Spiced Lemon Cake

This cake is moist and delicious! The 'spiced' part of this cake comes from ground cardamom (I love cardamom). 

The cardamom lends a warm note to the cake that pairs really well with the lemon flavor. The zesty lemon glaze almost takes away from the delicate flavor of the cake, but gives it a nice punch and makes the cake overall more interesting. 

My mom and I enjoyed a slice of this today and we couldn't help but have another slice with coffee. Yum.

This cake is super easy to make and would be great for brunch or an after dinner dessert or with coffee in the morning. I thought the coffee really brought out the flavor of the cardamom. Might just be me?

I wouldn't recommend substituting cinnamon for the cardamom. Cardamom has a more subtle sweet flavor than cinnamon and is really tasty with the lemon.

Recipe Source: Martha Stewart Living, Oct. 2010 Issue

Spiced Lemon Cake

1 stick unsalted butter, room temp.

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

3/4 cup sugar

1 tablespoon finely grated lemon zest plus 6 tablespoons fresh lemon juice (from 2 lemons)

3/4 tsp. ground cardamom

2 large eggs

1/2 cup sour cream

1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar

Preheat oven to 375. Butter and flour an 8-inch round cake pan. Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Beat butter, sugar, zest and cardamom with a mixer on medium-high speed until pale and fluffy. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in 3 tablespoons lemon juice. Reduce speed to medium-low; beat in flour mixture in 3 additions, alternating with sour cream, beginning and ending with flour. Pour batter into cake pan.

Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 30 minutes. Turn out onto a wire rack. Let cool, top side up. Whisk confectioners' sugar with remaining 3 tablespoons lemon juice until smooth; pour over cooled cake.

Raspberry-Lemon Shortbread Tart

This is an easy and delicious tart that's perfect for summer.

A simple shortbread crust is pressed into a cake pan and pre-baked. The cookie-like crust is then filled with berries and covered with a lemon cream. After another trip to the oven,the berries and cream set-up and you have a delectable tart bursting with summer flavors.

Below is the pre-baked crust filled with frozen berries. I used a berry medley for this one because that's what I had on hand. Fresh or frozen fruit would work and any type of berry would be scrumptious.

The combination of black raspberries and blackberries gave the tart a gorgeous deep purple color once cooked. I topped it with powder sugar...
And it was pretty darn tasty. Here's a piece topped with a big dollop of fresh whipped cream :)

My only change to the recipe would be to use a little less lemon juice, so it's not so tart. I think juice from 1 1/2 lemons would give it the right amount of zip (or maybe just 1 lemon). That extra amount of juice put it over the top. But if you like tart lemony desserts, keep it the same.


Update: My mom made this tart and used frozen berries and she said it put her bake time at about 40 minutes over the listed time! I baked mine at sea level in San Diego and she baked hers at high altitude. Maybe that's the reason?? So make sure to thaw and drain your berries well!


Raspberry-Lemon Shortbread Tart
Source: RachealRay
3 cups frozen raspberries (1 pound)
1 stick plus 6 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces
11/4 cups granulated sugar
13/4 cups all-purpose flour
3 large eggs
Zest and juice of 2 lemons (about 1/4 cup juice)
Confectioners’ sugar, for dusting

Drain the raspberries in a strainer set over a bowl. Preheat the oven to 400°. Using your fingers, combine the butter, 1/2 cup of the sugar and 1 1/2 cups of the flour and blend together until coarse crumbs form.* Pour the mixture into an ungreased nonstick 9-inch springform or cake pan and press down evenly to form a crust. Bake the shortbread crust until lightly golden, about 20 minutes.

Remove the shortbread from the oven and reduce the temperature to 325°. Scatter the drained raspberries** evenly over the baked shortbread.

Beat the eggs with the remaining 3/4 cup of sugar until thick and pale yellow. Whisk in the lemon zest, the lemon juice and the remaining 1/4 cup of flour. Pour the lemon cream over the raspberries and bake the tart until the custard is set, about 30 minutes. Let cool, then dust with confectioners’ sugar.

* The crust mixture is quite crumbly, but bakes up well. So, don't worry as you're pressing it into the pan.

** I filled my hot crust with frozen berries. I didn't wait for the berries to thaw and drain. The only problem this caused was that it needed extra time to bake. It also changed the consistency into a berry filling as opposed to a drier, cakier filling. So, if you want it cakier, make sure you drain your berries well.

Lemon Quinoa Salad

Everywhere I go, everyone always loves this salad. It's very versatile and is delicious served warm or cold. 

Pictured above is a loaded quinoa salad that has corn, black beans, jalapenos, red and yellow peppers, onions and fresh herbs.

Below is a greek style quinoa salad with kalamata olives, cucumbers, chunks of feta and tomatoes

And lastly, this one is a fresh take on quinoa salad with lemon zest and juice, cucumbers, toasted almonds, red peppers, tomatoes, garbanzo beans and chives.

So, use whatever ingredients you like or whatever you have on hand!


Below is a basic recipe for a lemon quinoa salad and you can add or subtract whatever you'd like.

Lemon Quinoa Salad

1 medium onion, diced

3 garlic cloves, minced
1½ cups quinoa, rinsed and drained

3 cups water or chicken stock

1 1/2 tsps. dried Italian seasoning

½ tsp. ground cumin
1/4 tsp paprika

zest and juice from one lemon

1 can garbanzo beans
1 cup fresh tomatoes, diced
1/2 bunch scallions, white and light green tops only, finely chopped
1/2 cup slivered almonds, toasted

1 1/2 Tbsps. fresh cilantro, finely chopped
1 1/2 Tbsps. fresh parsley, finely chopped
~ Salt and pepper to taste

Saute onion and bell pepper in a good splash of olive oil, until tender. Add garlic and heat until fragrant, 30 seconds. Add quinoa to onion mixture and stir around and toast for about 2 minutes. Add water, a large pinch of salt and spices. Bring to a boil. Lower heat, cover and let simmer for 20 minutes. Quinoa is done when it doubles in size, becomes slightly translucent and spirals appear on each grain.  

Stir in lemon zest, lemon juice, garbanzo beans, tomatoes, scallions, almonds and fresh herbs (if you have other ingredients you want to add, now is a good time). Season with salt and pepper. 

Taste - Smile - Share

Lemon Cream Tart

My dad had a minor procedure done on Friday, so I thought I would make him a yummy dessert. He likes anything lemon flavored, so I started with that. I settled on this creamy, lemon tart with a vanilla shortbread crust.

Flakes of lemon zest speckle the cream filling.

I topped the tart with fresh blueberries for color. Plus, blueberries just pair well with lemon.

Let's cut a slice.

This tart was really light and creamy. It was the perfect balance of lemon and sweet. This definitely doesn't have a lip-puckering tart flavor, so if that's your thing, add more lemon juice. The berries on top were a nice addition. My dad suggested slices of strawberries and kiwis which would be really delicious with the lemon cream. This dessert did the trick, he felt much better after having a slice.
Ingrdients:

1 (9 1/2) tart round, fully baked
4 large eggs

4 teaspoons grated lemon zest

1 can sweetened condensed milk

1/2 cup fresh lemon juice, strained (I used just slightly less than a 1/2 cup)

Pinch of salt

Opt.

Sweetened whipped cream

Berries

Prepare and fully bake a 9 1/2 inch tart round. Set aside to cool.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a bowl, using an electric mixer on medium speed, beat together the egg yolks and lemon zest until mixed, about 1 minute. Add the condensed milk, lemon juice and salt, beating well after each addition. Pout into the fully baked tart shell.

Bake the tart until the filling is firm in the center, 12-14 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack and let cool completely until set, 1-2 hours. Cut into wedges and serve with a dollop of whipped cream, if using.

*Top with fruit just before serving, if desired.

Lemon Cream Tart with Shortbread Crust

With my hubby out of town, I took some time to do a little baking. I set my sights on a lemon cream tart recipe I had been eyeing for the last week. I knew after reading through it that I would have to make some changes.

First off, I only had enough eggs for the filling, so I couldn't make the recipe's crust that called for one egg yolk. Instead I switched to a simple, three ingredient, press-in crust. There was no chilling of any ingredients or wrapping any dough in plastic. You put flour, butter and sugar in a food processor and pulse it until it starts to form little balls. Then you dump it into a spring form pan and press it in. Since I was doing a lemon tart, I put some zest in the dough for good measure.

Next it was onto the filling. The recipe called for 1 cup of sugar and 3/4 cup lemon juice (which in my experience results in a super sour filling, not what I was in the mood for). So I kept the sugar the same and started by adding a little less than half a cup of lemon juice. This was the perfect amount.

Now, I must warn you that once all the ingredients are put into the double broiler, it takes a good 10 to 13 minutes of whisking until the lemon cream thickens and reaches 180 degrees. So just be aware that you will get a great arm workout and you may need to lift weights with the other arm to balance yourself out :)

Anyway, I'm not opposed to using a double broiler, so this recipe came together really easily. Once I baked and cooled the shortbread crust, I poured in the silky, lemon cream filling and popped it into the refrigerator.

After a trip to the park with my little girl, I came home and indulged myself with a delicious slice of lemon cream tart.

The delicate, buttery crust was perfect with the smooth lemon filling. Some nut crusts can be distracting, like the pine nut ones that are commonly paired with lemon filling. But this crust worked really well and tasted like a big thick sugar cookie. The filling had a nice mellow lemon flavor, with the perfect balance of zesty and sweet.

The next morning, a friend of mine came over for a play date and surprised me with coffee and Bailey's. Yum. I in-turn pulled out my lemon cream tart. We both had a slice with our coffee and she ate every bite and said she loved it.

My husband arrived home shortly after and also had a piece. He loved it as well and said the crust was his favorite part. So there you go. I think this recipe is a keeper.

Luscious Lemon Cream Tart w/Shortbread Crust
Press-in Shortbread Crust
1 stick plus 6 T salted butter
½ Cup sugar
1 ½ flour
Zest from one lemon

Preheat 400 degrees

In a food processor, pulse the butter, sugar, zest and flour together until coarse crumbs form. Pour the mixture into an ungreased nonstick 9-inch spring form pan and press down evenly on the bottom and ½ inch up the side. Bake the shortbread crust until lightly golden, about 20 minutes. Check at about 15 minutes to make sure it’s not browning too quickly. Cool on a wire rack and chill the refrigerator.

For the lemon cream:
filling adapted from: tartelette.blogspot.com
1 cup sugar
zest of 3 lemons
½ Cup lemon juice
4 eggs
2 sticks butter, cut into 1 inch pieces, softened

Make a water bath by putting a saucepan of water over heat to simmer and placing a metal bowl over, without the bottom touching the water. Rub the sugar and lemon zest with your fingers and add to the metal bowl. Whisk in the eggs and lemon juice.Cook the mixture over the water bath, whisking constantly until the cream reaches 180 degrees. It can take up to 10 minutes.Once the cream reaches 180 (your whisk will leave ribbon tracks in the cream),remove the cream off the heat and put it into a blender. Let the cream cool to 140.Add in the butter and process until perfectly smooth.Pour into a container, cover and refrigerate until ready to use.

Assemble the tarts by spooning the cream into the refrigerated tart shell.

Lemon Blossoms

These scrumptious, petite, lemon cups are fabulous in the morning with coffee, or anytime for that matter.

They're slightly sweet, slightly lemony, super moist and so good.

I served them along side my spinach quiche and a hot cup of coffee. Perfection.

Bonus: They're so easy and quick.

I added some fresh lemon zest and juice to kick them up a bit.

Lemon Blossoms
Courtesy: Paula Deen

1 box yellow cake mix
1 pkg. lemon pudding mix
4 eggs
3/4 cup oil
Zest and juice from one lemon (optional)

Throw everything in a mixer and stir to combine. Grease a small muffin tin. Scoop the mix into the cups filling only 3/4 full. Do not overfill or the batter will puff over the top and the pretty little muffins will stick :( Bake for 10-12 minutes at 350' or until slightly golden. Let cool.

Strawberry Lemonade Bars

Wow! Are these babies tart! Good, but super sour. I think I would reduce the lemon juice to 3/4 cup and maybe add a tad more sugar to the filling. My husband and I both made the scrunch face as we ate these and then the insides of our jaws started to ache. I sprinkled some sugar on top and covered these with plastic and let them sit over night. The next morning, I sprinkled a little more sugar on top to cut the sourness and they were a lot better.

Later that day, I cut them into squares and took them to a pool party and everyone liked them.

If you have pucker power, click here.

Photo courtesy: bakingbites.com
These bars from bakingbites.com looked so tasty, I couldn't resist printing the recipe. A buttery, pastry crust is topped with a mixture of pureed strawberries, fresh lemon juice, eggs, sugar and flour. I will be making these tomorrow and dishing when I'm done. I hope they taste as good as look and sound.

Lemon Orzo Salad

If you cook with fresh herbs, you know how expensive they can be. But if you fancy basil, your in luck. Trader Joes sells large Basil plants for only $2.49, as compared to $3 or $4 dollars for a small plastic pack at the grocery store.

This Lemon Orzo dish is one of my favorite pasta recipes from Giadia De Laurentis . It uses both fresh basil and mint, so if you can pick up some fresh herbs for cheap, this pasta isn't too expensive to make.

Orzo Salad Recipe

4 cups chicken broth 1 1/2 cups orzo

1 (15-ounce) can garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed

1 1/2 cups red and yellow teardrop tomatoes or grape tomatoes, halved

3/4 cup finely chopped red onion

1/2 cup chopped fresh basil leaves

1/4 cup chopped fresh mint leaves

About 3/4 cup Red Wine Vinaigrette, recipe follows

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Pour the broth into a heavy large saucepan. Cover the pan and bring the broth to a boil over high heat. Stir in the orzo. Cover partially and cook until the orzo is tender but still firm to the bite, stirring frequently, about 7 minutes. Drain the orzo through a strainer. Transfer the orzo to a large wide bowl and toss until the orzo cools slightly. Set aside to cool completely.
Toss the orzo with the beans, tomatoes, onion, basil, mint, and enough vinaigrette to coat. Season the salad, to taste, with salt and pepper, and serve at room temperature.

Vinaigrette

1/2 cup red wine vinegar

1/4 cup fresh lemon juice

2 teaspoons honey

2 teaspoons salt

3/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1 cup extra-virgin olive oil

Mix the vinegar, lemon juice, honey, salt, and pepper in a blender. With the machine running, gradually blend in the oil. Season the vinaigrette, to taste, with more salt and pepper, if desired.
Yield: 1 3/4 cups

Lemon Sabayon Tart

Two years ago I took a pastry class at Sur la Table entitled Baking Basics: Perfect Pies and Tarts. That was my first introduction to making pie and tart dough from scratch. I've made it that way ever since. We learned to make flaky pie dough, basic tart pastry and rich tart pastry; both by hand and with a food processor (I prefer the processor method). Pictured above is a Lemon Sabayon Pine Nut Tart with Honeyed Mascarpone Cream. Sounds fancy eh? It's has a lemon filling made with eggs, sugar, lemon juice and butter all beaten together over a double broiler until super thick. The sabayon is then poured into a prebaked crust and left to sit at room temperature until set. It's pretty darn good and very zippy from the 1/2 cup of lemon juice in the filling. Market Street Grill in Salt Lake has a dessert called Market Street Sabayon. Vanilla ice cream and Fresh fruit are topped with Sabayon Sauce and served in a pretty champagne goblet. On their website they give out many of their recipes, but not for the sabayon dessert. I called and spoke with the actual chef who prepares the dessert daily and he was kind enough to give me the recipe and talk me through it. Here it is:

Sabayon Sauce
4 egg yolks
1/4 c powdered sugar
1/2 c Triple Sec
1 c white wine (they use Franzia; Chablis)


Whisk together yolks and sugar in a small bowl; set aside. In a double broiler combine the Triple Sec and Chablis. Bring to a boil and let boil for 5 minutes. Very slowly whisk in half the yolk mixture until incorporated. Add the rest and whisk for 2 minutes. Continue to whisk every 2 minutes for 10-15 minutes until creamy. Serve over ice cream and fresh berries.