Not only is this a new post, but it’s a new post on my new tablet. New, new, new!

I made these cupcakes for Easter. Verdict? Not all that amazing. I must’ve overbeat the batter too much…they were a bit tough and not all that limey. The frosting was great, but I would use more icing sugar and add lime juice to make it a bit more tart.

The cupcake was buttery and slightly lime-flavoured, like a lime pie crust, and the frosting was rich and tart like a pie filling. I topped them with some sprinkles and a key lime marshmallow.

Key Lime Cupcakes with Lime Frosting
Adapted from Bon Appetit

CUPCAKES
1 cup all purpose flour
3/4 cup self-rising flour (I made my own with all-purpose and salt and baking powder)
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 1/4 cup sugar
2 large eggs
2 1/2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
1 tablespoon finely grated lime peel
1/4 teaspoon neon-green food coloring
3/4 cup buttermilk (I made my own with milk and vinegar)

FROSTING
1 8-ounce package cream cheese, room temperature
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 tablespoon finely grated lime peel
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

CUPCAKES
Preheat oven to 350°F. Line standard muffin pan with 12 paper liners. Whisk both flours in medium bowl. Beat butter in large bowl until smooth. Add sugar; beat to blend. Beat in eggs 1 at a time, then next 3 ingredients (batter may look curdled). Beat in flour mixture in 3 additions alternately with buttermilk in 2 additions. Spoon scant 1/3 cup batter into each liner.

Bake cupcakes until tester inserted into center comes out clean, 20 to 25 minutes. Cool 10 minutes. Remove from pan; cool.

FROSTING
Beat all ingredients in medium bowl until smooth. Spread over cupcakes.

Here’s a tasty cake I made a few weeks ago for my mother’s birthday. The photos aren’t very good (my ISO was accidentally set to something insane like 1000), but trust me, the cake was very, very good. In fact, it may be in my list of top cakes. Although, I say that about a lot of cakes. I’m either really good at picking cake recipes, or I’m not a very discriminating cake-eater.

It’s a vanilla layer cake with a tart cranberry puree between two layers, and a sweet, rich cream cheese frosting layer that also smothers the top and side of the cake. A sprinkling of juicy-sweet-tart-sugared cranberries adorns the top, sparkling like little jewels and adding a much needed break from the sweetness of the frosting. These sparkling cranberries are amazing – soaking them overnight in a simple syrup that you’ve simmered them in makes them soft and they soak up a lot of the sweetness, I changed a few things from the original source recipe, and I can safely say there isn’t anything else I would change about this cake!

The cake itself was light and buttery, with a fluffly crumb. A perfect base cake, really. I added one quarter cup of the cranberry puree to the cake batter, but it didn’t make much of a difference to the cake itself, either visually or gustatory-ly. However, the puree between the layers and the cranberry jewels all over the top made the cake burst with cranberry, so no real complaints there!

Cranberry Layer Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting and Sparkling Cranberries
Adapted from Huffington Post
One 9-inch layer cake

CRANBERRY PUREE
2 cups (12 ounces) fresh or frozen cranberries
4 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 cup water

VANILLA-CRANBERRY CAKE
¼ cup cranberry puree
3/4 cup (6 ounces) evaporated milk
6 large egg whites, room temperature
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2-1/4 cups (9 ounces) cake flour (I made my own cake flour following this exactly)
1-3/4 cups (12-1/4 ounces) granulated sugar
4 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon fine sea salt
6 ounces (12 tablespoons/1-1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into 12 pieces and softened

CREAM CHEESE FROSTING
1 pound (two 8-ounce packages) cream cheese, softened and cut into small pieces.
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened and cut into small pieces
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
5 cups sifted confectioners’ sugar
(I added cooking cream at the end, to bring it to the consistency that I wanted)

SPARKLING CRANBERRIES
2 cups cranberries, picked over
2 cups water
2 cups sugar, brown or white (I used brown)

1. Place the cranberries in a medium glass bowl and set aside.

2. Make your simple syrup by bringing the sugar and the water to a simmer in a medium saucepan. Let the syrup cool for a couple minutes and then pour it over the cranberries. If the syrup is too hot the cranberries will burst, so be careful. Cover and refrigerate overnight.

3. The next day, drain the cranberries and toss them with larger grained sugar until they are well coated. Use a scoop of sugar at a time, and small batches of cranberries, so the sugar doesn’t get too damp. Place the coated cranberries on a baking sheet to dry for a few hours.

4. Do a second toss with the regular granulated sugar, this typically takes care of any sticky spots on the cranberries. Let dry another hour.

CRANBERRY PUREE:
1. Place cranberries, sugar and water in a saucepan. Cook over medium-high heat until cranberries have popped and become mushy, about 5 minutes. Blend the heated cranberries with a handblender until smooth. Set aside and cool for 10 minutes.

CAKE
1. In a 2-cup measuring cup, whisk together 1/4 cup of cranberry puree, milk, egg whites, and vanilla. Set aside.

2. Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 350℉. Grease two 9-inch round cake pans, line bottoms with parchment, grease parchment, and flour.

3. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment, add flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt; mix on low speed until combined. Add butter, 1 piece at a time, and mix until only pea-size pieces remain, about 1 minute.

4. Add half of milk mixture, increase speed to medium-high, and beat until light and fluffy, about 1 minute.

5. Reduce speed to medium-low, add remaining milk mixture, and beat until incorporated, about 30 seconds. Give batter final stir by hand.

6. Evenly divide batter into prepared pans and bake until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, 20 to 25 minutes, rotating pans halfway through baking. Cool cakes in pans on wire rack for 10 minutes. Remove cakes from pans, discarding parchment, and cool completely, about 2 hours. (Cooled cakes can be wrapped with plastic wrap and stored at room temperature for up to 2 days.)

CREAM CHEESE FROSTING
1. Mix cream cheese and butter together until light.
2. Add vanilla.
3. Add icing sugar, 1 cup at a time, until the consistency is what you’re looking for

CAKE ASSEMBLY
1. Cut each cake in half horizontally. (I used the dental floss method)
2. Place one cake layer on the bottom of cake stand or serving platter, spread a generous layer of cranberry puree over cake layer and top with another layer of cake.
3. Spread about 1 cup of frosting on top and spread evenly.
4. Repeat with the remaining 2 layers.
5. Spread or pipe frosting on top and side of cake. Garnish with sparkling cranberries. Refrigerate cake for 30 minutes.

One word of caution – the longer the sparkling cranberries sit on top of the cake, the more the sugar on them dissolves into the frosting, so only garnish with cranberries when you’re ready to serve!

During the hot months of summer, I made sure to put our berries to good use, one of which was this berry-packed bundt cake. It’s one of those perfect cakes, where there’s actually more berry than cake, the cake itself is moist and flavourful, thanks to all the lemon zest, and where the glaze adds a punch of tart sweetness. This cake can be used with any fruit, but I used a combo of cherries and blueberries.
Not much else to say about this one…it’s a great bundt, and versatile and easy!

Blueberry-Cherry Buttermilk Bundt
adapted from Smitten Kitchen

CAKE
2 1/2 cups plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon fine sea salt or table salt
1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 3/4 cups granulated sugar
Zest of 1 lemon
3 large eggs, at room temperature
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup buttermilk
3-4 cups mixed berries (I used cherries and blueberries this time)

GLAZE
2 cups (240 grams) powdered or confections’ sugar
Juice of 1-2 lemons
1 tablespoon (15 grams) unsalted butter, very, very soft
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Generously grease a 10-cup Bundt pan, either with butter or a nonstick spray. Set aside.

1. In a medium bowl, mix 2 1/2 cups flour (leaving 2 tablespoons back), baking powder and salt together and set aside.

2. In a large bowl, add the sugar and lemon zest. Rub the lemon zest into the sugar with your fingers, until it becomes fragrant. Add the butter to the sugar and cream together until it is light and fluffy (between 3 and 5 minutes)

3. Turn the mixer down to low and add the eggs one at a time. Scrape down the bowl after each egg addition. Beat in the vanilla.

4. Add 1/3 of the flour mixture to the batter, beating only until just combined. Add half of the buttermilk, and then another 1/3 of the flour mixture, and then the remaining buttermilk and the remaining flour mixture.

5. Toss the berries in a bowl with the 2 tablespoons of flour. Gently fold the berries into the cake batter.

6. Spread cake batter into the prepared baking pan.

7. Bake for 55 to 60 minutes, or until a test comes out clean.

8. Set cake pan on a wire rack and cool for 30 minutes. Remove cake from pan and cool completely.

9. Once cool, whisk together the powdered sugar and butter. Add lemon juice slowly, until it reaches the consistency you like (it can go from a glaze to a straight up frosting, whatever you prefer!) Spread or pour over top of cake and serve.

I feel so bad that all my recent photos are so unattractively lit. I am doing the best I can with the type of light I get in my house during these winter months, but it really isn’t good enough. I should build myself a lightbox, or just do all my baking or cooking on bright Saturday afternoons. At least I’m somewhat comforted by the fact that we have about 30 more days left of this early darkness.

This tropical cheesecake lets in a little warmth and light into the kitchen though! Even in the dark, cold winter, the cake lets you have a badly-needed taste of the tropics. I made this for my mother’s birthday at the end of January. I wanted to remind everyone that it can’t be winter all the time, and because my parents were heading off in a few days to sunny Mexico, so why not have a preemptive taste of it?

This cheesecake is perfect in every way. Even Soli loved it, claiming it to be one of his favourite cakes, and he is not one of those cheesecake people. The filling uses plenty of cream cheese, and a whole can of coconut cream, not to be confused with coconut milk. Coconut cream is about $4 more expensive, and is a thick, amazingly sweet more condensed version of coconut milk. I could’ve sat down with the can and a spoon and been happy! I didn’t add any coconut to the filling, as I wanted a smoother texture, but I added extra coconut to the crust, and toasted up some more to sprinkle on the top before serving. All in all, the cake wasn’t at all overly coconuty, and it was in fact an understated flavor. I am happy I didn’t use sweetened coconut. The buttery graham cracker crust was heavenly.

The roasted pineapple I made and spooned on top before serving was a perfect touch and shouldn’t be skipped! I got the basic idea from the Bon Appetit: Desserts cookbook, and while some online reviews said this topping was cloyingly sweet, I didn’t find that at all! I did reduce the sugar and not use any rum, so the true sweetness of the pineapple popped out, and it was a juicy, light touch to an otherwise pretty rich dessert. Also, I definitely recommend buying a fresh pineapple and roasting that…don’t try to cheat using the canned ones!

In the end, this was a perfect cheesecake and a great taste of the tropics for a birthday cake in January.

Coconut Cheesecake with Honey-Roasted Pineapple
Adapted from Food Network and Bon Appetit: Desserts

COCONUT CHEESECAKE
1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
2 cups usweetened shredded coconut, toasted
1 tablespoon fresh squeezed lemon juice
2 pounds cream cheese, room temperature (4 8-0z packages, I used 2 regular and 2 light)
4 large eggs
3/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup unsalted butter melted
1 15oz can cream of coconut (such as Coco Lopez)
1 cup whipping cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Juice of 1 lemon

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Wrap outside of 9 inch diameter springform pan with with foil.

2. For the crust, mix graham cracker crumbs, 1 1/2 cups coconut, 1 tablespoon lemon juice and butter in small bowl. Press mixture onto bottom and up sides of pan.

3. For the filling, beat cream cheese and sugar in large bowl until well blended.

4. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Add cream of coconut, cream, vanilla extract and lemon juice and beat until well blended.

5. Pour filling into crust. Bake until puffed and set in center, about 1 hour 25 minutes. Transfer to rack and cool completely. Cover and refrigerate overnight.

6. Cut around pan sides to loosen cake. Remove pan sides.

7. Sprinkle remaining coconut around edge of cake and top each slice with some honey-roasted pineapple.

HONEY-ROASTED PINEAPPLE
1 extra-sweet pineapple, peeled, cut into 1/2-inch-thick rounds, cored
1 cup water
1/4 cup honey
2 tablespoons dark rum (optional; I did not use this)

1. Preheat oven to 400°F. Place pineapple rings on large rimmed baking sheet.

2. Boil remaining ingredients in small saucepan 3 minutes, stirring occasionally.

3. Pour syrup over pineapple. Roast pineapple 12 minutes. Turn rings over; roast until tender and syrup thickens, turning rings every 5 minutes, about 20 minutes longer.

4. Cool pineapple on sheet. Cut into 1/3-inch cubes; transfer pineapple and syrup to bowl. (Can be made 1 day ahead. Chill.)

Just a few of my favourite dessert things: Coffee cakes. Chocolate and orange combinations. Cinnamon and pecan streusels. It’s pretty obvious that I would love this coffee cake, which has exactly everything I love!

First, the cake itself. Cakes that contain sour cream are notoriously moister, more tender, more delicious. All very true for this cake! Next, the streusel. It’s got cinnamon, it’s got chocolate, it’s got pecans, and the cake has two streusel layers! One runs through the centre of the cake, and the top of the cake gets all crunchy from the layer on top. I believe there is no such thing as too much streseul. Finally, the chocolate-orange flavor combo. Neither the chocolate or the orange is predominant. The only chocolate is in the streusel, and the only orange is the orange juice and rind in the cake. They’re there, subtly, and I love it. I did add a bit of extra rind in the streusel, just because I do love orange and chocolate together.

It makes for a wonderful morning cake with coffee, so if you’re looking for a cake to serve during the holidays at a breakfast or brunch, this is an ideal choice. I was thinking that it would be the perfect cake to use one of those Terry’s chocolate oranges (the dark chocolate one though, not the milk – to sweet!) in. I think I may just have to make this cake again….

Sour Cream-Orange Coffee Cake with Chocolate-Pecan Streusel
from Bon Appetit

CHOCOLATE-PECAN STREUSEL
1 1/2 cups (packed) golden brown sugar
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) chilled salted butter, diced
1 1/2 cups coarsely chopped pecans
1 cup (6 ounces) semisweet chocolate chips

SOUR CREAM ORANGE COFFEECAKE
3 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/3 cups sugar
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) salted butter, room temperature
3 large eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons grated orange peel
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups sour cream
1/4 cup orange juice

STREUSEL
1. Whisk brown sugar and cinnamon in medium bowl to blend.
2. Add butter and rub in with fingertips until mixture holds together in small, moist clumps.
3. Mix in pecans and chocolate chips. (Can be made up to 3 days ahead. Cover and refrigerate.)

CAKE
1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter and flour 13x9x2-inch metal baking pan.
2. Sift flour, baking soda, and baking powder into medium bowl. Using electric mixer, beat sugar and butter in large bowl until blended and smooth.
3. Beat in eggs 1 at a time, then orange peel and vanilla extract.
4. Mix in flour mixture in 4 additions alternately with sour cream in 3 additions.
5. Mix in orange juice.
6. Spread half of batter in prepared pan. Sprinkle with half of streusel.
7. Drop remaining batter over by heaping tablespoonfuls; carefully spread batter to make even layer.
8. Sprinkle with remaining streusel.
9. Bake cake 30 minutes.
10. Lay sheet of foil loosely over pan to keep topping from browning too quickly. Continue baking until tester inserted into center of cake comes out clean, about 35 minutes longer.
11. Remove foil. Cool cake in pan on rack 20 minutes. Dust with powdered sugar; serve warm or at room temperature. (Can be made 2 days ahead. Cool completely. Store airtight at room temperature.)

Oh, and I got a visit from The Fairy Hobmother, from Appliances Online today, whose job it is to spread joy among the internet bloggers. A while back, I left a comment on one of Grace’s awesome posts, and today I got my visit, which resulted in a wonderful Amazon voucher (considering how close the holidays actually are, this is a great thing)!

And if you leave a comment on this post, the Fairy Hobmother might just be visiting you next!

Happy National Bundt Day!!!

One of my favourite food blogs, The Food Librarian, takes on the daunting task of preparing a bundt a day for the month (check out the aptly named “I Like Big Bundts” pages!) leading up to National Bundt Day. Needless to say, I wish I worked in her place of employment! Whenever I’m looking for a bundt cake to make, I always check out her blog first, and her countless number of bundt recipes. Last year, I made a lemon bundt cake. This year, to celebrate National Bundt Day, however, I went with a bundt from Baked’s cookbook, the chocolate root beer bundt cake.

I wish the photos captured this cake better; now that it’s daylight savings, I no longer have the joy of natural daylight during the week to take photos in. Add to that the fact that chocolate cakes are already pretty hard to photograph…and you’re left with this dark brown chocolate blob of a cake. It really is a tasty cake though! I can’t say that the root beer adds any flavor to it; it pretty much is just a rich, deep, moist, decadent chocolate cake with an enormous layer of smooth, fantastically chocolatey frosting. This is one powerful chocolate cake, and the perfect cake to celebrate National Bundt Day with.

Chocolate Root Beer Bundt Cake
From Baked: New Frontiers In Baking

CAKE
2 cups root beer (do not use diet root beer)
1 cup dark unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into 1-inch pieces
1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
1/2 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs

FROSTING
2 ounces dark chocolate (60% cacao), melted and cooled slightly
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
1 teaspoons salt
1/4 cup root beer
2/3 cup dark unsweetened cocoa powder
2 1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar

CAKE
1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Generously spray the inside of a 10-inch bundt pan with nonstick cooking spray; alternatively, butter it, dust with flour, and knock out the excess flour.

2. In a small saucepan, heat the root beer, cocoa powder, and butter over medium heat until the butter is melted. Add the sugars and whisk until dissolved. Remove from the heat and let cool.

3. In a large bowl, whisk the flour, baking soda, and salt together.

4. In a small bowl, whisk the eggs until just beaten, then whisk them into the cooled cocoa mixture until combined. Gently fold the flour mixture into the cocoa mixture. The batter will be slightly lumpy–do not overbeat, as it could cause the cake to be tough.

5. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 35 to 40 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through the baking time, until a small sharp knife inserted into the cake comes out clean. Transfer the pan to a wire rack to cool completely. Gently loosen the sides of the cake from the pan and turn it out onto the rack.

FROSTING
1. Put all the ingredients in a food processor. Pulse in short bursts until the frosting is shiny and smooth.

2. Use a spatula to spread the fudge frosting over the crown of the Bundt in a thick layer. Let the frosting set before serving.

This is one of my favourite cakes, for several reasons. It’s amazingly quick and easy to put together, and it comes out with the perfect texture every single time. The yogurt makes is a somewhat dense cake, with a very moist crumb. It is pretty much my favourite cake texture.

Next up, all those raspberries. I like the cake with frozen raspberries and with fresh raspberries…however, whenever I bake with berries, I freeze those berries first. I think that’s an important thing for cakes as white as this one; you don’t want it baking up with swirls and chunks of raspberries; I prefer when then jewel the cake. Also, big berry pieces mean big berry flavor!

The orange peel and juice (I’ve also used lemon) makes the cake exceptionally bright and lively. And finally, that almond extract! The extract in the cake itself is not too heavy, just a background note. The glaze on the cake is a little crunchy, a little sweet, and definitely almondy.

A perfect breakfast kinda cake, an ideal snack for an afternoon, and a lighter way to end a meal in the evening…not matter the season or time of day, this will always be one of my definite go-to cakes!

French Yogurt Raspberry Cake
From Bon Appetit

3 cups unbleached all purpose flour, divided
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 3/4 cups sugar
2 tablespoons fresh orange juice
1 1/2 teaspoons almond extract, divided
1 teaspoon finely grated orange peel
3 large eggs, room temperature
1 cup plain low-fat yogurt (I’ve also used vanilla – great!!)
2 1/2 cups fresh raspberries (two 6-ounce containers) (or frozen)
1 cup powdered sugar
1 tablespoon (or more) water

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter 12-cup Bundt pan. Whisk 2 1/2 cups flour, baking powder, and 1/4 teaspoon salt in medium bowl.

2. Using electric mixer, beat butter and sugar in large bowl until creamy. Beat in orange juice, 1 teaspoon almond extract, and orange peel. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating after each addition. Mix in yogurt.

3. Add dry ingredients to batter and beat just until blended. Toss 1/2 cup flour and raspberries in large bowl. Fold berry mixture into batter. Spoon batter into prepared pan; smooth top.

4. Toss 1/2 cup flour and raspberries in large bowl. Fold berry mixture into batter. Spoon batter into prepared pan; smooth top.

5. Bake cake until wooden skewer inserted near center comes out clean, about 1 hour 10 minutes. Cool 30 minutes. Invert cake onto plate and cool. DO AHEAD: Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover and let stand at room temperature.

6. Whisk powdered sugar, 1 tablespoon water, and 1/2 teaspoon almond extract in medium bowl. Add more water by 1/2 teaspoonfuls as needed for thick glaze. Drizzle over cake. Let stand until glaze sets.

It seems like everyone is all about strawberries these days, and with good reason – they’re finally affordable, and more importantly, plump, juicy and packed with sweetness. There’s probably no better time to showcase a cake like this!

I knew I wanted to prepare a strawberry cake of sorts for my sister’s birthday cake. I looked all over the place for a decent strawberry cake recipe, but all I kept coming across was that one for a cake mix+Jello mix. I was looking for something a little more…natural….So I decided to take matters in my own hands and created my own neapolitan cake. I prepared a cake-version of Magnolia Bakery’s chocolate cupcakes and vanilla cupcakes as the two layers. I then made a massive batch of strawberry cream cheese frosting to resemble the pink layer in the classic ice cream.

The end result was a lot of fun. It looks beautiful, and tastes even better. The cakes are moist, and both the chocolate layer and the vanilla layer have their own distinctive flavours. The sweet strawberry frosting only complements the chocolate and vanilla, doesn’t overpower it. To me, it’s a perfect birthday cake, and especially seasonable right now.

Neapolitan Birthday Cake
Printable Recipe

CHOCOLATE CAKE LAYER
adapted from Magnolia Cupcake‘s chocolate cupcakes
This recipe yields 1 9″ round cake layer (or 12 cupcakes)

1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
2 large eggs, at room temperature
3 ounces unsweetened chocolate, melted
1/2 cup buttermilk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. To melt the chocolate, place in a double boiler over simmering water on low heat for 5-10 minutes (about; stir occasionally until completely smooth and no pieces remain; remove from heat and let cool 5-15 minutes or until lukewarm.

2. Grease one 9″ round cake pan, and line bottom with a circle of parchment paper. Grease parchment paper. Set aside.

3. In a bowl, sift the flour and baking soda together; set aside.

4. In a big mixing bowl, cream the butter, using an electric mixer on MEDIUM speed, until smooth. Add the sugars and beat for about 3 minutes or until fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beat well after each addition. Add the chocolate, mixing until well incorporated.

5. Add the dry ingredients, in three parts, alternating with the buttermilk and vanilla. With each addition, beat until ingredients are incorporated but do not overmix.

6. Scrape down the batter from the sides of the bowl, using a rubber spatula, to make sure the ingredients are well blended and the batter is smooth.

7. Carefully spoon batter into cake pan.

8. Bake in a 350° oven for 20-25 minutes or until pick comes out clean.
9. Cool in pan for 15 minutes. Remove from pan and cool completely on a wire rack. Ice when completely cool.

VANILLA CAKE LAYER
adapted from Magnolia Bakery‘s vanilla cupcakes
This recipe yields 1 9″ round cake layer (or 12 cupcakes)

1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs, room temperature
240 grams cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
pinch of salt
1/2 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1. Beat butter on high until soft, about 30 seconds.

2. Add sugar. Beat on medium-high until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.

3. Add eggs one at a time, beat for 30 seconds between each.

4. Whisk together flour, baking powder, and baking soda in a bowl.

5. Measure out milk and vanilla together.

6. Add about a fourth of the flour to the butter/sugar mixture and beat to combine.

7. Add about one third the milk/vanilla mixture and beat until combined.

8. Repeat above, alternating flour and milk and ending with the flour mixture.

9. Grease one 9″ round cake pan, and line bottom with a circle of parchment paper. Grease parchment paper. Set aside.

10. Spoon batter into pan.

11. Bake for 22-25 minutes at 350 degrees F until a cake tester comes out clean.

STRAWBERRY CREAM CHEESE FROSTING
adapted from Cupcake Project

1/4 C butter (room temperature)
1 8 oz package cream cheese (room temperature)
1/2 C strawberries, pureed up in a food processor
5 to 6 cups powdered sugar

1. Cream butter and cream cheese.

2. Mix in the strawberries.

3. Add the powdered sugar to the taste and consistency you prefer.

Assemble cake! I suggest letting the frosting sit in the fridge before frosting, to avoid having the cake layers slide around. I topped cake with freshly sliced strawberries.

A little belated, but hey, at least I’m getting this posted within the week! If you don’t follow The Food Librarian and her 30 days of bundts in celebration of Bundt Day, then you’re missing out on all the fun. Whenever I’m in need of a good bundt recipe, her blog is the first place I check out. Given my inclination towards all desserts citrus, when I saw her recipe for a lemon bundt, soaked with a lemon syrup and topped with a simple glaze, I was sold. This would be my celebratory bundt.

Good choice on my part! This cake reminds me of a very lemony, quite dense, pound cake. I love the tart syrup that you coat the cake with afterwards – it soaks right in and amplifies the lemon flavour while giving the cake a slightly sticky-sweet exterior. I don’t know if the light glaze is even needed, but it does sweeten out all the citrus notes in the cake.

This is an easy, great bundt. I can imagine it being perfect for adding berries too, and would make a nice summer cake.

My apologies for the plethora of lemon desserts these days – next up, something more fall appropriate, promise!

Lemon Bundt Cake
Adapted from The Food Librarian
Printable Recipe

1 cup plain lowfat yogurt
1 Tbsp grated lemon zest
1⁄4 cup lemon juice
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temp
2 cups sugar
1 1⁄2 tsp baking powder
1⁄2 tsp baking soda
4 large eggs, room temp
2 3⁄4 cups cake flour (not self-rising)

LEMON SYRUP
1⁄2 cup each lemon juice
1/2 cup sugar
1⁄4 cup water

GLAZE
1 cup confectioners’ sugar
4 to 5 tsp milk

1. Preheat oven 350ºF. Prep a 10-inch (12-cup) Bundt pan. I spray mine with Pam with Flour.

2. Whisk together yogurt, lemon zest, juice and vanilla in small bowl.

3. Whisk together the flour, baking powder and baking soda in a medium bowl.

4. With a paddle attachment, cream butter and sugar together until light and creamy (about 3 minutes). Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.

5. Reduce to low speed. Add half the flour mixture, then the yogurt mixture, followed by the remaining dry mixture. Mix just until blended. Don’t overmix, and finish off with a spatula.

6. Scoop into prepared Bundt pan.

7. Bake 50 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in cake comes out clean. Cool in pan on wire rack 10-20 minutes before inverting on rack.

SYRUP
While cake is cooling, bring syrup ingredients to a boil in a small saucepan. Reduce heat to medium; simmer, uncovered, 12 minutes or until syrupy. Brush over warm cake; let cake cool completely.

GLAZE
Mix confectioners’ sugar and just enough milk until smooth; spoon over completely cooled cake.

I made this cake ages ago, and I can’t even remember the occasion I made it for. I don’t know why it has taken me so long to share the recipe, because it was a really good cake. It had all that citrus that I love, plus a perfect cream cheese frosting, plus berries…how could it go wrong?

I’m a terrible cake decorator, so I prefer to just slather frosting between the layers and on the top. For this cake, I topped it with fresh blackberries and candied lemon peel. The end result was pretty much a perfect cake – light and lemony, with plump, juicy berries, and a rich, tart frosting. Not really a fall recipe, but still, a great cake.

Stay tuned for the candied lemon recipe, if interested…I’m participating in the Cupcake Camp Montreal this weekend, and candied lemon is on the menu!

Berry-Lemon Cake with Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting
adapted from Dairy Goodness
Printable Recipe

BERRY LEMON CAKE
3/4 cup (175 ml) butter
1-1/2 cups (375 ml) granulated sugar
2 eggs, separated
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
1 tsp (5 ml) vanilla
2-1/2 cups (625 ml) cake flour
2 tsp (10 ml) baking powder
1/2 tsp (2 ml) baking soda
1/2 tsp (2 ml) salt
3/4 cup (175 ml) milk
1 cup (250 ml) fresh berries (I used blackberries, but the original recipe calls for blueberries)

LEMON CREAM CHEESE FROSTING
1 (8 oz/250 g) pkg cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup (50 ml) butter
1/4 cup (50 ml) fresh lemon juice
5 cups (1.25 l) icing sugar

CAKE
1. Preheat oven to 350°F (180°C). Butter two 9-inch (23 cm) round baking pans and line with parchment paper. Butter the paper and set aside. Cream butter and gradually beat in sugar until fluffy. Stir in egg yolks, lemon juice and vanilla.

2. Blend flour with baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add to the butter mixture in three additions, alternating with the milk and beat until smooth. Beat egg whites until stiff but not dry using clean beaters. Fold into batter. Divide batter between prepared baking pans. Sprinkle with berries. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until cakes spring back when touched lightly. Cool for 10 minutes in pans. Turn out onto a rack and cool completely.

FROSTING
1. Beat cream cheese until very smooth. Add butter and blend. Beat in lemon juice until there are no lumps. Add icing sugar a little at a time and beat until smooth. Place one layer, bottom side up, on a cake plate and frost evenly. Add second layer, bottom side up, and frost.