Cathy's Birthday Lemon Curd Cake

My sister Cathy loves lemon anything...I can remember her when we were kids sucking on lemons...that is definitely the mark of a lemon lover....so for her birthday I made her the Lemon Curd Cake from "Martha Stewart's Baking Handbook"....absolutely delicious and the lemon loving Cathy gave it 5 stars so you can take that as sign you should bake this cake...because it is so rich and tart, a small sliver is all you need which means this cake can serve a crowd without a problem...


A page from the book.....

I always make lemon curd from the cookbook "Luscious Lemon Desserts" by Lori Longbotham...it is fabulous...it is very similar to the recipe in the MS Baking Handbook...if you love lemon this cookbook has some delightful lemon desserts...the lemon bars are to die for!

The butter readied for creaming....

Dry ingredients prepared....

Lemon zest, lemon juice and sour cream ready...these ingredients add the moisture and flavor the cake...


Butter and sugar creamed together...light and fluffy....

A beautiful batter....

Batter divided evenly in buttered pans lined with parchment paper buttered again and then floured...no chance these cakes were not coming out of the pans in one piece!

Beautiful golden layers baked in about 35 minutes....

After the cakes cooled...I made the Swiss Meringue frosting which lemon curd is added to for another blast of lemon flavor...the cakes are split in two and layered with lemon curd and stacked four high...a crumb layer of frosting is applied and the cake is chilled for a half hour...then the remainder of the cake is iced and chilled again for a half hour and then the cake is decorated with lemon curd dots and stripes...it has wonderful eye appeal and is soooooo goooood..


Isn't this a beauty of a cake...Cathy enjoyed it as well as everyone else...

Elizabeth

It's Back and Now I'm Back

My laptop died...it was a slow death...many trips to the computer hospital, many different treatments but to no avail it needed a new heart...so a new hard drive was inserted and now it lives!!!!! So now I am back...so much has happened in these past few months...lots of fun, good times, the holidays and snow....lots of snow!!!!!

So I backtrack a bit...to Halloween...Natalie came to make cookies from a Martha Stewart Everyday Food recipe and the campground had their annual Halloween Trick or Treat...lots of safe fun for kids...they run like gazelles - laughing, screaming and having fun - free from all the "bad" stuff so many of us worry about...why can't the whole world be like this for kids...I am so thankful these kids have a place created by this campground owner and maintained by the parents where they can do what kids are suppose to do...run, walk, swim, do crafts, sit and think awhile, listen to music, have potluck suppers and most important sleep soundly as they grow...

Here is Natalie making Halloween lollipop cookies....sugar cookies placed on a stick after rolling in sprinkles...black and orange of course...

The finished project individually wrapped in glassine bags and tied with ribbon...absolutely wonderful and delicious too!!!!!

Natalie prepared to go trick or treating at the campground as Dorothy...get a load of those socks and shoes...

I received a phone call with a message from Emily saying she wanted to be a blue crab for Halloween...A BLUE CRAB?! How did she ever think of that? She asked if I could help make her costume...WOW...that set me back a bit...a clown, witch, ballerina or a princess is what I would expected but a blue crab...okay with some thought and research to exactly what a blue crab looks like...Sandie (Emily's Mom, my niece) and I set out to create the costume...fabric, thread, sewing machine and sewing notions in hand I think we did a great job...

Emily the blue crab

Here is the gang just before taking off...Natalie (4 years old) as Dorothy, Olivia (1 year old) as a lobster, Emily (4 years old) as a blue crab and Randy (15 years old) as himself....

So it goes...I'll add a bit more later today...I look forward to hearing back from those I have missed...especially Alice in Maine!!!!!

Elizabeth