Lemon Brunch Cake

I first posted this recipe about three years ago but I felt it was time to do a redux as this lemony cake would be a perfect addition to an Easter brunch.  Perfect for any occasion -  any time of year, actually!  The reason I say brunch cake is this cake has the dense texture of a 'muffin' - very moist and crumbly.

It also has the most luxurious lemon flavor as it is soaked in fresh lemon juice hot from the oven.  It stays amazingly moist 3-4 days after baking.  My husband keeps asking me when I'm going to make it again. He loves a slice after breakfast.

A shower of powdered sugar and some fresh berries is all it needs, and, perhaps a cup of tea or mimosa. I used my new Bavaria bundt pan from Nordic Ware.  I love their bake ware and that is a completely unsolicited comment! Given a good spritz of baking spray with flour, cakes always come out beautifully.

It's been a busy time here with more to come! We celebrated the 3rd birthday of our youngest grandson two weeks ago followed by my birthday this past week.  Next week, it will be my hubby's birthday, then Easter, followed by our oldest daughter's birthday a little over a week later.  Fun times!

My sweetheart took me to my favorite French restaurants for my birthday where I enjoy quail for the first time "Cailles Farcies avec Truffe Noire".  I felt like I was in my favorite foodie movie "Babette's Feast" :-)

Soon it will be April and even more reason to celebrate :)

Lemon Brunch Cake

Adapted from lke's Kitchen Printable Recipe Note:  If you use a bundt pan for this recipe, you will find that the batter only fills up the pan by about 1/2 way or so.  That's okay. This is a smaller (shorter) cake.  3 eggs Zest of 2 lemons 14 tablespoons (200 gr) unsalted butter (softened at room temperature) 1-1/4 cups (250 gr) granulated sugar 1 cup (125 gr) unbleached all-purpose flour 1 cup (125 gr) Bob's Red Mill Brown Rice Flour - or substitute corn starch 2 teaspoons baking powder Lemon juice from 2 lemons (about 1/2 cup). 4-5 tablespoons powdered sugar Grease and flour a 9-inch round cake pan or spray with baking spray with flour such as Baker's Joy brand. In a mixing bowl, beat the softened butter with lemon zest for about 30 seconds on medium speed. Add sugar, continue beating until combined. Add the eggs, one at a time and beat until combined. In a small bowl, combine the flour, rice flour and baking powder. Add the flour mixture and mix until it is incorporated and you have a smooth batter. Put the cake in a cold oven, then turn the oven on to 325 degrees. Bake for about one hour or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean (this will depend on the size of the pan you use to be sure to do a toothpick check at least 15 minutes earlier). When done, place a cooling rack upside down over the top of the cake pan and carefully flip over using oven mitts. Place the cooling rack over a large, rimmed baking sheet. Add the lemon juice to the powdered sugar a little at a time so no lumps form and whisk together. Drizzle over the hot cake. Once the cake is cool, you can sprinkle with powdered sugar. Serve with fresh berries and enjoy! This cake keeps well, covered with plastic wrap for at least three days.

Shrimp Pad Thai and a Delicious Side Salad

Genes are funny things. A gene can be lurking in a parent who doesn't even know it's there and then, years later, a child finds out through a blood test that she's inherited one gene from each parent that has given her some gluten intolerance. That child would be my daughter and both my husband and I each gave her a gene that was recessive in us but in her...not so much. Thankfully, it's not a severe intolerance.  She had complained about some digestive issues ever since college and recently had a blood test done to find out what was causing it.
 

So why do I have a plate full of pasta pictured as I'm talking about gluten intolerence?  That's because it's not pasta at all but wide rice noodles. For all of you who have family members or friends who have a gluten intolerance and still want to serve them a delicious meal, this is a recipe that will satisfy everyone at the table.  It was pictured in a recent Williams Sonoma catalog and found on their website.

I served this Asian-style salad that I found on Food and Wine with our meal and also some roasted asparagus.  The dressing is slightly creamy and the toasted macadamia nuts and sesame seeds gave it a nice crunch.  The salad was supposed to include Enoki mushrooms but, since I couldn't find them, I substituted cucumber which gave the salad a nice refreshing flavor. 

The dinner was a wonderful combination of flavors! 

Shrimp Pad Thai

Adapted from Williams Sonoma
Printable Recipe

Serves 4

Wide Rice Noodles (found in the Asian aisle of your food store), 14-16 oz package

1 Tbs. canola oil
1 lb. (500 g) large shrimp, peeled and deveined (I used about a half pound more)
3 eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 cup Pad Thai noodle sauce, plus more, to taste (I used Annie Chun brand)
2 green onions, white and light green portions, sliced
2 carrots, peeled and julienned
1 cup (4 oz./125 g) bean sprouts

1/4 cup (1 oz./30 g) chopped unsalted roasted peanuts
Chopped cilantro leaves for garnish
Lime wedges for serving

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over high heat.

Meanwhile, in a very large nonstick sauté pan or wok over medium-high heat, warm the oil. Add the shrimp and stir-fry until opaque throughout, 2 to 3 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the shrimp to a bowl.

Add a little more oil to the same pan to heat and then add the eggs, stirring occasionally, until lightly set but still soft, about 1 minute. Transfer the eggs to the plate with the shrimp. Remove the pan from the heat.

Add the rice noodles to the boiling water and cook until barely al dente, 3-4 minutes. Drain the noodles thoroughly and transfer to the pan or wok.

Place the pan over medium heat and return the shrimp and eggs to the pan. Add the noodle sauce, green onions, carrots and the bean sprouts. Cook, using tongs to lift and toss the noodles constantly, until the ingredients are well blended and heated through, about 1-2 minutes Taste and add more noodle sauce if desired, tossing to combine.

Transfer the noodles to a platter or serve right from the pan.

Pass the chopped peanuts, extra cilantro leaves and lime wedges at the table.

Mixed Asian Salad with Macadamia Nuts

Adapted from Food and Wine
Printable Recipe

SERVINGS: 6

2 tablespoons mayonnaise
1 tablespoon rice vinegar
1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
1 tablespoon soy sauce
2 teaspoons honey
1 teaspoon finely grated fresh ginger root
1 teaspoon Asian sesame oil
1 large garlic clove, minced
1/2 teaspoon Sriracha chili sauce or other hot chili sauce (I used Cholula Chili Lime sauce)
1/4 cup vegetable oil
Salt and freshly ground pepper
1/2 cup macadamia nuts (3 ounces)
1 tablespoon sesame seeds
A clam shell of organic baby mixed greens - about 1/2 to 3/4 pound
1 large cucumber, seeded and sliced

In a blender, combine the mayonnaise, rice and white wine vinegars, soy sauce, honey, ginger, sesame oil, garlic and chili sauce and process to mix. With the machine on, blend in the vegetable oil in a thin stream. Scrape the dressing into a small bowl and season with salt and pepper.

In a medium skillet, cast iron preferably, toast the macadamia nuts over moderately low heat, shaking the skillet, until the nuts are a deep golden brown, 4 to 5 minutes. Transfer the nuts to a plate to cool. Add the sesame seeds to the skillet and toast until a deep golden brown, about 3 minutes. Transfer the sesame seeds to a plate to cool. Coarsely chop the macadamia nuts and mix with the toasted sesame seeds.

In a large salad bowl, toss the baby greens with the sliced cucumbers. Pour the dressing over the salad and toss well. Scatter the toasted macadamia nuts and sesame seeds all over the salad and toss briefly once more and serve.

Lemon Capri Torte

Simply put ~ I love lemon! But, shhhh, don't tell chocolate. 

Secondly, I'm a recipe-aholic.  I have a 588 megabytes of dessert recipes alone saved on my computer. My entire recipe folder contains over 2-1/2 gigabytes of recipes.  I will never make most of them.  But when the recipe has the word 'lemon' in it somehow it manages to surface...at some point.

At the end of summer we entertained some good friends for dinner.  The husband happens to be even more of a lemon-lover than I am, so I decided to try this Sophie Dahl recipe that had been lost in megabytes for over a year.  The verdict - Delicious! Of all the lemon tarts I've made over the years, my friend said he liked this lemon dessert the best because of the moist and dense cake texture.

Gluten free if you use the potato flour!

I served it with a dollop of lemon curd just to add to the lemon-y goodness.  You can find an easy recipe for homemade lemon curd made in the microwave here.

Once again, it's the end of the month and time to join Al Dente Gourmet's photography challenge for our Oh Happy Plates Group on Pinterest.  This month the challenge was citrus.  How perfect. 

Lemon Capri Torte

Adapted from Miss Dahl's Voluptuous Delights by Sophie Dahl
Printable Recipe

Sophie Dahl:  I got this recipe from a taxi driver in Sorrento who was big on cooking. He said his wife and daughters begged him not to cook because he left the kitchen in such a mess!

Serves 6

1-1/2 sticks of butter, plus extra for greasing
1 cup fine (bakers) sugar
6 eggs, separated
Zest and juice of four lemons
2 cups blanched almonds, toasted then ground to as fine a consistency as possible in food processor
1 cup potato flour (or substitute plain flour), plus more for dusting the pan

Preheat oven to 400°F

Grease and flour a 9 inch round cake tin or pan (preferably spring form).

Cream the sugar and butter together with a mixer until smooth.

Add the egg yolks, then lemon zest and juice and mix together.

In a separate bowl, whisk egg whites until they form soft peaks then add to the egg yolk mixture.

Fold in ground almonds and flour.

Pour mixture into prepared cake pan and bake for 10 minutes.

Turn oven 300°F and bake for another 40 minutes.

Remove, cool and invert onto a platter.

Torta Caprese with Lemon Mascarpone

As promised, I'm finally posting the dessert recipe from our gourmet group gathering that my husband and I hosted this summer! I know, it took me long enough, but I needed a reason to recreate it to get some good photos and having friends over for dessert after dinner out was the perfect occasion.

The recipe is from Rozanne Gold who writes for a food magazine called Real Food which I find at my local grocery store.  I bought the Summer 2012 issue when I was looking for recipes for our party.  Ms. Gold gives credit for her adaptation to Arthur Schwartz' cookbook "Naples at Table: Cooking in Campania".

This is a dense, dark chocolate cake made with almond flour that I made myself in a food processor with blanched almonds (which means it's gluten free!). Ms. Gold's added touch is a hint of espresso and almond extract to boost the chocolate flavor. The crowning glory is a dollop of lemony, whipped mascarpone cheese for a delightful contrast of flavors and textures.

Torta Caprese with Lemon Mascarpone 

Adapted from Roseanne Gold for Real Food magazine

Printable Recipe

Serves 10-12

2 sticks (16 tablespoons) unsalted butter
8 ounces bittersweet chocolate
12 ounces blanched almonds
6 extra-large eggs, separated
1 tablespoon espresso powder
¼ teaspoon almond extract
1 cup sugar

6 tablespoons confectioners’ sugar
12-14 ounces mascarpone*
1 very large lemon

*Note:  We doubled the mascarpone recipe for 10 people

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Place rack in bottom third of the oven. Using 1 tablespoon butter, butter bottom and sides of a 10-inch removable bottom cake pan. Line the bottom with a round of parchment paper and butter the paper.

Melt the remaining butter and chocolate in a heavy saucepan over low heat until melted and smooth, stirring often.

Process the almonds in two batches, each with 2 tablespoons sugar, until very fine and powdery. Transfer to a large bowl. Stir in espresso powder. Set aside.

Beat yolks until light and thick, about 3 minutes. Add ½ cup sugar and beat 2 minutes longer. Add the melted chocolate and the almond extract to the yolks. Stir well. Stir in the ground almonds until thoroughly mixed. Beat egg whites with a pinch of salt and ¼ cup remaining sugar until very stiff. Add beaten whites to the batter in 2 batches until incorporated. Pour batter into prepared pan.

Bake on a rack placed in the bottom third of the oven for 1 to 1-1/4 hours or until the cake is just firm. Cool and invert. Remove paper. Dust with 2 tablespoons confectioners sugar pushed through a sieve.

Lemon mascarpone: Beat mascarpone with 6 tablespoons confectioners sugar. Grate the lemon zest and add to mascarpone with 1 to 2 teaspoons lemon juice and a large pinch of salt. Refrigerate until about 1 hour before serving. Whip gently with a large fork and serve a large dollop with each slice of cake. (If the lemon mascarpone is too thick, you can add a teaspoon or so of milk or light cream and whip again.) 

Quinoa Pilaf and Gardening

Here is a delicious and healthy side dish that will go with almost anything.  I recently served it with grilled chicken and have also served it with grilled fish. Now that gardening season is here in the Midwest, I'm enjoying light and healthy meals that are easy to prepare.  I put my husband on grill duty and I prepare a simple side dish or salad. If I end up MIA for a week or two, just know that I am digging and planting :)

I really like the Ancient Harvest brand of quinoa that I find at my local grocery store because it is pre-washed and there is no rinsing necessary.  For those of you who have still not gotten on the quinoa bandwagon, this is a delicious and easy way to get your feet wet.  It was the first thing I tried making with quinoa. I love the chewy texture and nutty flavor! And, it is gluten free.

Quinoa Pilaf

Recipe adapted from Ancient Harvest Quinoa
Printable Recipe

Serves 4

1/2 cup carrots, diced
1/2 cup green onion, sliced thin using some of the green part
1/4 cup celery diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/3 cup fresh spinach, sliced very thin
4 cups cooked quinoa (cooked according to package instructions)
2 tablespoons butter or olive oil (or 1 tablespoon of each)
2/3 cup sliced almonds, lightly toasted
Season to taste with any of the following: Oregano, basil, salt and pepper

You may also add sliced green or red pepper.

In a large sauté pan, saute the vegetables in the butter/oil until crisp-tender. Add spinach and sauté until wilted. Add oregano or basil and stir briefly. Add the cooked quinoa to the sautéed vegetables and mix well until incorporated and heated throughout. Season, to taste, with salt and pepper. Add toasted almonds and serve.

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Now back to work in my garden!