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.
Happy Birthday Mike. May you have many more!
Yum! What a delicious looking cake! Lemon cakes (really, anything that’s more tart than sweet) are among my favourite desserts!
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Mine too, thank you Amber.
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I need a friend like you that makes cakes! 🙂 It looks beautiful
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Thank you kindly, so nice of you to say.
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I wish I were Mike so I could get a slice =D
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Thanks Squishy Monster.
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Glad you made a square cake. Usually see round or rectangular cakes but not much a square one, yours look gorgeous and unique. Is that real carambola slices that you colored green or did you make it out of sugar?
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Thank you kindly Norma, I just wanted a smallish cake because Mike is the only One in his house who eats cake!
The slices are star fruit, pretty aren’t they?
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OK, in the reading too fast category, I misread that to say you and your husband get pedis. Then I had to look up pedi. Well, the cake looks wonderful.
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Thanks Greg, coincidentally, JT and I will be getting pedi’s soon too!!!
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I don’t bake cakes very often. Certainly not ones that require me to make a frosting … so the marshmallow one you used here is very impressive.
I’ve been run ragged at work for the last 3 weeks so I’m saving my cooking for the end of the school year when I will definitely TRY to make a cake with a real frosting and finally use the new piping bags I bought a couple of months ago.
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Hi Maria, I thought your absence was due to something like that; but them again you must be pleased that you’ve had the work, particularly coming into the off summer months.
The frosting is definitely a good one, JT said it was his flavourite. And it’s pretty easy to make (and reasonably inexpensive).
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You sound like such good friends! What a lovely gesture Eva 🙂
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Thanks Lirraine, Kim is my best friend from University; there is a great story with that, perhaps I’ll share it on an upcoming post.
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Oooh, what a great looking cake and tribute to Mike’s birthday! Thanks for sharing. Also, I’m having a ChicWrap giveaway today that you should enter!
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Thank you kindly Georgia, I’ll check out your give away.
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Eva, it looks extraordinary! Like a professional birthday cake. And so mysterious… I would love to be able to cut it and see what it hides inside. Marshmallow frosting sounds very intriguing.
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Thanks Sissi, inside was a light coloured cake with a heavy texture, quite lemony. I layered two slabs together with a small amount of frosting. It was rather moist.
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Oooh, you took this cake up another level! The marshmallow frosting looks fabulous…I’m certain Michael loved it!
PS…thanks for the mention 🙂
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Hi Liz, thank you for your kind words, I’m very flattered. It was very well received.
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That is one gorgeous looking cake, Eva, and that fluffy marshmallow icing is so beautifully sculptural. The cake and the plate together are a work of art! I know your friend must have been so pleased!
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Thank you Betsy, although the icing has a lot of sugar, it’s not sucky sweet which was surprising. I’m sure it will make a repeat performance in our house.
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Your friends must have been both surprised and delighted with such a thoughtful gift.
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Thanks Karen, they were indeed!
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How thoughtful of you Eva. This cake is really beautiful…I saw it featured on your facebook page, so now I know the story.Hope you guys are having a great weekend at the cottage — the weather is just spectacular. Finally managed to get in some gardening and take care of some chores around the house. It just feels amazing to have a break!
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It was such fun to see you for dinner last week, Barb. The cake was a success and both Kim and Mike were quite touched by our surprise visit. It was really cool that their daughter conspired/collaborated with us.
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