What's the Difference Between and Lemming and a Lemon?

One is a small mouse like rodent that lives in the tundra (and are mistakenly believed to commit mass suicide when their population gets too big by running off cliffs, thus the birth of "don't be a lemming"), and one is a delicious fruit!

Ok, I'm really grasping at straws here for a beginning to this blog post. This may not be my best segue ever, but I'm doing it anyway.

I've been loving lemons lately. So when I saw a recipe for Citrus and Olive Oil Cake I knew I had to try it!

Something went a little wrong when I made this cake. I'm not quite sure what it was? I may have not beaten the sugar and eggs enough, or I may have put a little too much baking powder in. All I know is my bundt cake did not "rise" to the occasion...but thankfully I didn't mess it up enough for it to taste bad. It actually tastes really good.

Citrus and Olive Oil Cake


You will need:

• 1 tbsp butter
• 3 cups plus 2 tbsp all purpose flour
• 4 eggs
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/4 tsp lemon zest
• 3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 2/3 cup milk
• 3 tbsp citrus flavored liqueur
• 1 tbsp baking powder
• 1 1/2 cups confectioners sugar
• about 2 tbsp fresh squeezed lemon juice

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Coat pan with butter and then flour, tapping out any excess. Set prepared pan aside.

Beat eggs and sugar together in a large mixing bowl, on medium high speed, until pale yellow, about 1 minute. Add remaining 3 cups of flour, zest, milk, olive oil and liqueur and mix with a wooden spoon until combined. Add baking powder and stir in.

Pour the batter into the bundt pan, smoothing out the top. Bake in oven for about 40 minutes, or until a wooden skewer comes out clean. Transfer the cake to a wire rack to cool completely, in it's pan.

Mix together confectioners sugar and  lemon juice until it's a good glaze consistency. Pour over the top of the cake after it has cooled.

Cut yourself a slice of cake, pour yourself a glass of milk and enjoy:).

Source: slightly adapted from Around the Table

An Old Standby

This is one of those desserts that I know I can throw together last minute to take to a party or to dinner at a friends house. It doesn't require much time, great skill, or numerous ingredients and is relatively inexpensive. You would never know it by the taste or presentation, which is what makes it so awesome!

I usually make it with just a whipped cream frosting, but this time I wanted to give it a little something extra so I made a mascarpone-whipped cream frosting. If you want to cut down on the cost (and calories), you can omit the cheese. It can be pricey, but I find that it's on sale a lot.

Mascarpone Whipped Cream Frosting


You will need:

• 1 1/2 cups heavy cream
• 1-8 oz container mascarpone cheese, softened
• 1/4 cup confectioners sugar
• 1 tsp lemon zest
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Whip cream and confectioners sugar until soft peaks form. Add vanilla, zest and cheese and whip until stiff.

See, I told you this is easy.

I always buy an angel food cake premade at the store, it's just easier that way (we're going for easy here people). But if you're feeling special you can make one yourself. Otherwise, just run a knife along the outside of the cake and around the inside hole and turn over onto a plate. Use a serrated knife to cut into two layers. Spread a layer of cream in the middle and line with thinly sliced strawberries. Place the top half on it.

Use an offset spatula to frost the edges and top of the cake. Pipe a border on the top and bottom if you'd like and decorate with fresh strawberries, raspberries and blackberries (you can really use any berries you'd like). Garnish with some lemon curls.

No matter the time of year, it's always summer when you serve this cake :).

There's Just Something About Bundt Pans

That something being, they are awesome. Don't believe me? Check it out!

See, I told you:). If I had kids I would be in so much trouble, I would buy so many bundt pans haha (that would actually be the least of my problems I'm sure). You can find all those and more here.

I used the Pro Cast Original Bundt Pan.

Fresh Apple Bundt Cake

You will need:

• 1 1/2 cup canola oil
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 3 eggs
• 3 cups flour
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp soda
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 1 cup chopped pecans (I omitted these)
• 4 cups chopped apples

Peel, core and chop 2-3 medium sized apples. Combine oil, sugars, eggs and vanilla in a bowl and mix well.

Sift flour, salt, soda, cinnamon and nutmeg on to parchment paper or into a bowl. Gradually add into egg mixture. The batter will be pretty thick, don't be alarmed :).

Add nuts and apples and mix well. Pour into a greased 10 cup bundt pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour, or until a toothpick comes out clean. The cake will be very moist so be careful trying to flip it onto a cooling rack. Mine may, or may not have broke in two because the pan slipped out of my hand...it all goes to the same place though, right?! (Don't worry, it landed on the counter, not the floor!)

 Because of the minor mishap with the cake I didn't get a picture of the whole thing, but it still looks good by the slice :).

Source: http://www.cooks.com/rec/view/0,196,155165-237198,00.html

"If You Like Pina Coladas, And Getting Caught In the Rain"

Oh Jimmy Buffet.....

First off, I HATE that song.

Secondly, I've never actually had a pina colada.

Third, I used to hate coconut, until I worked at Butterwoods.

Pina Colada Cake


You will need:

• White Cake (Use a box mix, or make it. Don't matter none to me.)
• White Frosting (2 cans or make it)
• 1/2 pint Heavy Cream plus 1 tbsp confectioners sugar
• 2  1/2 cups sweetened flaked coconut
• 1 1/4 tsp Coconut Extract
• 1 can Crushed Pineapple (well drained)
• Rum 

I used a boxed cake mix for the white cake. Work these days has been long and hard. Wait, why am I trying to justify this? There's nothing wrong with a box cake!

Once they are cooled use a serrated knife or cake leveler to level off the top of the cakes(then eat it!). They don't have to be perfect, you just don't want a mound on top.

Whip up your cream and confectioners sugar. After it is whipped add the coconut extract. You can add less or more according to your taste.

It was at this point that Matt woke up abruptly and said. "Allison!!! Was there an earthquake?" to which I replied, "What???" He said, "There was an earthquake!" I said, "Did you feel one?" He said, "Yea...I felt it." Then he zonked out again. I'll have to watch the news today, but I felt no earthquake.

To toast the coconut, lay a sheet of parchment paper on a baking sheet and spread the coconut flakes out evenly. Heat your oven to 350 degrees (or just leave it on from the cakes). Toast the flakes for 10-12 minutes. The outer edge flakes toast first so I sort of shifted them around after 8 minutes. Keep a close eye on these. They can go from perfectly toasted to burnt to a crisp in a matter of seconds.

They make your house smell sooo good:). Add about a quarter cup of the flakes to your whipped cream once they have cooled.

I put a dam around the bottom layer of cake to help hold the filling in. You can use a pastry bag or a ziplock and just put a ring of frosting around the edge.

I omitted the rum because this is for the Pioneer School lunch ahah. But you could just brush some on the cake before you spread the pineapple on top. I used maybe a third of a cup of the crushed pineapple for a bottom layer. Then spread a layer of the coconut whipped cream on top of that.

Don't make it to high or else the top layer will slide around or the filling will ooze out the sides.

Place the top layer top side down on the bottom layer.

Use an offset spatula to frost the cake. I think it's easiest to use the top side of the spatula to frost the sides. Make sure you fill in any gaps between the two layers. Work your way around the cake holding the spatula at a 90 degree angle. Make sure the frosting goes a little higher then the top of the cake.

Put a big blob of frosting on top and I use the bottom side of the spatula to work my way from the center and spread out to the sides, spinning it as I go.

Meet the edge and close the gap between the top frosting and the sides.

Use the bottom side of your spatula (holding it evenly) and go from the edge, grab the lip of frosting and pull in over the top, scraping off excess frosting. Go back around the sides, evening them out and over the top again if you have to. The nice thing about this cake is that it doesn't have to look perfect because it's all getting covered in the coconut!

Hold the cake over the bowl of toasted coconut, take a handful and press it onto the sides of the cake. Brush off extra as you go. Once the sides are done, cover the top. Go back around and cover up any missed/thin spots. This is messy. But just look at the result! oooo-aaaaa:)

I had enough frosting left over for a bottom border so I used a large star tip and just did a scallop border.

Yummy!!

***EDIT***

So there was a 5.9 earthquake this afternoon centered near Richmond VA...Matt was right I guess hahah.