Sunday, June 6, 2010

Hello, Sunshine!

If apricots and oranges were my Spring celebration this year, what better fruit to ring in the Summer sunshine than some yummy lemons!

My parents have a beautiful lemon tree in their backyard and I took advantage of the gorgeous lemons they gave me.

I found this recipe and had to try it out on a hot June, Saturday afternoon. I couldn't get the house below 85 degrees!!! Summer is definitely here.

2 sticks of butter at room temp
2.5 cups sugar (divided into 2 and .5)
4 eggs at room temp
Zest of 6-8 lemons
3 cups flour
.5 tsp. baking powder
.5 tsp. baking soda
3/4 cup lemon juice (divided into 1/4 & 1/2)
3/4 cup Buttermilk
1 tsp. salt



First, I poured myself a glass of nice and chilly Sauvignon Blanc. Then I got out all of the cold ingredients to get them to room temp. That didn't take to long....Next, I added some ice to my Sauvignon Blanc which had also quickly reached room temp.




While everything came to room temp, I started zesting the lemons. This is about all the workout that a girl wants on a lazy Summer Saturday afternoon.




I mixed up 2 cups of the sugar with the 2 sticks of butter and lemon zest. Smells amazing!

Next, I sifted the dry ingredients (using only 2 cups of the sugar) and placed the buttermilk, vanilla and 1/4 cup of the lemon juice in a bowl.

Add the wet and dry ingredients alternately to the butter/sugar mixture. The batter already tastes amazing! Look at all that zest!




While the cakes baked at 350 for about 30 minutes I mixed up the glaze. Ina glazed the cakes and that was that. I had to take it a step further...maybe it was the heat getting to me.

The glaze is the 1/2 cup lemon juice and 1/2 cup sugar. Just heat it up on the stove until all the sugar crystals disappear!




Once the cakes were outta the oven, I used a toothpick to make little flavor spacers for the yummy lemon/sugar glaze.




I wanted to try something new. Does lemon, white chocolate and cream cheese go together? YESS! I mixed up some
white chocolate cream cheese frosting, just like the red velvet recipe, but added 3 tablespoons of lemon juice. It is actually quite refreshing, but added some decadence to this lemon delight!
This is what happens when Tipsy is trying to make sky blue after a few hours of baking in a hot kitchen drinking wine on the rocks!
I was a bit disappointed with me heavy hand in the food coloring department, but I still like the way it turned out.
I added lemon wedges and a yellow twist for fun.



Then some leaves and dots.







Had to try it out! YUMMMM!





Cheers to Summer sunshine, cold white wine, and eating cake all the time!
XOXO,
Tipsy