Monday, May 25, 2009

Bake something Monday

yes..this was on my other blog first, I recycled....
Um...so, for this monday, I had planned to share how I made over a microwave cabinet to look like a pie safe. But, uh, it didn't happen. It's super humid here and the stain isn't soaking into the wood at all. Maybe next week? Of course, now I don't have anything to do today, and with it freaking raining all the dang time, there's nothing to do. I hate Florida. I really do. Sunshine state my...well you know. So, I apologize, but it's another recipe this week. But it's one I kind of made up, so I'm not just sharing a good one I've stolen from elsewhere.

Citrus cake
1 box lemon cake (I like duncan heins)
*plus the stuff on the back of the box, except substitute orange juice for the water
1 cup sugar
1 cup flour
1 egg (in addition to the three asked for on the box)
1 cup lemon yogurt
1 tsp lemon or orange flavor
lime zest

Preheat oven to 350
mix all the ingredience together like you would normally
pour into two 8" pans or what have you (note since the recipe includes a cake extender, there's a little more mix than you may be used to, just remember to allow at least an inch at the top for the cake to rise)
bake for about 40 minutes (check with toothpick to make sure its done)
Let cool in pan for about 5 min
let cool completely out of pan before icing.

Now, I also made a raspberry buttercream filling to go along with the citrus cake. It was a nice mixture of sweet and tangy, and since I like you, and I really do, I'll share that too. (I didn't make the base of this up, its from cakecentral.com)

3/4 cups egg whites(pasteurized or about 5 big eggs)
2 cups shortening
1/2 cup butter (1 stick softened a little and cut into pieces)
4 to 5 cups of confectioners sugar
2 tbsp flavor of your choice (I used lemon)
2 tbsp milk or heavy cream (i used milk, because it's what I had)
1/3 to 1/2 c jam/jelly/preserves of your choice (optional)

*Always make sure that your bowl and utensils are clean,dry and free of fat or liquids before whipping the egg whites for best results.

Whip the whites slowly at first until they get foamy. Add the extract, increase the speed of the mixer and start adding 1 cup of sugar slowly. Keep whipping until the meringue is shiny and stiff.

With the mixer in medium start adding the shortening and the butter a bit at a time. At the beggining the mix will look kind of curdled but that is normal. Change the mixer to high and mix until your buttercream looks fluffy (abt 5 to 15 min)

start adding the rest of the sugar by 1/2 cups, add the 2 tbsp of milk or heavy cream and keep whipping until the sugar is well incorporated (abt 5 more min). The buttercream must be transfered to an airtight container and can last at room temperature for a few days or be refrigerated 1-2 weeks.

Now, I split the recipe in half because I was going to use the plain to ice the outside to act as glue under fondant. You don't have to do that, if you're not using fondant. You are free to use whatever you want to ice the outside. Now, in the one half of the icing, I put about 1/2c of raspberry preserves into the icing. (preserves was all I could find, there's no reason why I used it over jelly or jam) and stirred it in with a whisk. Then, I used the raspberry mixture as the filler between the cake layers. (If you don't want to use icing, you can just fill the cake with the jelly if you want. I like this buttercream because it's light and fluffy, and softens the tartness of the citrus cake.) Once you've filled the layers, ice the outside with the plain, or the flavored if you so desire.

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