Lemon

On my birthday Ana gave me a cookbook called Cakes Galore by Valerie Barrett. It's a wonderfully little book that contains over 100 cake recipes which are categorized into different themes such as old favourites, kids cakes, desserts, and even "healthy"& special diet cakes. So far I've only made one cake from Cake Galore, the Dark Jamaican Ginger Cake, which was a huge hit among my family so I wanted to try out another cake and selected the Lemon & Ginger Cake. It seems that I have new love for ginger, since I have been baking a lot with it recently, but I was curious to try this recipe out and see how it turned out. To top the cake off I used a lemon glaze which I got from a food blogger also called Valerie @ pixie-baker.blogspot.com.

-Ann

Lemon & Ginger Cake

1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 1/4 cups (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened

1 cup superfine sugar (regular sugar will do)

3 eggs, beaten

3 tablespoons low fat milk

1/2 cup ground almonds*

1 teaspoon ground ginger (I added an extra 1/2 teaspoon)

2 tablespoon finely grated lemon zest

2 tablespoons finely shredded candied lemon peel (optional, I did not use the candied lemon peel)

*Ground almonds is another flour substitute for those who suffer from glutton allergies, since I am allergic to almonds I just made 2 cups of flour.

Lemon Glaze

1 cup of confectioners' sugar, sifted

2-4 tablespoons of fresh lemon juice

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350F. Grease and line a 10-inch loaf pan

2. Sift the flour and baking powder into a bowl. In a separate bowl, cream the butter and sugar together until pale and fluffy. Gradually beat in the eggs and milk, then fold in the flour, ground almonds, ginger, and lemon zest

3. Spoon the mixture into the prepared pan and smooth the surface. bake in the oven for 55-60 minutes, or until firm to the touch and a skewer inserted in to the center comes out clean.

4. Cool in the tin for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack and leave to cool completely.

5. In a small bowl, whisk together the confectioners' sugar and 2 tablespoons of lemon juice. The mixture should be thick but pourable. If it is too thick, add up to another 2 tablespoons of lemon juice and whisk again. Pour the glaze on top of the loaf, allowing it to drip at the sides. Let it harden about 15 minutes before serving.

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Reasons why scones are my new favorite baked good:
1. Easy - no fancy techniques required;
2. Fast - less than 30 min!
3. Delicious - du-uh
4. No mixer, blender, food processor, necessary;
5. Perfect for snacks
6. Perfect for breakfast - and lunch, and dinner, and....well, you get my point;
7. No sink full of dishes - yay
8. Did I say delicious already? Oh well, it's true. This one was so moist and tangy and crunchy. Yum!

Reasons enough, right? =)

-Ana

Lemon Poppyseed Scones

Adapted from here. My personal notes are in italics.

2 cups flour
1/3 cup sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup chilled butter
1 beaten egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup heavy cream (I used low fat yogurt)
2 Tablespoons fresh lemon zest
1 Tablespoon poppy seeds

Egg Wash
1 beaten egg
1 Tablespoon heavy cream

1. In a large bowl, combine the dry ingredients. Using a pastry blender, cut the butter into the dry ingredients until the butter pieces are smaller than the size of peas. Stir in the lemon zest and poppy seeds.
2. In a small bowl, stir together the cream, egg, and vanilla. Add this to the dry ingredients and mix until just combined. It is important that you do not over mix the mixture. Once the liquid is absorbed and the dough is coming together (only a little dry flour in bottom of bowl), then stop.
3. Dough will be a little crumbly — remove from bowl and knead until it holds together. Pat the dough into a 7″ circle that is 1 1/2″ thick. Cut into 8 triangles. Place scones onto a greased cookie sheet (I lined mine with parchment). Brush tops and sides with egg wash. I completely forgot the egg wash. Maybe that's why my scones didn't get brown.
4. Bake at 375F for 15 minutes.
5. Let it cool down a bit and drizzle with Lemon Glaze (check Ann's recipe above). (Optional but highly recommended ;]).