glad to have you with us, your cake is just lovely. I also felt a flash to the lovely Ms. Deen when making the buttercream.
Congratulations texana!!!!!! Your cake looks so moist. I would like to try your moms lemon filling, it looks so yummy. Looking forward to keeping up with your blog and your next challenges. 🙂
Ciao,
Laurie
I think your cake has the perfect volume…too high and you can’t properly put enough carbs in one bite 🙂
Welcome to the Daring Bakers, you did a fabulous job!
Welcome to the Daring Bakers! The lemon filling looks delicious. When I joined the group I went back and tried some of the old challenges – not required, but a lot of fun (the pretzel one was my favorite).
It looks so very white, light and fluffy!
(I’m a carboholic too!)
wow the frosting looks beautiful!
Welcome to the Daring bakers!
We’re so glad you joined the club! What a gorgeous cake!
Pretty freakin’ awesome lookin’ cake!
Thank you all so much! It really does a person good to have others say nice things.
I cannot wait to be part of the Daring Bakers!….I dont have a digital camera yet if you can believe it. Will be getting one soon. Love your cake by the way. Hello my name is Christine and yes I am too a Carboholic…we need to stick together in this carb-free world. I am a transplant Southwesterner (Tucson, AZ) who lives in NY. Yeah for me! I cannot find any Tex-Mex where I live. *sobs* Anyway….love your sense of humor! Keep up the good blog!
Christine
aka The mistress of cakes