My best friend’s husband just celebrated a benchmark birthday last weekend. We normally don’t really do anything for the guy’s birthdays; my friend and I are only eleven days apart so we usually go get a pedi together, but because it was a benchmark (and a big one at that!) I wanted to surprise him with a visit and a home made cake.
My friend’s daughter conspired with me (using Facebook messaging) to find a time where JT and I could pop in. They live about an hour from our place in Toronto so I really wanted to make sure they would be home if we dropped in. He apparently loves lemon cake so that is what I made.
The recipe for the cake came from Baking with Julia, a Dorie Greenspan cookbook, but in my searching around the web, I realized that the recipes are never reprinted on the internet, so to respect this tradition, I am not reprinting it either. It’s a loaf cake with a good lemon taste, but I wanted really lemony so I added a 1/2 cup lemon juice, mixed with 3 tbsp sugar when it finished baking as a glaze. My friend Liz (That Skinny Chick Can Bake) made the cake last month. It’s not a typical recipe for this type of cake, but it does come together quite easily and produces a lovely lemony dense cake. I baked it in a square pan and then cut two smaller squares so that it can be layered. I wrapped it in the Marshmallow Frosting from Martha Stewart that I made for the cupcakes at Easter.
Deliciously lemony with a creamy marshmallow frosting
I bought the plate so I could just leave it at my friend’s place
Happy Birthday Mike. May you have many more!
Kitcheninspirations 