Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Lemon cornmeal cake - or How to Celebrate Kevin's Birthday Without Inappropriate Green Things


Backstory: Mom used to make us cakes for our birthday (I have now taken up that mantle) that she hand-decorated with pictures she drew with icing (I have not taken up that mantle).

One year, she had a lemon cake lined up for Kevin's birthday. That year, he was also very interested in ninjas (fact-check?), and so Mom got out her black food dye and got to work. Somehow, the lemon buttercream frosting she'd made, though, wouldn't keep the black color and her "black frosting" was a splendid hunter green, so she kept adding more and more and more. Finally, she called it quits and decorated the darn thing anyways.

Our lips and mouths were the first to show the mark of that food coloring. Later, she found a special colored surprise when she changed Pete's diaper.

Happy birthday, bro!

(this recipe has been modified from Bon Appetit magazine)

Lemon Glaze:
1 cup powdered sugar
fresh lemon juice (approximately 2 Tablespoons)

Blueberry Sauce
3 cups fresh blueberries
a couple spoonfuls of brown sugar
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
lemon zest of one lemon
Pinch of salt

Cake:
1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup yellow cornmeal
1/2 cup sugar
3-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup buttermilk
2 large eggs
1 Tablespoon lemon zest
3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted, cooled

Position rack in center of oven and preheat to 350o F. Butter 9" diameter cake pan with 2" high sides. Combine flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl; whisk to blend. Whisk buttermilk, eggs, lemon zest and vanilla in a small bowl. Pour buttermilk mixture and melted butter into flour mixture. Using a rubber spatula, very gently fold liquids into flour mixture until just blended (do not stir, the batter will be lumpy). Scrape batter into pan; spread evenly.

Bake cake until tester inserted into center comes out clean and cake pulls away from sides of pan, 25-30 minutes. Remove cake from oven and cool completely.

For the glaze, combine powdered sugar and 2 Tablespoons lemon juice in small bowl. Stir with spoon until smooth and paste-like, adding more lemon juice by 1/2 teaspoonfuls if glaze is too thick to spread. Once cake has cooled, cover with glaze: drop Tablespoonfuls onto cake; spread to within 1/2" of edge (some glaze may drip down sides of cake). Combine 1-1/2 cups blueberries, brown sugar, lemon juice, lemon zest and salt and stir.

2 comments: