Berry Berry Berry Lemony cake

This winter has been the longest, by far. We're seeing hard freeze days here in the south in March. That's way too cold for tropical creatures like me. I love the summer months, primarily because of the wide variety of fruits that hit the market - including all the yummy berries, lemons and of course, mangoes! :)

One of the few days when Houston weather was nicer, I saw some wonderful berries in the local market. I knew I had to buy them the moment I set my eyes on them. It was probably my attempt to feel that warm summer days are here again! One of my friends has the sweetest tooth I know. She loves cakes with fruit in them, so I decided to bake one with lots of berries for her birthday. It turned out to be 'Berry Berry Berry Lemony'! Based on a recipe by smittenkitchen, here it goes: 

Ingredients:

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, cubed.
1 3/4 cups granulated sugar
Zest of 1 lemon (I used a zester, but a small cheese grater works well, too)
3 large eggs, at room temperature
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup buttermilk
3 cups mixed berries, rinsed and dried (I used blackberries, raspberries and blueberries)

Glaze

2 cups powdered or confections’ sugar Juice of 1 lemon 1 tablespoon unsalted butter, very soft.

Method:

·    Preheat oven to 350°F. Generously grease a 10-cup Bundt pan with softened butter and set aside. I used my favorite Fleur-de-Lis bundt, for added pizzazz.

·    In a medium bowl, whisk or sift 2 1/2 cups flour, baking powder and salt together and set aside. I used my newly acquired flour sifter.

·    In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the butter, sugar and lemon zest until fluffy, about 3 to 5 minutes. It is crucial that the butter is at room temperature, so the butter and sugar fluff up nicely.

·    Now, with the mixer on a low speed, add eggs one at a time. Beat in vanilla extract.

·    Add 1/3 flour mixture to batter, beating until just combined, followed by half the buttermilk, another 1/3 of the flour mixture, the remaining buttermilk and remaining flour mixture. It is important to start and end with the flour mixture. Don’t forget to scrape the sides of the bowl from time to time.

·    In a small bowl, toss the berries with 2 tablespoons of flour and gently fold the berries into the cake batter. The batter will be very thick.

The batter is very thick

·    Spread cake batter in the prepared baking pan and spread the top smooth. Bake for 55 to 60 minutes. The cake is done as soon as a tester comes out clean of batter.

·    Set cake pan on a wire rack to cool for 30 minutes, before inverting the cake onto a serving platter. I find that taking the cake out before it cools completely helps unmold a Bundt cake easily. Cool completely.

·    Once cooled completely, prepare the glaze by whisking together the powdered sugar, lemon juice and butter until smooth and thick, almost like crepe batter. Spread carefully over top of cake, letting it trickle down the sides.

·    Serve at once or keep it covered at room temperature for 3 to 4 days. I garnished the cake with some more berries with the help of my friend’s 3 year old! 

Glazed Berry Berry Berry Lemony cake

Berry Berry Berry Lemony cake

Bon Appétit!

Hetal from Houston

Paleo Lemon Pound Cake

       
     Before I start writing this blog, I would like to declare in public that I am NOT following  paleo diet ! I am too much of a foodie so far,  to do this :) But as saying goes 'never say never !' This was an experiment with a friend who is trying paleo and I was tempted to try something different after baking fatty sinful cakes for all these while.. Can't really deny the guilt trips most of us take after eating those yummy cakes...can we !?! Lemon is an all-time favorite and this one looked easily doable ! Turned out to be very tasty and exactly of the texture one would like pound cake to be ....here is the link for recipe we found but below is how we did it :) 
  
       We could not find all the ingredients we needed in the only grocery store we visited... Should not be hard to find if you at least try two stores may be ! We were lazy, but you are not  :P !!  So let's honestly call this a partial paleo cake :)

Prep Time : 20 minutes
Baking Time : 40-45 minutes
Serves : 5-10

      
Ingredients : 

Dry :

Almond flour - 2 cups                        
All-Purpose flour - 1/2 cup
Sea salt - 1/2 tsp
Baking soda - 1 heaping spoon

Wet :

Raw honey - 2/3 cup , warmed to a liquid state
Olive oil - 2/3 cup
Large eggs - 4
Full-fat coconut milk - 1/2 cup
Vanilla Extract - 2 tbsp
Lemon zest - 1 tbsp ( I mixed orange zest as well )

Glaze :

Freshly squeezed lemon juice : from 2 lemons ( Please strain it ) 
Lemon zest - from 1 lemon
Vanilla extract - 2 tsp
Raw honey - 4 tbsp

Preparation :

1. Preheat oven to 350ºF.
2. Prepare a 9x9 baking pan by coating the interior lightly with olive oil. 
3. Sift dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl and stir with a whisk to combine.
4. Place oil and honey and mix  for 1-2 minutes using electric blender. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing after each addition. Add coconut milk, vanilla, and lemon zest, and continue to process until well combined.
   
5. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and pour in the wet ingredients. Use a wooden mixing spoon to thoroughly combine ingredients, pressing out any lumps. Use blender if needed and we did need :).
6. Pour batter into prepared pan and bake for 40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. The top was supposed to be lightly browned and mine came out dark brown.
7. Let cake cool in the pan for 10 minutes, run a butter knife around the edge of the pan to loosen the cake, and then turn it out onto a cake plate and let cool completely.
8. While cake bakes, prepare the glaze by adding vanilla extract, lemon juice, zest, and honey to the pan. Bring to a simmer over medium heat. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 10 minutes. Let cool to room temperature.
9. Using the tines of a fork, perforate the top of the cake several times. Pour glaze over the cake, using a spatula to evenly distribute the glaze over the entire cake top. Let the cake rest for an hour to fully absorb the glaze. Serve immediately or cover and store in the refrigerator.

 It was a good combo with our evening Chai that day ! Totally non-paleo :P 

Have fun baking :)

Ajanta from Amherst