Lemon Layer Cake

It's pretty frustrating when you know you want to make a cake, but the recipes out there are all for a different kind of cake. When you search for lemon cake recipes, you'll inevitably come up with a ton of pound cakes, loaf cakes, sheet cakes, icebox cakes, gooey bars, and even a cocktail or two. The layer cakes I found were generally referred to in the comments as "dense" and that wasn't something I wanted either. However, as usual, I waited until the day before and didn't have time to experiment. That being said, I found a recipe that looked like it would take the minimum amount of tweaking and ran with it.

My source's source called the (now twice altered) recipe a "Robert E. Lee Cake." I'm not sure why. As an historian it interests me, though you might think it's silly. Did he have a particular predilection for lemons? Perhaps it was a Yankee slur in regards to the cake's color. Either way, it's pretty delicious! I'll probably post another version at some point and call it a "Southern Lady Cake" because I want to make it a chiffon and perhaps add another fruit (coconut, maybe?) as well as Swiss meringue for the frosting.

Ingredients:

1 cup unsalted butter
2 cups sugar
1 large lemon
4 large eggs
2 3/4 cups all purpose flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 can lemon pie filling
frosting of choice

Directions:

Bring butter, eggs, lemon, and buttermilk to room temperature.

Preheat oven to 350F. Grease and flour three 9-inch round cake pans.

In a large bowl, sift and whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Zest the lemon and add into a mixer with butter and sugar. Cream the butter mixture. Add one egg at a time, beating until each is incorporated. Squeeze the lemon. In a small cup, mix together two (2) tablespoons of lemon juice, the vanilla, and the buttermilk.

Add 1/3 of the flour mixture.
Add 1/2 the buttermilk.
Add 1/2 the remaining flour mixture.
Add all of the remaining buttermilk.
Add all of the remaining flour mixture.

Remember to scrape down the bowl between each addition. Mix just until incorporated so that the cake doesn't get tough. Pour into the prepared pans. Spread the mixture evenly, then rap each pan on the counter several times to release any air bubbles.

Bake for about 25 minutes, or until the tops are golden brown and a cake tester comes out clean. You may need to rotate your pans a time or two throughout for even cooking. My new oven gets quite hot at the back and would have overcooked one of the layers if I hadn't been paying attention.

Place the layers in the freezer for 15-20 minutes, or until cool. Dollop half of the lemon filling onto the first layer and smooth it out the best you can, all the way to the edges. Place the second layer and repeat. Place the third layer on top and use part of the icing to create a crumb coat. Put the cake in the refrigerator for 15 minutes or so, just until the frosting begins to set up but is still tacky. Finish icing and decorating the cake. Put in a cake box or the like and store in the refrigerator until and hour or so before time to eat (to take the chill off).

I was running behind, so I used "whipped" buttercream frosting from a can for the outside. It was still delicious and very easy, but I'll be posting how to make both real lemon curd and, as previously mentioned, Swiss meringue icing, which would have been best (in my opinion) for the exterior.

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Ultra-Fudge Brownies

What better way to celebrate moving into a new house than by baking brownies? This is my super-special, ultra-fudge brownie recipe. Everyone tells me that my recipes are awesome, but this is my favorite. It's the most chocolatiest, yummiest, nummiest brownie you'll ever eat, but it's so rich that you'll probably only eat one. I put most of the ingredients together in layered jars for Christmas gifts in 2011, and they went over really well. At the bottom of the post I'll explain how.

You'll Need:

• 1 cup butter, unsalted
• 9 ounces dark chocolate
• 3 large eggs
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 cup white (caster) sugar
• 1/2 cup dark brown sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 cup cocoa powder

Preheat your oven to 350F. Grease a 9-inch by 13-inch pan. If you have a problem with baked goods sticking, dust the grease with a little bit of cocoa powder.

Whisk together the eggs, salt, both sugars, and vanilla. In a microwave safe bowl, melt chocolate and butter on medium power. Check every 30 seconds. Stir until smooth. Alternatively, you can use a bain-marie (double boiler), but this is faster. Once the chocolate is smooth, slowly add it to the egg mixture, whisking constantly. Be careful not to let the heat of the chocolate turn everything into scrambled eggs! Dust in the cocoa powder and continue stirring. Do the same with the flour until fully incorporated. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and beat against a solid surface to release air bubbles and settle brownie mix. Bake for 35 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.

To make this into a gift, first procure a 1-quart mason jar and a pretty square of fabric that is at least 2 inches longer in each direction than the diameter of your lid. Into the CLEAN jar, carefully spoon the flour. On top of that -- in order -- spoon: Cocoa powder, white sugar, and brown sugar. Pack everything down as needed between layers. Drizzle the vanilla on top of the brown sugar. If you have room (I didn't) put the chocolate on top of that and seal the jar with the fabric trapped between the lid and the rim. If you don't have room for the chocolate, wrap it tightly in saran wrap and then place it in a pretty mesh or organza bag that can hang from the neck of the jar. Include instructions that specify the need for eggs and butter.

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DOWNLOAD THE GIFT CARD!

Print the recipe card on a 4" x 6" unlined index card. Print the gift card double-sided on a 3" x 5" unlined index card. Or use pretty cardstock of similar dimensions.

Air Conditioning Woes

I've always maintained that Alabama was meant for plants, not people. Between the rain, the heat, and the bugs there's no way man was intended to live here.

Yesterday our air conditioner broke. Yes, our brand new, two week old air conditioner.

In the morning we noticed it was a little warm, but we keep the thermostat high to save power. However, when I was in the kitchen I could feel that there was hardly any air coming out of the vent. With a little investigation we discovered that the last three vents on the duct line were not blowing even though the registers were wide open.

At first we assumed that meant something was knocked loose under the house. After all, the first five vents were working fine. We turned on a few fans to compensate and figured I'd make a warranty call in the morning. But as the day went on it became painfully obvious that something was wrong with the air conditioner itself. The house was getting hotter despite our best efforts. John stuck his fermentation thermometer over a working vent. Even blowing as hard as it could the air was reading at 87F degrees, the same temperature as outside. This trend continued into the night, which is the only thing that made it bearable in that the external temp dropped to 72F. Running constantly, the A/C unit and available registers were able to cool the whole house to 78F by 6AM. Of course, it was back to 82 by 10AM.

As soon as was seemly, I called the company we bought the house from to see what they'd do and how fast. I know they're sick of hearing from me about all the million little things that I think aren't being done fast enough or aren't being done right, but I assure you that it isn't nearly as sick as I am of calling them. Don't get me wrong. They're great people who bent over backwards to help us get a nice home at an affordable price, but my socialization skills and patience are wearing thin.

By 11:30AM they'd sent out a heating and cooling guy. Turns out, there wasn't enough Freon in the system. He said it's pretty rare, like getting a half-charged battery in a pack, but that sometimes they systems that come pre-put-together for homes like ours don't get the "charge" they need before leaving the factory. He checked everywhere inside and out for leaks just to make sure and topped us off.

As far as the vents went, he said he saw some ice collecting, and that because of the way the ducts have to bend under the house, if a clump of ice was blocking it it would cut off the air flow. I was a little incredulous as to how ice could get in our ducts on a 90 degree day, but apparently it's a legitimate thing. The coils freeze up, condensation builds up in the duct bend, that freezes up, and before you know it the whole thing stops working. He fixed it, though. By noon the ice was beginning to melt, the air pressure was slowly but surely increasing and the cats were much, MUCH happier.

The gentleman that came out was kind enough to take me around and show me what all the pipes do and how to tell if it's freezing up again. I like learning all this stuff about our house. I may not can fix it, but at least I can tell someone what's wrong next time!

Brown Butter Banana Bread

My mother had some bananas she'd forgotten about and was about to throw them out. They were black, and the skin gave just by the pressure of holding them. The aroma coming off of them was so banana it was almost artificial. But in the back of my mind I remembered something Alton Brown said once. He talked about how for banana nut bread you needed very, VERY ripe bananas -- basically anything short of fuzzy. I snatched them up and toted them home with me.

And then they sat on my counter for another three days as I insisted I was going to make bread. I think by yesterday even my stalwart John was becoming skeptical they'd end up as anything but garbage.

But today, fighting a broken A/C, waiting on the trim man again, unpacking more boxes, I stopped and said, "I am going to make that bread."

((You may also hear me refer to this as Minion Bread because I'm slightly obsessed with Despicable Me. I'm so excited: They're making a Minions Movie for release next Christmas!!))

Ingredients:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 large eggs
• 1 stick unsalted butter
• 1 cup sugar
• 4 overripe bananas
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 cup chopped nuts

Directions:

Set the eggs out on the counter and preheat the oven to 350F. Grease and flour a loaf pan.

In a small saucepan, melt butter over medium high heat. Once completely melted, stir gently but constantly until foam begins to turn a deeper golden-tan color but not actually brown. Remove from heat and pour into a bowl to stop the cooking process. I'm sorry I didn't get any pictures of this part, but a fabulous explanation of the process can be found HERE. Allow the butter to cool.

Mash the bananas and the sugar together until almost a liquid.

Crack the eggs into the cooled butter and whisk together with salt and vanilla extract.

Whisk the butter mixture into the sugar-banana goop. Sift together the flour and baking powder. Add it to the wet ingredients, taking care not to over beat.

Fold in the nuts if you want them. You could put up to a full cup, though I usually prefer half a cup. Any type of nut is fine, though walnut is more traditional. Since this is usually a spur of the moment bread for me, I end up using sliced almonds a lot because I always have those on hand. Chopped pecans are great, too.

Pour the batter into the loaf pan and bake for 50-60 minutes, or until a cake tester comes out (mostly) clean. Remove from the oven and allow to cool for 15 minutes before removing and allowing to cool on a cookie rack.

If you wanted to get even fancier than browned butter, replace the vanilla extract with the scraped out seeds and insides of a vanilla bean. For a nuttier flavor without the nuts, try replacing 1/2 the flour with whole wheat flour.

To download the 4x6 recipe card, CLICK HERE.

French Toast Casserole

Ingredients:

• 10 slices bread
• 8 large eggs
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/8 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350F.

Cut or tear bread into small pieces. I cut mine into nine equal cubes. I also used old, stale bread. This is the perfect way to use it up before it gets rock hard or moldy. Grease a casserole dish and toss the bread pieces in. As you can see from the picture I made two casseroles, one to eat and one to freeze.

In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, sugar and cinnamon. Whisk well to break up any clumps in the cinnamon and to break up the albumin of the eggs.

Pour egg mixture evenly over bread. Gently mix bread to completely coat in the mixture.

Cover dish with aluminum foil and bake for 30 minutes. Uncover and bake for an additional 20-30 minutes, until bread has risen and egg mixture is fully cooked.

Makes 5-6 servings.

To download the 4x6 recipe card, CLICK HERE.

Welcome Home

It's been a busy few weeks. Heck, it's been a busy few months. August is here and we're very nearly completely moved in. I'm still decorating, of course. And most of the furniture for the man cave hasn't made its way over yet since John's hand is stitched up. He's out of commission when it comes to furniture for another month. However, we are living here full time and have even been entertaining guests.

The project for today really completed things. Apparently the postmaster had a word with my dad about the fact that we still didn't have our mailbox up. Oops. So, that's what we did this morning. Many thanks to John's dad for digging through all that gravel! We weren't overly sure what the regulations were, so we haven't cemented it into place just yet. Once we're sure this is where it's going to stay, we'll make it more permanent and I'll plant some lovely climbing flowers around the base. Suggestions for plants are welcome in the comments section.

Speaking of plants, I also intend to plant a river birch between the front door and the master bedroom windows, opposite the cedar tree. My hope is that, much like at my parents house, the tree will quickly shoot up and shade the front porch. Our house faces west and in the evenings the front door becomes burning-hot -- not something pleasant to come home to. I'm doubly excited because river birches are one of my favorite types of trees. Much better than pine trees. :-)