Iced (Kinda) Lemon Poundcake

Apparently, you can get in a lot of trouble for copying trademark recipes from well-known chains. So for the sake of me not going to jail, we will call this *Shmarbuck's Iced Lemon Poundcake.

I used to work within walking distance from a *Shmarbuck's and love, love, loved their iced lemon poundcake. Now the closest *Shmarbuck's is 30 miles away! That has to be a crime, right? Most places have these coffee shops every 50 ft and on every corner but I digress. Anyway, I've been on a bit of a lemon kick lately so I figured I'd try to find a really-similar-but-not-the-same-because-then-I'd-be-arrested recipe. Unfortunately, it was no where near the same as *Shmarbuck's but fortunately, it was still awesome!

My favorite part of *Shmarbuck's is the dense icing the sits on top. Well, this "icing" just absorbed into the cake. BUT it made it incredibly moist and lemony. Its also much more light and airy. Also, the recipe lied and said it makes one loaf pan. Well, one overflowing loaf pan and a 8x8 cake pan later I realized it must have been a misprint. Next time, (and my husband is already begging me to make it again) I will use a 9x13 and I think it will be perfect.

Iced Lemon Poundcake

Source: Kitchenlink

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Ingredients:

1 cup butter, softened

1/4 cup vegetable oil

3 cups sugar

5 eggs

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup milk

1 teaspoon lemon extract

Lemon Glaze-

3/4 cup sugar

3/4 cup water

1/3 cup lemon juice

1 teaspoon grated lemon rind

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees F. Grease and flour a 9x13 pan.

2. Beat butter in a large bowl at medium speed of an electric hand-held mixer; gradually add oil, beating until well blended. Gradually add sugar, beating well. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add flour to creamed mixture alternately with milk, beginning and ending with flour. Mix just until blended after each addition. Stir in lemon extract.

3. Pour batter into a prepared pan. Bake at 300F for 1 hour and 30 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center of the cake comes out clean. Cool in pan on a wire rack for 15 minutes.

4. Lemon Glaze: Combine glaze ingredients, stirring until sugar dissolves. Spoon glaze over top, a little at a time. Let lemon pound cake cool completely.

*Name has been changed so I don't go to the Penn.

My First Layer Cake- A Photo Essay

I decided to venture into layer cake territory for my nephew's birthday. The following is a documentary of my trials and triumphs.


I used this recipe for chocolate cake with buttercream icing. I baked the cakes for around 33 minutes in two round cake cake pans. I allowed the cake to cool for about 20 minutes in their pans, then flipped them out on a cooling rack until completely cool.



I flipped the cake onto the pan with the rounded top face down and used a spatula to cover in icing.

Looks like a giant oreo! Or a whoppie pie! Have you ever had a whoopie pie? Please try one. Kthanxbai.


I learned from Barefoot Conmtessa that if you want your cake to be more casual keep the rounded side on top and flat side on top if you want it to look more formal. I went for a more formal look since what's more formal than an 11 year old's birthday?


Voila! Okay, these are the problems I had and would love some help from any experienced cake-icingers. I had the hardest time getting the edges covered. Everytime I ran the knife around them they were completely bare. I ended up just caking on some leftover icing at the end but I figured I was doing something wrong.

It also didn't turn out as pretty as I had hoped. But you know what?



It was gooooood.

Chocolate Cake with Buttercream Icing

My coworker Debbie always bakes all of us a cake for our birthdays. She always goes to great lengths to try to surprise us each year with a lit cake and office serenade. We each try to act surprised like we forgot that the same thing happened to each of us last year.

Anyway, she always makes this cake and it is always gone by the end of the day. I never thought I'd be making a cake from scratch but with this recipe its just as easy as those box cakes. The cake is incredibly moist and the buttercream is amazing! Not too sweet....just right.

Debbie's Chocolate Cake
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Ingredients-
3 cups flour
2 cups sugar
2 tsp salt
2 tsp baking soda
2/3 cup cocoa
1 cup oil
2 cups water
2 tbsp. vinegar (I used cider vinegar)
2 tsp vanilla

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Put all ingredients together and beat until smooth. Bake for 35-45 min. (until toothpick comes out clean)

Buttercream Icing

Ingredients-
1/2 cup solid vegetable shortening
1/2 cup butter or margarine
1 lb (4 cups) confectioner's sugar
2 tbsp. milk (or water)
1 tsp. vanilla

Directions-
1. Cream shortening and butter. Add sugar, milk, and vanilla.

2. Blend on medium until all ingredients all well mixed. Blend a minute or two more until creamy.

(If using a hand mixer and icing is not creamy, use high speed or add more liquid.Icing can be refridgerated in an air tight container for 2 weeks. Rewhip before using.)

Pineapple Upside-Down Cake

I haven't had pineapple upside down cake since I was a kid and my mom used to make it for us. I decided to make it for my Mother-in-Law's birthday dinner. It was incredibly easy and came out very moist. The original recipe was made in a cast iron skillet but since I don't own one I just used a 9x13 pan.

Pineapple Upside-Down Cake

Source- http://www.allrecipes.com/

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Ingredients-

1/2 cup butter
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
1 (20 ounce) can sliced pineapple
10 maraschino cherries
1 (18.25 ounce) package yellow cake mix

Directions-

1. Melt the butter over medium high heat. Remove from the heat and pour on the bottom of 9x13 pan. Spray the sides of the pan with cooking spray.

2. Sprinkle the brown sugar evenly to cover the butter in the bottom of the pan.

3. Next, arrange pineapple rings around the bottom of the pan, one layer deep. Place a maraschino cherry into the center of each pineapple ring.

4. Prepare the cake mix as directed by the manufacturer, substitute some of the pineapple juice for some of the liquid in the directions. Pour the batter over the pineapple layer.

5. Bake as directed by the cake mix directions. Cool for 10 minutes, then carefully turn out onto a plate. Do not let the cake cool too much or it will be stuck to the pan.