A bunch of Dutch bloggers have grouped together and organized a monthly Food Blog Swap / FBS. You sign up and are randomly assigned another blog from which to cook a recipe. I skipped a couple of months and signed up for the August swap. The blog I cooked from is DoorEten by Door, a Dutch food blog with wonderful savory and sweet recipes.
I’m not much of a baker, but I did want to try my hand at a new baking recipe. As a baking novice I picked the relatively simple lemon cake. Don’t you think it’s beautiful? I couldn’t wait to share this recipe with you.
I used a 18 cm / 7″ round spring form tin as apposed to the rectangular cake tin Door used. It worked out fine and looks great.
We gave some left over cake to my father in law. He doesn’t have much of a sweet tooth, but he loved it! He thought we had bought it somewhere. I’ll be making it again for his birthday soon.
- Ingredients:
- 260 gr flour
- 200 gr sugar
- 250 gr soft butter
- 170 gr crème fraîche
- 2 eggs
- 1 ts baking powder
- 1 ts baking soda
- 1/2 ts salt
- 2 ts vanilla extract or marrow of a vanilla pod
- 1 or 2 lemons
- 125 gr powdered sugar
- 20 gr almonds flakes
As I said a used a 18cm/7″ springform which is fairly small. You could use a bigger tin of course and you’ll get a cake that isn’t as high. Take in account that baking times may vary.
Preheat the oven at 180C/355F (150C/310F fan oven). Grease and flour the cake tin.
Mix flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a bowl. In another bowl mix the soft butter and sugar until creamy. Add one egg and mix until incorporated and do the same with the second egg.
Add vanilla, flour mix and crème fraîche to the butter mixture and mix until smooth. Also add the grated zest of one lemon and 2 tablespoons of lemon juice. Save the rest of the lemon for the icing.
Pour the mixture into the cake tin or spring form and bake for 50 to 60 minutes in the center of the oven. It took about 10 to 15 minutes longer in my gas oven. Use a skewer to check if the cake is completely cooked. It needs to come out clean.
Leave to cool in the tin and remove from tin after 30 minutes. Let it cool completely, preferably on a wire rack.
Roast the almond flakes in a dry pan until golden brown. Keep your eye on them, you don’t want them too dark.
Mix the powdered sugar with 1 to 2 tablespoons of lemon juice. Add tiny bits of water if your icing is too thick. Add a bit more powdered sugar in case you accidentally add too much water. You want the icing to be thick, but still running off a spoon.
Sprinkle the icing on the completely cooled cake, sprinkle with the roasted almond flakes and let the icing harden. You might not need all of the icing, just make it pretty and add more if you have a real sweet tooth.
The cake had a bit of a dome coming out of the oven. When it cooled it did sag a little bit and created a nice even surface for my decorations.
An absolutely lovely soft and light cake. The icing really does top it off and adds an extra sweet lemon flavor. I thought about adding some poppy seeds to the recipe, but I’m glad I stuck to the original. It’s just perfect the way it is. Thank you Door for the wonderful recipe!
I couldn’t help making another of Door’s dishes. For lunch I made her roast beef sandwiches.
Sourdough bread topped with cream cheese flavored with herbs, sliced roast beef, a few drops of Worcestershire sauce, arugula and potato chips. Yum!
Keep an eye on Kayotic Kitchen’s website. She’ll be making one of Nombelina’s recipes.
