Double Take: Item of the Month: Meyer Lemon Cake!

Hurry, HuRrY, HURRY!


Get 'em while they last!


MEYER LEMONS are this month's Double Take Item of the Month.


What's a meyer lemon? A cross between a mandarin orange and a lemon.


Season :  January to mid March.


What else happens every month? Birthday cake for work.


I love lemons and since my first taste of Meyer lemons last year, I was transfixed! The juicy, sweet tart flavor goes POW in your mouth if eaten alone. Its delicious as a marmalade too. I started thinking of tons of ways to use them. One idea was today's cake. 





The taste: Moist, sweet, lemony orange cake with creamy lemony orange cream cheese-whipped cream frosting. 


Meyer Lemon Cake 


Ingredients:


2/3 c. butter, softened
1 3/4 c. sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
zest of one meyer lemon (if out of season, sub zest of 1/2 lemon and 1/2 tangerine)
juice of one meyer lemon (if out of season, sub fresh juice of 1/2 lemon and 1/2 tangerine)
1 1/2 Tbsp baking powder
2 1/2 c. all purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/4 milk

How To:


Preheat oven to 350 F.

Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Stir in vanilla, zest, and meyer lemon juice.

Combine remaining dry ingredients (baking powder, salt, flour) together in a bowl and stir to evenly distribute powder and salt with flour.

Add the butter/sugar mixture to the flour mixture, alternately with milk. Beat well after each addition.

Pour into 2 greased and floured 9 in round baking pans. (I use Baker's Joy.) Bake at 350 F for 25-35 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean. 

Cool 10 minutes in the pans and then invert onto wire racks to cool completely. 

Frost after completely cooled.



Meyer Lemon - Cream Cheese Frosting


Ingredients:


3 c.+  3/4 c. powdered sugar, separated
4 oz cream cheese (half a normal package)
3/4 c. whipped cream, cold
1/2 stick butter, softened
1/2 Tbsp vanilla
juice of 1/2 meyer lemon (if out of season, sub fresh juice of 1/2 lemon and 1/2 tangerine
zest of one meyer lemon (if out of season, sub zest of 1/2 lemon and 1/2 tangerine)


How To:


Cream together butter and cream cream cheese. 


Slowly and beat in 3 c. powdered sugar. (Otherwise the sugar will cover you.)


In a separate bowl, beat the whipped cream to thickened. Add 3/4 c. powdered sugar and beat further until it forms stiff peaks. 


Fold whipped cream into cream cheese mixture.


Add Meyer lemon juice and zest. Fold together and let refridgerate at least two hours before frosting the cake.








Reaction: Lemon lovers loved it. Non lemon lovers were shocked that they loved it too. Some tasted more orange flavor while others picked up on more lemony goodness. The sparkles in their eyes and insistence that this cake be made again assured me that this cake was a WINNER! Deb (one of our chocolate lovers) said this was my best cake. Stunned, I asked if it was better than her favorite (my brownie fudge cake, sorry not yet posted). She said chocolate was a separate category for her but this was her favorite non-chocolatey cake that she'd ever had. That was a quite a compliment! Thanks Deb!

Comments

  1. Yay for Ingredient of the Month success! Looks like my kind of cake :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. This sounds fantastic! I thought the little flecks of yellow were very lovely in the finished cake picture! Nice job!

    ReplyDelete

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