mamamilkandme

I love baking. It relaxes me. It chills me out.

I tried knitting. I would go to conferences and see the Zen aura haloing the knitting needled goddesses as the sticks gently clacked together as soft sweaters and scarves emerged. I tried it. It totally freaked me out! I wanted to scream. I wanted to impale those needles into the eyes of those sweater-making freaks. I could not sit still and make sure I counted those stitches and the rows. What if I fell short a stitch. I could not go back. If I unrolled it I would cry. Eventually my daughter finished the scarf I started years ago. She wrapped it up in beautiful Christmas wrap and placed it under the tree.

So, I went back to the kitchen. Baking is honest, straightforward.  There are rules but they are bendable. There is creativity. Before I was a lactation consultant I had a little baking business called Leigh Anne’s Southern Sweet Tooth. I baked for a local café and I baked for a restaurant in SoHo. I also baked for private events including a couple of weddings.

About three years ago I discovered I was allergic to wheat! Yikes! I have toyed with gluten-free flours and flour-free baking. Some has been great while some has turned out disastrous.

Nonetheless I still bake with beautiful, silky, binding flour. Nothing holds a cake or cookies together the same as good old-fashioned wheat flour – not whole wheat, just regular flour. Go get some, run your hands through it. It is dreamy.

One of my popular cakes is my lemon cake. No one makes the way I do – until now. I am going to share this recipe. This is a dense, moist, sweet and tart cake.

Enjoy!

Leigh Anne’s Luscious Lemon Cake

1 ½ cups sugar

4 eggs

1 cup vegetable oil

1 cup of fresh squeezed lemon juice (6-8 lemons)

Zest of 2 lemons (some will be used for the frosting)

2 ½ cups flour

½ teaspoon salt

2 ¼ teaspoons baking powder

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350. I like to put wax paper on my pans and use butter to prep the cake pans. I use two eight-inch pans.

Beat together the eggs and sugar for 30 seconds.

Add the remaining ingredients and beat on high for a minute and a half. Pour into the baking pans. Bake for about 20 minutes. Use a cake tester, knife or fork to test for doneness.

Let cool.

Frosting:

1 box of confectioners sugar

1 block of cream cheese

1 stick of unsalted butter

Zest of one lemon

1 teaspoon vanilla

Let the cream cheese reach room temperature, combine all the ingredients until smooth.

Frost the cake and enjoy!