Lemon Bliss Cake

Don't let the mild-mannered photos fool you. This might be one of the most delicious/addictive things I've ever baked. 

I know. I usually go for decadence over simplicity. The more peanut butter, marshmallows, caramel, and chocolate, the better, but seeing that "Lemon Bliss Cake" was one of the top-rated recipes on King Arthur Flour, I figured I'd give it a shot. I mean really, how good could it be? Then again, among the 2,613 recipes on the site, a boring "Lemon Cake" must be pretty good to beat out Chocolate Cream Pie. 

I was in trouble.

This is to die for.

Moist, soft, and delightfully lemon-y. Then you add a lemon-sugar glaze on top that creates a perfect crust.

Mmmm crust.

I followed this recipe almost exactly.

Lemon Bliss Cake

1 cup unsalted butter

2 cups sugar

1 teaspoon salt

4 large eggs

2 teaspoons baking powder

3 cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour

1 cup milk

finely grated rind of 2 lemons OR 3/4 teaspoon lemon oil (I used rind of 2 lemons AND 1/2 teaspoon of Fiori di Sicila)

GLAZE

1/3 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice

3/4 cup sugar

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly grease a 10" tube pan, or a 9" to 10", 9- to 10-cup capacity bundt-style pan. (I didn't have a bundt pan - seriously - and just used a 9"x13" pyrex dish)

1) Beat together the butter, sugar, and salt, first till combined, then till fluffy.

2) Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. 

3) Add the baking powder, then add the flour alternately with the milk, starting and ending with the flour. Mix until smooth. Stir in the grated lemon rind or lemon oil (or Fiori di Sicilia).

4) Spoon the batter into the prepared pan, smoothing the top with a spatula.

5) Bake the cake for 55 to 60 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean. (It took 45 minutes in my over with the 9x13 pan)

6) While the cake is baking, make the glaze by stirring together the lemon juice and sugar. Set it aside.

7) Remove the cake from the oven, and set it on a rack. After 5 minutes, run a knife around the edge of the pan to loosen, and turn the cake out onto a rack. Place another rack on top, and flip it over, so it's right-side-up. (I acutually skipped this step and just glazed it right in the pan)

8) Poke the hot cake all over with a cake tester or toothpick.

9) Stir the glaze to combine, and immediately brush it on the hot cake. Let it sink in, then brush on more glaze, continuing until all the glaze is used up.

10) Allow the cake to cool before slicing.

11) Try not to eat all of it in one sitting.

oops.

Cutest topper ever

What's better than having wedding presents on your doorstep when you arrive home from work?

Having freaking adorable cake toppers lovingly made by your fabulously-creative aunt waiting on your doorstep when you arrive home from work.

That's what.

Also seen on the ilovetocreate blog.

Having my Cake and Eating it too!

Over the weekend, the boy and I went to the bakery to have cake for breakfast, I mean, taste cake for the wedding.

We enjoyed orange cake

and chocolate cake

and lemon cake

and vanilla cake

and yellow cake

and double-chocolate fudge cake

and buttercream frosting

and white chocolate mousse

and chocolate frosting

and some more orange cake

and raspberry filling

and lemon cake

and diet pepsi!

And after the sugar coma set in...we set out to paint our house.

Word of advice, if you need to paint a house, don't have cake and diet pepsi for breakfast.

Anyway, here's the cake!

Ok, so for the first time ever (I swear) I forgot to bring paper to a meeting. So being someone who needs to see things to understand, I grabbed the nearest napkin and sketched out the design we decided on.

You can picture it perfectly, right?

How about in ivory, with ivory piping, and monochromatic blue ribbons and a monogram? Got it? Great!

and with this on top... :)

Cakey Goodness

I'm keep running lists in my head trying to figure out what I haven't thought about yet, and suddenly today, I realized that I've put virtually no thought into a wedding cake.

To be honest, the cake isn't terribly high on our priorities. I mean it should be pretty, and we'll cut it (although, personally, I would be perfectly happy not having a formal "cake cutting ceremony") but I have no interest in paying $2,000 for a six-tiered, fondant-covered, flowering thing that will be entirely demolished by the end of the night.

(photo credit: Just Fabulous Pastries)

Beautiful? Yes.

$30 per person? No.

Ok, maybe I sound a little cynical...all I'm saying is that I'd rather stick to something a little simpler, but what?

I thought about it, and I think I like dots. Plus, I think they'll match nicely with the cake topper I hope to get.

I could do this one with the largest dots in the darkest blue with lighter shades as the dots get smaller.

(photo credit: TheCasualGourmet)

This one in white with white dots and blue ribbon.

(photo credit: Maisie Fantaisie)

Probably my favorite so far...

(photo credit: Apple Cellar Bakery)

And I'm definitely intrigued by the next one. I like the asymmetrical layers - haven't see that before.

(photo credit: Just Fabulous Pastries)

I just love the scallop design.

(photo credit: InStyle magazine via LeFiores)

But this one incorporates my paper theme. So clean and pretty.

(photo credit: Whipped Bakeshop)

Oh, and this one:

(photo credit: dsharp on Etsy)

I could use security envelopes instead of stamps!

Enjoy!