Meyer Lemon Overload

About a week ago, a coworker of mine brought a huge bag of Meyer lemons to work.  Most people only took one or none (!), so my friend Becky and I split the bulk of them.  And so began a week and a half of lemon debauchery.  I didn't preserve any, which I kind of wish I had now.  Instead, I made as many desserts as I could. 

I made two Shaker Lemon Pies, one pan of Last Minute Blueberry Lemon Bars, and one incredible Meyer Lemon Cake.  And I still have one lemon left.  I think I will be making the Meyer Lemon Cake again - it was a veritable knockout.  I am salivating just thinking about it.  So moist! So tangy, and yet so sweet!  I will be adding pictures when I get home to further excite your taste buds.  For now, here's a quick pic of some sliced up lemons just waiting to get macerated...

In other Food Hotline news, I have been failing to bring you most of my call and email requests for advice and assistance.  Here I will share a few gems from recent weeks.  There was the question of trussing a chicken - what to do if you don't have any twine to tie the legs together.  And then a call about making a quick birthday icing for a lovely lady's last minute cake.  Oh, and let's not forget about Scuffins, or the muffins that call for chia seeds (what!), which I have still yet to try!  Don't worry, reader, I will flesh out all of these exciting thoughts momentarily...

Quick Crumb Coat

A week or so ago, I visited my friend Rhonda in Las Vegas for her birthday. Both her mom and her grandmother were going to bake cakes. Her grandmother always bakes her standard Lemon Cake, which involves pudding and jello and all sorts of yummy things. Her mom, Ruth, wasn't sure what cake to bake, so Rhonda consulted one of my favorite cake recipe books (which of course I always carry when traveling) - "James McNair's Cakes." Rhonda settled on one of my faves - the Red Velvet! It's an old standby for me, this recipe. I love it to bits.

So Ruth baked the cake, and had me ice it. I did a crumb coat to be sure the red wouldn't show through or get all crumbled into the top coat of the icing. I put a dab of icing on the cake plate and laid the first layer down - this helps to hold it in place. Then I iced the top of the first layer, carefully turned the second layer out on top of the first, and proceeded to coat the whole cake with a thin layer of icing. Then I set it in the refrigerator for about a half hour, making sure it was set and firm enough that it wouldn't blend into the top coat.

In the meantime, I refrigerated the remaining icing so that the consistency would stay the same and not get runny. When the crumb coat was firm, I got out the remaining icing and folded it over several times with the spatula to bring the temp up a bit and make it evenly spreadable. I coated the sides and the top with an even amount of icing, and while it was still pretty soft, I made a pattern of peaks on the sides and top by dipping the spatula into the top coat and pulling up slightly, in a random pattern. Then I set the finished cake into the refrigerator again to set the top coat. When it was ready for serving and singing, Ruth put lovely rose petals all over the cake, we got the candles lit, and sang Rhonda's birthday praises.

Both cakes were delectable!

* Note! When icing the cake, it's wise to put strips of wax paper slightly underneath the bottom layer, to protect the platter from an icing mess. Saves you from cleaning the platter before serving. (you can see this demonstrated in the top picture)

Birthday Cake

The Emergency Food Hotline received a call on Tuesday evening from a friend who lives nearby, who had decided to throw a birthday party for another friend. Trouble was that he didn't have a cake, which is where I came in. He wanted a "very special cake." There were a few clues (carrot, vanilla), but mostly I was on my own. Since moving across the country, I don't have most of my very favorite cookbooks on hand...they are hiding away in lonely boxes somewhere waiting for me to grab them up again (one day!).

So I looked up one of my favorite cake/icing combinations online, altered the recipe to suit my tastes, and here we have it: Ginger Carrot cake with Lemon Cream Cheese icing. It was quite moist, not too dense, and I added extra fresh ginger and a bit of minced dried apricot to brighten it up. Then I took a regular cream cheese icing recipe and added fresh lemon zest and juice, a tiny bit of vanilla, and there it was. It has a brightness that complimented the richness of the carrot well. Yum o'clock.