Summer & Lemon Cakes

Greetings G.O. Readers!

Thanks for checking out another edition of The Girl October Blog.  I'm going to keep this one short and sweet--literally.  This past Saturday, I baked my first Bundt cake.  A lemon Bundt cake, to be exact.  I made this "test" cake for my husband, before I'll be baking the "real" one this weekend, for our Fourth of July, family get-together. 

Needless to say, the cake was a success!  I was a little nervous, since part of the recipe calls for hot milk, with melted butter in it, (and you have make sure it doesn't boil); but thank goodness, I got through that part, with no issues.

I just wanted to share some pics of my cake, before glaze and lemon-peel toppings, and the after pics.  The recipe is to follow.  And let me just stress, this is not my recipe.  I just followed the brilliant instructions from Jessica, at Sprinkle Some Sugar:

http://www.sprinklesomesugar.com/super-lemon-bundt-cake/?utm_campaign=shareaholic&utm_medium=facebook&utm_source=socialnetwork

Before the glaze and toppings.

Isn't she lovely?

Top view

 

Yummy glaze added

Grated lemon peel, topping with granulated sugar

Now for the recipe.  Be sure to click the link above to check out some other cool recipes from this site.  I know I intend to!

Super Lemon Bundt Cake

Yield: 12-16 pieces

Ingredients:

 

Lemon Cake

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

2 1/4 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

4 eggs

2 cups sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 tbs lemon zest

2 tbs + 2 tsp lemon juice

1 1/4 cups whole milk

10 tablespoons unsalted butter, cubed

Lemon Glaze

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

3-5 tbs lemon juice

Lemon Sugar Topping

1 tbs lemon zest

1 tbs granulated sugar

Instructions:

 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Grease a bundt pan very well making sure to really get into all crevices then lightly flour pan. Set aside.

 

Lightly whisk flour, baking powder and salt in a small bowl and set aside. In the bowl of your stand mixer (if you're using one) fitted with the paddle attachment, beat eggs on low until they are thickened and very pale yellow in color. Turn mixer on low and slowly add sugar to running mixer and beat on medium-high speed until light and fluffy. Stir in vanilla, lemon juice and lemon zest. Slowly pour in dry ingredients on low speed until combined.

 

In a small saucepan, heat milk until very hot and butter is just melted. Do not boil and whisk the mixture to help the butter along. Pour into batter and mix until smooth. Batter will be very thin. Pour into prepared baking pan and bake for 27-35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out with a few moist crumbs. Once done, remove cake from oven and allow to cool for 5 minutes in pan. Release the sides of the cake with a butter knife to ensure it isn’t going to stick. Turn cake onto a large round platter or cake stand. (If using a 9x13 pan, do not remove cake, just place entire pan onto wire rack so underneath the pan can cool also.) Allow cake to finish cooling until warm to the touch.

 

While cake is cooling, prepare lemon sugar and glaze. For the lemon sugar, thoroughly mix the lemon zest and sugar together and let it sit for 5 minutes. If you don’t want the lemon zest on top of the cake, push the sugar through a fine mesh strainer, separating the two and discard the zest. If you don’t mind the zest on top of your cake (it will give it a nice pop of color!), then just set the mixture aside.

 

For the glaze, whisk powdered sugar and lemon juice, using more or less lemon juice as needed to get desired consistency. (I like to keep mine slightly thick so it won’t thin out too much when I serve it over warm cake.)Once cake is cooled down slightly, drizzle glaze over warm cake. Alternately, you can drizzle the glaze over each individual piece being served. Sprinkle lemon sugar on top.

 

Cake will stay soft and moist for 3 days stored in an airtight container.

Hope you guys consider giving this recipe a try!  My hubby loved it, and so did I!

Until next time,

Bless Your October Souls!!!