Recipes

Lemon and Raspberry Cake

This has been my favorite cake so far. It is a nice cake for the spring/summer months. If you don't have time to make the filling and want an easier way, strain raspberry preserves to remove the seeds. I think it's very good as well. You be the judge! Enjoy!

Lemon Cake
Nonstick cooking spray
1 1/2 cups + 2 Tbsp granulated sugar
Zest of one lemon
2 1/4 cups cake flour, plus more for dusting the pans
1 cup + 2 tablespoons whole milk, at room temperature
6 large egg whites (3/4 cup), at room temperature
2 tsp almond extract
1 tsp vanilla extract
4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp table salt
2 Tbsp unsalted butter (1 1/2 sticks), softened but still cool

Set oven rack in middle position. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Spray two (8) or 9-inch round cake pans with nonstick cooking spray; line the bottoms with parchment or waxed paper rounds. Spray the paper rounds, dust the pans with flour, and invert pans and rap sharply to remove excess flour.

Pour milk, egg whites, and extracts into 2-cup glass measure, and mix with fork until blended.

Put the sugar and lemon zest in a mixer bowl and rub them together with your fingers until the sugar is moist and fragrant. Add cake flour, baking powder, and salt to mixer bowl and mix at slow speed. Add butter; continue beating at slow speed until mixture resembles moist crumbs, with no powdery streaks remaining.

Add all but 1/2 cup of milk mixture to crumbs and beat at medium speed for 1 1/2 minutes. Add remaining 1/2 cup of milk mixture and beat 30 seconds more. Stop mixer and scrape sides of bowl. Return mixer to medium speed and beat 20 seconds longer.

Divide batter evenly between two prepared cake pans; using rubber spatula, spread batter to pan walls and smooth tops. Arrange pans at least 3 inches from the oven walls and 3 inches apart. Bake until thin skewer or toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, 23 to 25 minutes.

Let cakes rest in pans for 3 minutes. Loosen from sides of pans with a knife, if necessary, and invert onto wire racks. Flip them again onto additional wire racks. Let cool completely, about 1 1/2 hours.

Raspberry Filling

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter

Two 1/2-pints ripe raspberries or one 12-ounce package frozen raspberries, thawed

5 large egg yolks, lightly beaten

3/4 cup sugar

Pinch of salt

2 to 3 tsp fresh lemon juice

Melt the butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the raspberries, egg yolks, sugar, and salt and cook, mashing the berries and stirring frequently at first and them constantly at the end, until thickened, about 10 minutes.

Pour the mixture through a coarse strainer set over a bowl, pressing hard on the solids to extract as much liquid as possible. Cool to room temperature; the curd will continue to thicken as it cools. Stir in lemon juice to taste. Refrigerate, cover, until ready to serve, or for up to 1 month.

Best Chocolate Cake!


I have had great success with this recipe!


Ingredients:

1 box devil’s food cake mix
1 small box Jello instant chocolate pudding mix (not the sugar or fat free kind!)
1 cup sour cream
1 cup vegetable oil
4 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup milk
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
2 cups mini semisweet chocolate chips

All you do is dump everything except the chocolate chips into a very large bowl– A 4 qt bowl is good, but one of those 8 cup mixing bowls is too small! — then mix well with a beater. The batter will be thick!

Then take your 2 cups of chocolate chips and stir them in.

Now, pour your batter into your cake pan of choice. Okay, it doesn’t really pour. It’s very thick. “Scoop” your batter into your cake pan of choice.

I like to bake my cakes in two, 8-inch cake pans. But you could really use this batter to make any kind of cake- sheet cake, cupcakes, bunt cake, etc. It tells you the cooking times for specific cakes on the back of the cake mix box. I use that as a guide. Usually I need to add about 10 mins to whatever they say. I usually end up baking my two, 8-inch cake pans for 45 mins. You definitely don’t want to over bake or it won’t be moist! :) Do the toothpick check, but remember, you may get some of the chocolate from the melted chips on your toothpick so don’t let that fool you.


If it springs back you are good!