Glazed Strawberry Lemon Cake

It's summer and I've been craving bright, fresh, crisp flavors. Citrus and berries always remind me of warm days. What do you have planned for your summer? One new project I would like to tackle this summer is a garden. My grandmother always kept a garden when I was growing up and always had fresh fruit and vegetables around. I'd love to have one just like hers someday but I'm going to have to start on a smaller scale. The other half and I have been going to the farmer's market so regularly that it would be great to have a few staples just outside, ripe for the picking. Tomatoes here, basil there, and maybe even some onions, it would be great. One summer thing I can never seem to prepare for is swimsuit season. Yuck! I think I would like to get rid of that along with Valentine's Day. I think they are both designed to make you feel inadequate and disappointed. So hopefully the fruit and vegetables would aid in preparing for that. Are you getting what I'm saying people? This cake has fruit in it...therefore it is helping you...at least that is what I tell myself. Be good to yourself and make this cake.

Glazed Strawberry Lemon Cake

Cake

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

2 cups sugar

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, room temperature

Zest and juice of 1 lemon

2 eggs, room temperature

1 (8oz) container sour cream, room temperature

1 tbsp Lorann Professional Kitchen - Lemon Bakery Emulsion (I use Lorann Bakery Emulsions, which I love, but any lemon extract would work here also)

3/4 cup strawberry puree

Directions:

1. First quarter a pint of strawberries and puree them in a food processor.

2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and prepare bundt pan. (You can grease and flour your bundt pan, but I have been using Bak-klene ZT which I got at Williams-Sonoma. The best no-stick bakery spray I have ever used. Helps save your bakeware because it doesn’t leave a sticky residue.)

3. In a medium bowl whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.

4. I the bowl of a stand mixer, fitted with a paddle attachment, cream together butter, sugar, and lemon zest. Add eggs one at a time, beating after each one until incorporated. Mix in Lorann Lemon Emulsion and sour cream.

5. Add flour mixture a little at a time until flour is combined. (I did it in three batches)

6. Stir in strawberry puree.

7. Pour batter into prepared pan and bake for 45-55 minutes. Until a cake tester or a toothpick comes out clean. Let cool in pan for 10 minutes before turning out on cooling rack to cool completely.

Glaze

Ingredients:

2 cups powdered sugar

2 tbsp strawberry puree

1 tbsp + 2 tsp lemon juice

Directions:

1. Combine all ingredients into a medium bowl and whisk until smooth.

2. Drizzle glaze over cooled cake.

Strawberry Cheesecake

I received a request at work to make a strawberry cheesecake. I found this beautiful cheesecake on a fellow blog, and it looked gorgeous. This little recipe did end up giving me some trouble though. First of all I had to convert it from grams, which was a first for me so I was a little worried about the outcome. Then when it came to the technique of swirling the colors, well let’s just say my technique was a little lacking. It was swirled inside, but not on top so it ended up looking totally different than the one I was trying to recreate. Now to be honest this wasn’t my favorite cheesecake, but strawberry cheesecake is not my favorite and I’m a chocoholic and think that chocolate should always be involved with cheesecake. The coworkers did seem to enjoy it though.

Crust
Ingredients:
10 graham crackers
1 stick unsalted butter, melted
1/4 C superfine sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350F and wrap the outside of a 9in spring form pan three times with foil, making sure to alternate direction. Wrap it tightly as without tight foil barrier, water can seep through the pan.

Combine graham crackers, melted butter, sugar, and cinnamon in a food processor and pulse until it all mixed together well and moistened.

Press mixture into spring form pan. Make sure you pack it together solid so the cheesecake mixture doesn’t leak through to the bottom.

Cheesecake
Ingredients:
3 (8oz) packages cream cheese, room temperature
3/4 C superfine sugar
3 large eggs
3 large egg yolks
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 tbsp lemon juice
16oz bag frozen strawberries, thawed and drained (of course you can use fresh here if you’d like)
3 drops red food coloring

Directions:
Place 2 1/2 blocks of cream cheese in a food processor along with the lemon juice, vanilla and sugar and process till the mixture is completely smooth. Scrape down the sides, add the eggs and egg yolks then process again till smooth and well combined.

Remove about 2/3 of the cheesecake mixture and set aside, then add the berries, remaining 1/2 block of cream cheese and food dye to the 1/3 cheesecake mixture remaining in the processor and blitz till the berries are smoothly incorporated. The food dye is optional, but will help make the layers more striking once baked.

Pour the white and strawberry cheesecake mixtures into the pan, alternating flavors and trying to keep each addition fairly even. Once all the mixture has been added, drag a skewer from the edges to the middle to make a pattern. At this stage, you can also add a little natural strawberry preserve or roasted strawberries to be found as little surprises in each slice.

Bake the cheesecake for 45 minutes – 1 hour, or till the top of the cheesecake feels set to the touch. (I baked mine for 45 minutes and checked it and it felt set, but it was a little too soft when I served it the next day, it should have baked a little while longer) Once the cake is baked, chill overnight in the fridge to allow it to set completely, then slice and serve.

Recipe by the Kitchen Wench (Re-printed and converted with a few changes)

Cake – Part Deux

Happy Tuesday Ya’ll! (I say “ya’ll” because I live in Texas and say it all the time anyway, and also because once you see how much butter is in the following recipe you will think I’m Paula Dean.) Well I did another cake this weekend, a baby shower cake. It wasn't for anyone I know so of course I had to do a tester cupcake to try it out (quality control, you know). I made a butter cake with strawberry filling and vanilla buttercream. I always make a double batch of the frosting, just in case. You never know when you might need a little extra, or are tempted to eat a spoonful. Is eating a peanut butter and buttercream sandwich a bad thing? The butter cake turned out great, really moist, and the strawberry filling complimented it well. The filling technique will work great for any type of fruit filling, not just strawberry. The other half actually ate the left over strawberry filling with all the cake scraps from leveling mixed in, like cereal with a bowl and spoon. I’m assuming his muffled “mmm hmmm” is his stamp of approval. 

Summer Berry Cobbler

Hope everyone had a safe and happy 4th of July. I had a great holiday weekend, but it just wasn’t the same without fireworks. Here in Texas all fireworks were banned due to the fire danger. So we had to settle for great food. Hopefully this Summer Berry Cobbler will provide fireworks…in your mouth. :) I ended up taking this beautiful cobbler full of fresh berries made with blueberry scone dough along with homemade vanilla bean ice cream, and refreshing white sangria to our gathering. This cobbler would fit in great with a summer BBQ or just a relaxing meal at home. Berries are everywhere right now, and you can find a variety at your local farmer’s market, so throw in what you like or any kind of seasonal berry and enjoy.