Lemon Poppy Seed Pound Cake

This recipe has been a long time coming. I have had a crush on all things lemon, and all things poppy seed for most of my adult life.  I have enjoyed lemon poppy seed cakes and muffins at more places than I care to admit. I have also made many a box mix and I wasn’t even ashamed because they were good. Then…I made this, and I swear I will never go back. While zesting lemons is a bit tedious, that’s the only even remotely hard part about this recipe. This recipe comes from Joy the Baker, one of my go to sources for delicious baking related recipes. I have made many things from her blog and they have all been absolutely fantastic. I did make a few modifications to this; the most major was adding the poppy seeds. The other thing I omitted was the lemon syrup brushed over the cake at the end. When I made these, I made 8 loaves at once, I tried the lemon syrup on the first round of 2 and I just didn’t love it. The syrup is made with lemon juice, water, and sugar that is cooked down- when lemon juice is cooked down I think it has a tendency to taste a little bit too much like minute-made lemonade from concentrate and a little bit less like fresh bright delicious lemon. I opted to not include brush the remaining loaves with the syrup and I still think they were fantastic and amazingly moist and lemony. If you decide you want to use the syrup, check out joy’s site for instructions.

I should also divulge that this is not actually a pound cake at all. A pound cake is literally made from a pound of butter, a pound of flour, and a pound of sugar. This doesn’t have anywhere near that much butter in it, but don’t worry there are still plenty of other fatty delicious things. In my mind I define a pound cake as a loaf of dense, super moist, cake; which is exactly what this is. Low fat? No. Delicious? Yes!

Modified from Joy the Baker’s Lemon Cake

Ingredients:

2 2/3 cups flour

2 ½ tsp. baking powder

Pinch of salt

2 1/3 cups sugar

1 ½ tsp vanilla extract (*see note)

6 large eggs (*see note)

2/3 cup heavy cream

Zest of two lemons, finely grated

1 stick plus 7 Tbs (15 Tbs) of unsalted butter, melted and cooled

1 Tbs plus 2 tsp. Poppy Seeds

Method:

Preheat oven to 350. Butter two 8 ½- 4 ½ inch loaf pans, dust the insides with flour and tap out the excess.

Sift together, flour, baking powder, and salt.

Zest the lemons. Combine the lemon zest with the sugar in a large bowl and working with your fingers, rub them together until the sugar is moist and full of lemon fragrance.

Add the eggs and whisk them into the sugar, beating until they are thoroughly incorporated. Whisk in vanilla extract. Then whisk in the cream. Continue with the whisk and gently stir in the dry ingredients in 3 or four additions. Fold in the melted butter in 3 or 4 additions until it is completely combined. Last but not least, fold in the poppy seeds.

Fill two buttered and floured loaf pans 2/3 full.

Bake for 55-60 minutes or until a tester comes out clean. You can tent them lightly with foil if the tops are becoming too browned; I did this at about 35 minutes.

A few notes:

Note on the vanilla- I know I have mentioned it before, but my absolutely favorite vanilla extract is Sonoma syrup companies’ vanilla bean crush extract. It has amazing flavor and lovely little specks of vanilla bean in it. The only thing better would be actual vanilla bean, which if you do choose to use, use ½ of a bean and add the caviar from the bean into the recipe along with the lemon zest to infuse the sugar.

Note on the eggs- You should always use large eggs when you are following a recipe.  Eggs are graded and weighed before they are distributed. Large eggs weigh 2 to 2.25 oz, extra large are 2.25 to 2.5, and jumbo are  2.5 oz. and above. Almost all test kitchens and restaurants will be using large eggs, not jumbo or extra large. While it may or may not make a major difference, baking is very scientific and little things like this can alter the outcome.

I had a thought after completing this recipe. While I didn’t like the syrup with the cooked lemon juice, If you do decide to try the syrup method I would recommend making the simple syrup and THEN adding the lemon juice, to preserve the true lemon flavor.

Another note, even if you have nonstick loaf pans, you still should butter and flour them. This may seem excessive, but I swear once you do it, you will be amazed at how easily those loaves pop out. This is also my preferred method with cake making as well.

Are you wondering why I made 8 loaves at a time? I offered to make these for my parent’s upcoming church coffee hour. One of the main reasons I chose this recipe is because it freezes easily. Carefully wrap each loaf and freeze for up to 3 months. To thaw, just place on a counter at room temperature.

-Sue

Lemon Olive Oil Cake

Yes, you read that right, olive oil in a cake. Olive oil has been making appearances all over the dessert world for awhile. In the right uses, and the right varieties, it can be delicious. This was one of the first dessert recipes I ever made using olive oil, and I fell in love right away. It is a light, delicate cake, with a faint taste of lemon. My favorite thing about this cake is that you can eat it for breakfast. That’s right, this is a breakfast dessert cake, the only other cake I know of that can successfully toe that line is angel food cake- which I also love. This is a moist fluffy, almost good for you cake (look at the ingredients!) that can be eaten any time of the day or night.

I would recommend using a lighter olive oil instead of extra virgin in this recipe, I have used both and I find the flavor with the lighter olive oil to be more pleasant. To be honest I have no idea where I originally found this recipe, it’s all over the internet today, but for sake of fairness I’m going to credit Epicurious.

Ingredients:

¾ cup olive oil, plus additional for greasing pan

1 large lemon

1 cup cake flour (not self rising)

5 large eggs, separated, reserving 1 white for another use

¾ plus 1 ½ tablespoons sugar

Method:

Preheat oven to 350. Grease springform pan with oil and line the bottom with a round of parchment paper, lightly oil the top of parchment as well.

Finely grate enough lemon zest to measure 1 ½ teaspoons and whisk together with flour. Halve, then squeeze the lemon and reserve 1 ½ Tablespoons fresh lemon juice.

Beat together yolks and ½ cup sugar in standing mixer fit with a whisk attachment at medium high speed until thick and pale, about 3 minutes.

it should look like this

Reduce speed to medium and add olive oil and reserved lemon juice. Mix until combined (it will appear separated, this is normal). Using a wooden spoon, stir in the flour mixture until just combined.

Beat egg whites (from 4 eggs) with ½ tsp salt in another large bowl with cleaned beaters at medium high speed until foamy, then add ¼ cup sugar a little at a time, beating, and continue to beat until egg whites hold soft peaks, about 3 minutes.

this is what soft peaks looks like

Fold 1/3 of the whites into the yolk mixture to lighten, then fold in remaining whites gently but thoroughly.

Transfer batter to springform pan and gently rap against work surface once or twice to release any air bubbles. Sprinkle top evenly with remaining 1 ½ Tablespoons sugar. Bake until puffed and golden and a wooden skewer comes out clean, about 45 minutes. Cool cake in pan on a rack for 10 minutes, then run a thin knife around edge of pan and remove side of pan. Cool cake to room temperature. Remove bottom of pan and peel off parchment, then transfer cake to a serving plate.

moist fluffy deliciousness

A few notes:

I have made this cake with lavender sugar and it was lovely. You can also sub raw or turbinado sugar on the top for a bit of a crunchy texture.

I served this with lightly sweetened whipped cream flavored with a touch of orange blossom water, and blackberries.

You could serve this with pretty much any fruit, any flavor whipped cream, or just all by itself.  It’s even good with a cup of coffee.

-Sue

BBQ week: Lemon Blueberry Icebox Cake

Ice box cake is an old dessert…if you haven’t figured that out by the reference to “icebox” instead of refrigerator. But icebox cake sounds a lot better than refrigerator cake, so I’m going to stick with that. This cake is ridiculous easy to make and decidedly old school- all things I can appreciate. The original cake, which some of you may have had, was created by the Nabisco company back in the 1920’s. It is still printed on the back of the box of Nabisco chocolate wafers. This “cake” consists of layers of whipped cream and chocolate wafer cookies. With an overnight rest in the icebox, the wafers lose their crispness and become cake like. It sounds rich, but it’s actually a really light flavored dessert.

Now, like usual, I can’t follow a recipe as is. So here is my lemon-blueberry icebox cake…made with graham crackers instead of chocolate wafers. I used homemade lemon curd because I had some, but store bought is just fine.

Ingredients:

3 cups of heavy whipping cream

1/2 cup lemon curd (divided into two 1/4 cup amounts)

1/4 cup sugar

15 (or so) graham crackers

Blueberries

Method:

Chill a metal bowl and beaters in the freezer. (Remember how we talked about cream being easier to whip when it’s cold?) Whip the cream until it starts to thicken then add the sugar. Continue beating until it forms stiff peaks (when you pull out the beater(s) the whipped cream should stand up stiffly,not fall).

After the cream is whipped, gently fold in 1/4  cup of the lemon curd using a curved spatula. To assemble the cake, start with a thin layer of the whipped cream. Using an offset spatula (or just a knife if you don’t have one) spread a thin layer across the bottom of an 8X8 dish.

Layer with graham crackers, I used 4 ½.

Repeat with another layer of whipped cream, and another layer of graham crackers. On the third layer, spread the whipped cream and then drizzle with the remaining 1/4 cup lemon curd (store bought curd may be thicker, so microwave for about 10 seconds if needed) top with graham crackers. Repeat one more layer of whipped cream and graham cracker ending with a substantial layer of whipped cream (there should be 3 layers of graham cracker total). Top with a large handful of blueberries, cover, and refrigerate overnight.

Three notes:

1. You could probably subsitute Cool Whip for the whipped cream here, but i’m not sure why you would want to (except for the 300 million calorie difference).

2. It’s entirely possible that I love lemon too much and use it in everything. I have admitted it, and I’m okay with it.

3. You could make this with strawberries, or raspberries too. You could even do a chocolate strawberry version by flavoring the whipped cream with a little bit of cocoa powder. I’m just throwing out non lemon ideas now…

-Sue

Avgolemono Soup

Avgolemono soup is a traditional Greek soup. It literally means egg and lemon (avgo and lemono) . This is a wonderful soup anytime of the year, but is a really great summer soup because of the bright flavor the lemon brings. This is a really healthy, very easy soup. It is slightly thick and creamy, but that comes entirely from the eggs…no heavy cream necessary! This recipe is essentially like chicken noodle soup, and can vary depending on who’s making it. Commonly it comes with only chicken, orzo, and the avgolemono base. I have always liked mine with lots of vegetables so its hearty enough for a meal (along with the no knead bread).

Ingredients:

8 cups chicken stock (preferably boxed, or homemade, and low sodium)

1 lb chicken (cooked and shredded)

1 cup orzo

1 onion (chopped)

2 carrots (chopped)

2 stalks celery (chopped)

½ tsp oregano (dry is fine, I used Mexican oregano)

Salt and pepper to taste

3 eggs

3 lemons (1/3 cup juice total, and the rest slices)

1 handful of fresh dill chopped (or 2 tsp dry)

Method:

I poached 3 chicken breasts, which essentially means I dumped them in boiling water for about 20 mins until they were cooked through. Any method here is fine, you can even buy rotisserie chicken if you want. I find poaching chicken gives a moist, easy to shred, neutrally flavored chicken. Do this first though so the chicken is ready to go.

Next I chopped up all of the vegetables…or the mirepoix (which is a fancy French word for carrots, onions, and celery which are cooked as the base of many stocks, soups, stews, and sauces. They are often referred to as aromatics).  Anyway, back to the soup. I chopped these up small because avgolemono soup has a beautiful silky texture and I didn’t want large chunks of vegetables in  it (unlike in traditional chicken noodle soup where I like big chunks)

.

Saute the mirepoix in a large soup pot, or dutch oven, until the onions are soft and translucent. Add the chicken stock and the chicken and cook until the vegetables are starting to get tender (about 15 mins). Add the oregano, salt, pepper, and orzo and cook for another 15 mins. During this 15 minutes prepare your egg and lemon mixture.

Juice enough of the lemons to have 1/3 of a cup of juice (probably 2- 2 ½ lemons). Slice the rest to serve alongside the soup. In a medium bowl whisk all three eggs until they are foamy (about a minute longer than you would whisk them for scrambled eggs). Pour in the lemon juice while you continue to whisk. Set mixture aside.

Taste a bite of the soup to make sure the orzo is cooked and the base flavor is where you want it, and then remove the soup from the heat. Ladle out ¼ cup of soup (use a measuring cup) and slowly add this to the bowl of your lemon egg mixture while whisking (This is called tempering, which slowly starts to bring the eggs up to a warm temperature without shocking them and scrambling them). Once those are combined, slowly pour the egg and lemon mixture into the entire pot of soup while slowly stirring the soup. The soup will start to turn a buttery yellow color and begin to thicken slightly. Mix in the dill, cover the soup, and let it sit for about 5 mins before serving. Serve with slices of lemon on the side.

Delicious isn’t it??

A few notes:

I LOVE the flavor of lemon, so sometimes I tend to over lemon things. Therefore, I was very conservative in the amount of lemon juice I called for in this recipe. This is also the reason why I suggested serving lemon slices on the side….so for the people who love lemony flavor; they can add a little extra juice!

The soup was a hit, even my Greek friend Max loved it.

Next time you have one of those rainy summer days where its not quite cool enough for chili but soup sounds good…make this!

-Sue

Summer Cocktails

After a long day at work, I was ready for a cocktail. Since it was approximately 95 degrees, I thought some fresh fruit would be a nice addition. So after a trip to the grocery store, and the liquor store….this is what I came up with:

1. Pimm’s No. 1 Cup

This is a classic cocktail, I can take no credit for it. Pimm’s is actually a gin based liquor but for those of you non gin drinkers (like myself) it doesn’t taste like your classic green bottle gin. This is a special blend of spices that, rumor has it, only two people in the world know. Cool, crisp, citrus-herbal tangy deliciousness.

1 1/2 oz Pimm’s No. 1 Cup

cucumber slices

lemon slices

Lemon-Lime soda (or ginger-ale, or lemonade)

Muddle two slices of lemon and two slices of cucumber in the bottom of a glass, add ice and Pimm’s, top with Sprite.

2. Cantaloupe Cooler

This one actually is my own creation- don’t give me too much credit, it’s not horribly creative, but it is good! This is the time of year where cantaloupes (and all melons) are coming into season. I, for one, am excited. So excited I added some vodka:

1 1/2 oz vodka

1/2 cup cantaloupe puree

limes

soda water or sprite

salt/sugar mix

Start by pureeing the cantaloupe. I started with 1/2 which was enough for 4 drinks. I cubed and and pureed it in my food processor until it was smooth. Mix equal parts of kosher salt and sugar on a small plate, for rimming the glass. Slide a wedge of lime around the rim to moisten (never use water for this, it just melts whatever you are rimming the glass with) I thought the sugar/salt was genius, since salt is said to bring out the sweetness in cantaloupe, but feel free to just use sugar. Once you have rimmed the glass fill with ice, vodka, and 1/2 cup cantaloupe puree. Top with soda or sprite and a squeeze of lime. Stir to mix. This could also be served shaken and up.

3. Raspberry Jalapeño Mash

MMMmm I loved this one, but I also love the mix of spicy, sweet, tangy. This one is not for those who are afraid of spice (the boyfriend wasn’t a huge fan of this one, which meant I had to drink two…which will also explain the picture quality…) You can dial up or down the spice depending on how many jalapeño slices you add but I would urge you not to seed them. Without the heat, (which comes mostly from the seeds) the drink doesn’t really work.

1 1/2 oz vodka (or white rum would work)

3 slices of jalapeño

4 raspberries

2 tsp agave nectar (or honey)

Lemon-Lime soda

Muddle the slices of jalapeño and raspberries in the bottom of a glass. Add agave nectar, then ice, vodka, and Sprite. Stir to mix.

it got dark, sorry.

A few notes:

I put 1 1/2 oz of liquor in all of these cocktails because it’s the standard pour. But lets be honest, like most bars, my  pour was closer to 2 oz. Somewhere less than 1/2 full once you’ve added ice, and you should be good.

Don’t have a muddler? Use the end of a wooden spoon. Another note on muddling: when you muddle things like vegetables or fruits- go to town, muddle the crap out of them to release the juice and the flavors. However, when you muddle things like herbs be more gentle, you want to bruise them to release the oils, not mutilate them. I also think muddled drinks are best served with straws so you can continue to poke and mix at the delicious things on the bottom of the glass.

-Sue