Lemon Doberge Cake

Hi Megs.

This weekend I wanted to try something really pretty, so I decided to make a Doberge cake (pronounced doh-bash), which is a really popular cake in New Orleans. It usually has 6 thin layers, and the most common flavors are chocolate, caramel, and lemon. My choice was obvious. You know I'm a lemon fiend.

Everything was proceeding as planned. Then, while putting the cake in the fridge to set the layers and the filling, I dropped it. Oops. Oh well, it still tasted really good. When am I going to figure out how to make stuff that looks as pretty as it tastes?

LEMON DOBERGE CAKE

Lemon filling:
3 c sugar
3 T flour
juice and rind of 6 lemons
3 eggs, beaten
1 c water
3 T butter

Mix ingredients well and cook over medium heat, stirring periodically until mixture thickens to a custard/jelly. Chill completely.

Cake:
1 c softened butter
2 c sugar
4 eggs, separated
2 3/4 c flour
1/4 t salt
3 t baking powder
1 c milk
1 t vanilla

Preheat oven to 375. Butter 9 inch cake pans and line with wax or parchment paper. Cream butter and sugar. Add egg yolks one at a time, mixing thoroughly. Add sifted dry ingredients, alternating with milk. Add vanilla. Fold in stiffly beaten egg whites. Put 3/4 c of batter in each pan, and bake for 10 to 12 minutes. Repeat until all the batter is used.

Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting:
8 oz softened cream cheese
1 lb (1 box) powdered sugar
zest and juice of 1 lemon
1 t vanilla

Assemble cake by spreading generous layer of cooled lemon filling between each cake layer but not on top of the last layer. Frost top and sides with cream cheese icing. Do not drop.

Coconut Cake

Dear Megs,

My mom's birthday is this week! We had dinner over there on Alex's parents' last night here (they visited for a week) and I decided to turn it into a little b-day celebration for my mom, even though she cooked dinner.

The cake I made her may have the most gorgeous texture of any cake I have ever tasted. Moist and soft, velvety. Lovely. The cake is not overwhelmingly coconutty, despite its name. I've seen it with pastry cream between the layers, and was going to make lemon curd to fill it with, but got lazy and used a lemon cake syrup instead. Next time, though, I'll really drench the layers with it instead of brushing it on with a pastry brush before icing: it was too subtle. This is another recipe from the ever-wonderful Cotton Country Collection, modified slightly by me.


Coconut Cake

Cake:
1 c butter
2 c sugar
4 eggs, separated
1 t vanilla
1/2 t almond extract
2 2/3 c cake flour
1 1/2 t baking powder
1/2 t salt
1/2 c coconut milk
1/2 c cream

Preheat oven to 350. Cream the shit out of the butter and sugar - this means it should be ALMOST WHITE when you start adding egg yolks one at a time. Add the vanilla and almond. Sift cake flour, measure, and sift again with other dry ingredients. Beat into butter mixture, alternating with the milk/coco milk. Beat egg whites stiff and fold into batter. Bake in 3 greased 9 inch layer pans for 30 minutes. Cool on racks, remove from pans when nearly cool.

Lemon syrup:
1/2 c sugar
1/4 c water
juice of 1 lemon
zest of 1 lemon
1 t vanilla

Boil sugar, water, and lemon juice until sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat and stir in zest and vanilla. Brush cake layers with cooled or slightly warm syrup.

Icing:
2 egg whites
1 1/2 c sugar
5 T cold water
pinch cream of tartar
1 1/2 t white Karo
1 t vanilla
grated unsweetened coconut

Combine all ingredients except for the vanilla and coconut in the top of a double boiler (or in a stainless mixing bowl, if you're me). Blend, then set onto the bottom of the double boiler (or saucepan, if you're me) in which water is already boiling. Beat mixture vigorously for 6-8 minutes. Remove from heat and add vanilla. Assemble cake, icing between layers. Icing will get progressively gooier. Ice the outside of cake and sprinkle with coconut. You *can* use sweetened coco flakes if you want, but these boiled icings are very sweet already, and the unsweetened adds a rich earthy flavor that manufacturers have somehow managed to pound out of sweetened coconut.

Lemon "Funfetti-will-I-get-sued-for-this?" Cupcakes

Hi Megs.

So, I forgot to take pics of these what with all the kiddo-birthday-craziness. But they were really excellent. Usually I don't care too much for Martha's cupcake recipes (sorry, Martha!), because they are super SUPER rich and sort of seem to me to defeat the very purpose of cupcakes...light and moist, springy like cake, *never* heavy...because there's so much butter and so many eggs in each recipe. Her cupcakes are like a heart attack in a paper cup. And you taste that in each bite.

Then I found this useful tip on Our Best Bites blog (Kate is her name?), where she reminds you that if you are going to put this much friggin' butter in a cupcake, you have to beat the everloving crap out of it. That is to say, cream butter and sugar until your arm is numb and the resulting mixture looks like marshmallow fluff. It worked! The cupcakes were decadent but light, super moist - and they STAYED moist for days. Thanks, Kate.

Then, because the kids wanted "Funfetti," I dumped a thing of ice cream sprinkles into the batter before baking. They melt in the oven and the resulting cuteness is just what kids want. I made the buttercream frosting Kate lists - but I put in only one stick of butter. I hate when a frosting is so rich that biting into it makes your spine tingle.

Sorry, no pics. Will bake something marvelous soon and overphotograph it to compensate.

Love,

Linz