• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

My Recipe Reviews

Recipe Reviews, Recommendations, Tips and Musings. Thanks for visiting!

  • Home
  • Recipe Index
    • All Recipes
    • Appetizers
    • Bars
    • Beef
    • Breads/Muffins
    • Breakfast
    • Cakes
    • Candy
    • Casseroles
    • Chicken/Poultry
    • Cookies
    • Cooking for Two
    • Fruit
    • Holiday Recipes
    • Ice Cream/Sorbets
    • Lighter Recipes
    • Pasta
    • Pies/Pastry/Puddings
    • Pork
    • Seafood
    • Snacks
    • Soups, Stews, and Salads
    • Throw and Go! (Crockpot Recipes)
    • Vegetables/Side Dishes
  • Recipes Without Pictures
  • What’s Hot/What’s Not
  • About Me
  • Privacy Policy/Contact

lemon cake

Lemon Cake with Toasted Meringue

June 20, 2020 by sblades 8 Comments

Lemon Cake with Toasted Meringue

I missed the May selection for the Cake Slice Baker’s group. It’s kind of 2020’s fault because I was going to make a cake that uses hibiscus. I ordered it well ahead of time from the wonderful Spice House and delivery was delayed until well after the cake posting was due – about two weeks after!

The ladies in this group are just great, though, and let me slide until June’s selection. This month I chose Limoncello & Toasted Meringue Cake from “The New Way to Cake.”

You may notice a little difference in the name of the cake. Mine became Lemon Cake with Toasted Meringue because I didn’t get a chance to visit the liquor store to get limoncello. I recommend you use it, though, and will include the amounts in the recipe below. Hey, I didn’t want to miss another cake month – have mercy.

Lemon Cake with Toasted Meringue

What a simple little cake to put together! I was kind of wondering about the baking powder (1 tablespoon) because it’s made in a 9×9″ pan and that seems like an excessive amount.

The cake came out fine though – tall, soft, and fluffy.  You’ve really got to stick that testing toothpick all the way down the tall cake to make sure it’s done.

One of the Cake Slice Baker ladies made her cake in a round pan and it looks great! You just need to make the sure round pan is deep enough, because this little beauty rises a lot.

Lemon Cake with Toasted Meringue

The next fun thing – using my new blowtorch!  I almost chickened out and used the broiler, but have had this little food torch for so long that I finally wanted to use it.

It went surprisingly well – it lit like it’s supposed to and nicely toasted the pretty meringue. And I didn’t blow anything up, so I consider that a success.

Lemon Cake with Toasted Meringue

I love this Lemon Cake with Toasted Meringue. The toasted meringue is really quite a good finish for it. It’s a light and lovely little cake.

Lemon Cake with Toasted Meringue

Lemon Cake with Toasted Meringue

Yield: 9 pieces
Prep Time: 40 minutes
Cook Time: 35 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour 15 minutes

9x9" soft lemon cake with fluffy tasted meringue.

Ingredients

  • 4 eggs
  • 1 1/2 C sugar
  • 1/2 C canola oil (or vegetable oil)
  • 2 C all-purpose flour
  • 1 tbsp baking powder
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1/2 C milk, room temperature
  • Zest of 2 lemons (2-3 tsp)
  • Juice of 1 lemon (about 1/4 C)
  • 2 tbsp limoncello (I did not use in my recipe)
  • For the Syrup:
  • 1/4 C sugar
  • 2 tbsp limoncello (I used fresh lemon juice)
  • 1/4 C water
  • For the Meringue:
  • 1 C sugar
  • 3 tbsp water
  • Scant 1/4 cup of egg whites, room temperature (the egg whites of 3 to 4 eggs)

Instructions

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°. Spray a 9x9" deep baking pan with cooking spray and line the bottom with parchment paper.
  2. For the Cake: In a stand mixer with a whisk attachment, beat together the eggs and sugar for 3 to 5 minutes, until thick and pale yellow. Drizzle in the oil and continue mixing.
  3. In a medium bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder and salt. Turn mixer to low and add the flour mixture in by half cup. Pour in the milk and lemon zest. Mix until smooth before stirring in the lemon juice (and limoncello if you're using it).
  4. Pour the batter into the pan and bake for 35 to 40 minutes, or until well risen, lightly brown, and a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Let the cake cool for 10 minutes in the pan before turning it out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
  5. For the Syrup: Heat the sugar, lemon juice (or limoncello) and water together in a small saucepan until the sugar dissolves. Prick holes in the surface of the cake with a toothpick and pour on the syrup, letting it seep through. Set aside while making the meringue.
  6. For the Meringue: Add the sugar and water to a medium saucepan and bring to a boil, swirling the pan to dissolve the sugar (do not stir or it may crystalize the sugar). Heat the sugar until it reaches 238° (again, do not stir). It will get to temperature fairly quickly.
  7. Inspect the bowl of a stand mixer, making sure it is completely dry and clean. Whip the egg whites in the bowl with the whisk attachment on low speed for 1 minute, or until foamy. Increase the speed to medium and whip for 2 to 4 minutes, or until you have soft peaks.
  8. Once the sugar mixture on the stove has reached the right temperature, with the mixer still running, slowly pour the syrup down the side of the bowl, taking care not to pour the syrup onto the beaters or directly onto the whipped egg whites (it's extremely hot, so be careful). Continue to whip the meringue on high speed until you have thick, glossy, stiff peaks and the bowl is fairly cool to the touch.
  9. Spoon the meringue on top of the completely cooled cake, leaving about 1/2" around the edges. Use a blowtorch to lightly toast the meringue. If you don't have a blowtorch, you can place the cake under the broiler for a minute (carefully watching as it will brown quickly).

Notes

Tips and Stuff:

Have your lemons squeezed and zested before you begin.  Also, separate your eggs beforehand.  It makes things go much more smoothly.

After poking holes in the cake and pouring in the syrup, I set the cake in the freezer to cool off more quickly.  You don't want to put the meringue on a hot (or even warm) cake or it will turn to goo.

Nutrition Information:
Yield: 9 Serving Size: 1 slice
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 519Total Fat: 15gSaturated Fat: 2gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 13gCholesterol: 84mgSodium: 279mgCarbohydrates: 89gFiber: 1gSugar: 65gProtein: 7g

Nutrition Values are Approximate

© Benjamina Ebuehi
Category: Cakes
 
 

Each month The Cake Slice Bakers are offered a selection of cakes from the current book we are baking through. This year it is The New Way To Cake by Benjamina Ebuehi. We each choose one cake to bake, and then on the 20th – never before – we all post about our cake on our blogs. There are a few rules that we follow, but the most important ones are to have fun and enjoy baking & eating cakes!

Follow our Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest pages where you can find all of our cakes, as well as inspiration for many other cakes. You can also click on the thumbnail pictures below to take you to each of our cakes. If you have a blog and are interested in joining The Cake Slice Bakers and baking along with us, please send an email to thecakeslicebakers at gmail dot com for more details.

The Cake Slice Bakers also have a new Facebook group called The Cake Slice Bakers and Friends.  This group is perfect for those who do not have a blog but want to join in the fun and bake through this book.

 
 

It is a new year and a new book – The New Way To Cake – and our choices for June 2020 were ~

 

Coconut, Raspberry & Rose Roulade

  • All That’s Left Are The Crumbs

Limoncello & Toasted Meringue Cake

  • Culinary Adventures with Camilla
  • My Recipe Reviews
  • Karen’s Kitchen Stories
  • Sweet Sensations

Blueberry, Lemon & Lavender Frangipane Cake 

  • A Day in the Life on the Farm
  • Camille Cooks
  • Amandie Bakes
  • A Little Bit of All Right

Filed Under: All Recipes, Cakes Tagged With: cake, Cake Slice Bakers, dessert, fresh lemons, lemon, lemon cake, limoncello, Limoncello cake, meringue, meringue frosting, toasted meringue

Lemon Buttermilk Sheet Cake (#thecakeslicebakers)

July 20, 2018 by sblades 6 Comments

Lemon Buttermilk Sheet Cake

July’s Cake Slice Baker’s options for our challenge include this Lemon Buttermilk Sheet Cake from the wonderful cake cookbook The Perfect Cake by America’s Test Kitchen. I’m loving this book more and more every month!

At first I thought, oh gee another lemon cake, but after making this I’ve decided this is my favorite lemon cake ever. Really. Ever.

Lemon Buttermilk Sheet Cake

The instructions from The Perfect Cake are excellent each step of the way. I love the way the sugar and lemon zest are mixed together first of all, bringing out the lemon aroma and flavor to the extreme.

But wait – there’s more lemon! Fresh lemon juice and more zest (fresh only, please – no green-bottle lemon juice) are mixed in along with buttermilk, eggs (3 whole, plus 1 yolk), and butter. They recommend the eggs, buttermilk, and butter be at room temperature as it really helps the mixture come together and results in a more creamy batter.

Lemon Buttermilk Sheet Cake

Not enough lemon? Let’s top it off with lemon zest-sugar mixture sprinkled across the top. The result is a light, spongy lemon cake finished off with a nice lemon-buttermilk glaze and a crunchy sugar topping. Heaven for lemon lovers!

A change I made to the recipe is that I made my own buttermilk (one cup of 2% milk and one teaspoon vinegar, stir and let sit while other ingredients come to room temperature). It worked great as I don’t usually have buttermilk in the fridge. I also made an 8×8″ cake and 3 mini-loaves instead of a 13×9″ cake so I could give some of the cake to friends more easily. Besides that, this Lemon Buttermilk Sheet Cake works perfectly by ATK’s instructions.

If you love lemon…..here you go!

Lemon Buttermilk Sheet Cake

Lemon Buttermilk Sheet Cake

Yield: 12-15 pieces
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes
Total Time: 45 minutes

Outstanding lemony cake with a lightly sugar-crunch lemony glaze.

Ingredients

  • For the Cake:
  • 2 1/2 C (10 oz) cake flour
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 3/4 C buttermilk, room temperature
  • 3 tbsp grated lemon zest, plus 1/4 C juice (about 3 lemons)
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1 3/4 C (12 1/4 oz) granulated sugar
  • 12 tbsp butter, cut into 12 pieces and softened
  • 3 large eggs plus 1 large yolk, room temperature
  • For the Glaze:
  • 3 C (12 oz) powdered sugar
  • 3 tbsp lemon juice
  • 2 tbsp buttermilk

Instructions

  1. Preheat the oven to 325°. Spray and flour a 13x9" baking pan.
  2. Whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. In another bowl, combine the buttermilk, lemon juice, and vanilla.
  3. In a stand mixer bowl, beat together the sugar and lemon zest on medium speed until moist, fragrant, and fully combined, about 1 minute. Scoop out 1/4 cup of the sugar/lemon mixture and place in a small bowl; cover and set aside.
  4. Add the butter to the sugar mixture in the stand mixer bowl and beat until pale and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add the eggs and egg yolk, one at a time, and beat until combined. Reduce speed to low and add the flour mixture in 3 additions, alternating with the buttermilk mixture in 2 additions, and mix until smooth, about 30 seconds (don't over mix). Remove the bowl from the stand and stir by hand to make sure there's no flour on the bottom of the bowl.
  5. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top with the back of a spoon. Bake until the cake is golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with just a few crumbs clinging to it, 25 to 30 minutes. Rotate the pan halfway through baking. Let the cake cool in the pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes.
  6. For the glaze, whisk powdered sugar, lemon juice, and buttermilk in a bowl until smooth. Spread the glaze over the still-warm cake and sprinkle evenly with the reserved lemon sugar mixture. Let cool completely, at least 2 hours.

Notes

I made my own buttermilk (stir together 1 cup milk, 1 teaspoon vinegar and let sit for at least 15 minutes). It's a nice trick if you don't have buttermilk in the fridge.

It's important that ingredients are at room temperature, so don't skip that. Sometimes ingredients will look (and be) curdled if ingredients are too cold.

Nutrition Information:
Yield: 12 Serving Size: 1 square
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 238Total Fat: 14gSaturated Fat: 8gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 5gCholesterol: 93mgSodium: 338mgCarbohydrates: 24gFiber: 1gSugar: 3gProtein: 5g
© America's Test Kitchen
Category: Cakes

Filed Under: All Recipes, Cakes, Fruit Tagged With: America's Test Kitchen, buttermilk, lemon, lemon buttermilk cake, lemon cake, lemon glaze, The Cake Slice Bakers

Ina Garten’s Honey Vanilla Pound Cake

May 5, 2018 by sblades 2 Comments

Vanilla Pound Cake

I don’t get a chance to watch Food Network shows very often, but when I do I like to watch Ina Garten, Trisha Yearwood, or Alton Brown.

I’ve made several recipes by Ina Garten, including Irish Soda Bread, Warm Butternut Squash Salad, and Creamy Soft Homemade Caramels and they’ve all been wonderful.

Ina Garten Pound Cake

A couple of days ago, Ina (sometimes she lets me call her Ina) presented this Honey Vanilla Pound Cake recipe that uses local honey and it looks so good that I had to make it immediately!

The result is a really good, solid pound cake with a slight lemony-honey flavor. I think her local honey was stronger and more flavorful than my store-bought brand because I didn’t taste as much honey as she did.

Pound Cake

We tried it with homemade whipped cream, but found it was best warm right out of the oven, or slightly warmed (15-20 seconds in the microwave) and slathered with a little butter. It’s great with coffee and we’ve been enjoying it for breakfast.

The only thing I would change in Ina Garten’s Honey Vanilla Pound Cake is maybe add a little more honey because most of us will probably use store brand that’s not as noticeable as the fresh-from-the-hive stuff. (Although I do have some rogue bees in my garage eaves. Maybe I’ll check there for honey. Then again, maybe not.)

If you like Ina Garten’s Honey Vanilla Pound Cake, you love my Mother’s Loaf Cake!

Ina Garten's Honey Vanilla Pound Cake

Ina Garten's Honey Vanilla Pound Cake

Yield: 8 -10 slices
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 50 minutes
Inactive Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour 20 minutes

Tasty, solid pound cake with a light lemony-honey flavor.  Recipe is originally from Ina Garten - Food Network.

Ingredients

  • 2 sticks butter, softened to cool room temperature
  • 1 1/4 C sugar
  • 4 eggs, room temperature
  • 2 tbsp honey
  • 2 tsp vanilla
  • 1 tsp lemon zest
  • 2 C cake flour
  • 1 tsp kosher salt (or 3/4 tsp regular salt)
  • 1/2 tsp baking powder

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 350°.  Butter and flour a 8 1/2 x 4 1/2 x 2 1/2" loaf pan and line bottom with parchment paper.
  2. Cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy, scraping down mixing bowl a couple of times during mixing.
  3. Put the eggs into a small bowl, along with the honey, vanilla, and lemon zest.  Pour egg mixture in one egg at a time, thoroughly combining between each addition.
  4. Sift together the cake flour, salt and baking powder.  Put mixer on low and add 1/2 cup at a time.  Mix just long enough until flour is incorporated (don't over mix).  Remove bowl from mixer and gently fold batter, making sure there are no dry ingredients sitting on the bottom of the bowl.
  5. Pour batter into the prepared loaf pan and bake for 40-50 minutes, checking with a toothpick at 40 minutes.  It may not be done at that time and if not, tent aluminum foil over the loaf so it won't brown too much and check cake every five minutes after that.  Don't over bake!
  6. Cool in pan for about 15 minutes.  Gently run a knife around the edges of the cake to loosen, then turn out onto a rack to cool.  
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 10 Serving Size: 1 slice
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 402Total Fat: 20gSaturated Fat: 12gTrans Fat: 1gUnsaturated Fat: 7gCholesterol: 123mgSodium: 432mgCarbohydrates: 50gFiber: 1gSugar: 29gProtein: 5g

Nutrition Values are Approximate

© Ina Garten
Category: Cakes

Filed Under: All Recipes, Breads/Muffins, Cakes Tagged With: honey cake, Ina Garten, lemon cake, loaf cake, pound cake

Primary Sidebar

Follow Me!

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • StumbleUpon

Welcome!  I’m Susan and I love finding wonderful new recipes.  I hope you’ll find a few new ones here that you and your family will love. Browse around and stay a while!Save

Save

Can’t Find What You’re Looking for?

Most Popular Posts

  • Soft Cinnamon Roll Cookies
  • Blueberry Lemon Ricotta Tea Cake Blueberry Lemon Ricotta Tea Cake (The Cake Slice Bakers)
  • Creamy Great Northern Beans with Ham
  • Light Chicken Parmesan Crock-Pot Chicken Parmesan (A Lighter Version of the Classic)
  • Hamburger Cauliflower Soup Hearty Hamburger Cauliflower Soup
Get new recipes by email:
Powered by follow.it
my foodgawker gallery
Copyright © 2022 · Design by Deluxe Designs