Lemon Cornmeal Cake

"I am - just as you are - a unique, never-to-be-repeated event in this universe. Therefore, I have - just as you have - a unique, never-to-be-repeated role in this world."

-George Sheehan

1918-1993, Cardiologist, Runner, and Writer

I am a lucky girl. If you've read this blog before, you may have read about how I have awesome friends that live in Southern California who have the best Meyer lemon tree in the world. I returned from my visit a few weeks ago with a bunch of those beauties.

My embarrassment of  Meyer Lemon riches

Meyer lemons are a little different than regular lemons. They are sweeter, and juicier. They are a cross between a Mandarin Orange and a lemon.  They don't taste anything like an orange to me. They just taste like a deliciously sweet and super juicy, lemon. To me it's like someone said, "I wish there was a way to make a lemon better. Not as tart, and more juicy." And they fulfilled their dream.

Zesting lemons and measuring the zest - To properly zest lemons, you really need a microplane. You just want to get the outside yellow peel, with no white pith underneath which is bitter. And it's a tool that can be used for so much more. It's one of my favorite kitchen tools and a great 10 dollar investment.

Right now I am super blessed to have a bunch of these lovelies. I use them in so many ways. But when I'm not visiting my friends in California, I am able to get them this time of year in a bag at my local Safeway. But they aren't nearly as good. The taste is mostly the same, and while the supermarket Meyer lemon is jucier than a regular lemon, they aren't at all as juicy as the homegrown variety. I think it's because I pick the lemons myself from the tree and I'm picking them when they're ripe. Farms that sell to grocery stores don't have that luxury.

These Meyer lemons are seriously so juicy, don't these look delicious?

I use these lemons in applications where you would use regular lemons, they do alter the taste slightly, making it sweeter. In this cake, any lemon will do, regular or Meyer.

All of my liquid ingredients, ready to be mixed with the dry

This cake! It's good! I mean it's really good. Super easy, what takes the most time is zesting and juicing the lemons. After that's done, it's really a one bowl cake. You do mix the dry ingredients together and then add the wet, so you do mix the wet stuff together, but you do it in the same measuring cup that you measure the wet ingredients in, which doesn't really count as a bowl. So in my mind, it is a one bowl cake. One bowl and a spoon. You don't even need a mixer.

dry ingredients

The glaze in this cake soaks in the cake which gives it the texture of a pineapple upside down cake, a texture I really like. Moist and tender. The taste is of lemon with a slight cornmeal taste, which is unique and wonderful. The glaze brings it home and helps it read as a cake, as opposed to lemony cornbread.

Just added together

Mixed together - Look at how easy this recipe is!

I like to line my pans with parchment so the cake doesn't stick, then grease it 

Ready for the oven

Right out of the oven - If your cake is looking like it's getting too dark, just put a cookie sheet on top of it while it finishes baking

Poking holes in my cake so it soaks up the glaze

I've been eating gluten free these days for the most part. (To help with migraines.) And I made this cake gluten free. This cake works especially well as gluten free for 2 reasons. It has cornmeal in it as well as flour. So it doesn't rely only on the flour blend for taste and texture. The texture has a nice slightly crunchy way about it from the cornmeal and of course adds flavor. I used gluten free Bisquick in place of the all purpose flour in this recipe, this is really the only change I made. (Beside letting the batter sit for 15 minutes before baking, which is always helpful when using this product, it helps it rise better.)  But any gluten free flour blend would work. I used gluten free Bisquick because I think it works amazing as a gf flour blend. So now that I'm eating gluten free mostly, I keep it on hand.

The second reason it works well as a gluten free cake is that the glaze soaks in the cake, making it extra moist. My biggest problem with a lot of gluten free cakes and cupcakes is how they are especially crummy, and kind of fall apart when you eat them. And you know me. I like my baked goods extra moist. So this cake made gluten free, fixes the crumminess because the glaze holds it together better, as well as making it more moist. It also adds a pop of lemon flavor.  In fact, I think I'm going to create a separate post to list this with the gf changes, as a gluten free lemon cornmeal cake since it was so successful. In fact I couldn't tell the difference between the regular version and the gluten free version, and neither could my husband.

Pouring on the glaze - Don't skip the glaze, it adds flavor and moisture

I just love getting all of these lemons. For baking for sure, I love the flavor. But I also use them everyday. I put lemons in my cold water, and I also drink a hot drink made of hot water, fresh lemon juice, slices of fresh ginger, and honey. I read an article where a nutritionist mentioned that one of her clients lost weight by simply creating this habit, of drinking lemon juice with fresh ginger and hot water. The reason is because it aids digestion.

If I have too many lemons and I think they are going to go bad before I can consume them, I just zest the lemons, juice them and freeze the juice and the zest separately. Then I can use the elements as needed.

After it's been glazed, doesn't that look good? I still had the bottom of the springform pan on the bottom of my cake, so I was able to remove it easily from this plate and take it to my cake plate. (As shown below.)

I love this cake and since I always have lemons handy, it's a recipe I can have in my back pocket to make for guests for tea, or for brunch, or as a snack cake. It's casual, easy to make and tastes great.

I think you're going to love it!

Looking for more lemon recipes?

Really Moist Lemon Cupcakes for Lemon Lovers - These cupcakes are one of my favorites.  Moist, and full of lemon flavor, just like the title says.

Lemon Cream Pudding - This pudding is amazing. It calls for just a few ingredients, it's rich, creamy and full of lemon flavor. In fact, it's going to be the dessert I make next with my current supply of lemons. I make it often, and serve it to company. It's always a hit.

Meyer Lemon Marmalade - If you have a bunch of lemons like I do, make marmalade! Delicious on toast, and if you process and can it in canning jars, it will last a very long time. A nice burst of sunshine when you need it.

Lemon Ricotta Cookies - This recipe comes from Giada De Laurentiis. They are cake like, and soft with a bright lemon flavor. These are some of my favorite cookies.

I wanted to capture how moist and tender this cake is. It has the texture and consistency of pineapple upside down cake. Only it tastes like lemon, with a hint of cornmeal.

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Clear Vintage Glass Cake Stand, Vintage Art Deco Sterling Silver Cake Server, Haviland Limoges Sylvia Dessert Plates with pink roses, and the Haviland Limoges Sylvia teacups with pink roses, available at my Etsy shop, House of Lucien.






Lemon Cornmeal Cake


If you don't have a springform pan, you can use a regular 9 inch cake pan, make sure to grease it well and line the bottom with parchment, then grease the parchment. Only fill the cake pan 2/3 of the way full (Since a regular cake pan doesn't have as high of sides as the springform pan.). You will probably have a little too much batter. For the extra batter you can make cupcakes, or just little cakes by baking them in oven safe ramekins, the small ones will be done much sooner, for a cupcake size about 18-20 minutes. Just make a little extra glaze for the extra cakes.


Ingredients

1 1/2 cups (225 g.) all purpose flour

1/3 cup (53 g.) yellow cornmeal

3/4 cup (150 g.) sugar

2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 cup (4 oz. or  118 ml.) whole milk

1/2 cup (4 oz. or 118 ml.) fresh lemon juice

2 eggs

1 Tablespoon plus 1 tsp. finely grated fresh lemon zest - use a microplane to get it very fine

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1/2 cup (4 oz. or 118 ml.) neutral cooking oil, such as vegetable oil, or light olive oil (light olive oil has very little flavor, unlike extra virgin olive oil) Use whatever neutral flavored oil you like to use


Glaze

2 cups (250 g.) powdered sugar

2-5 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

1 tsp. finely grated fresh lemon zest


Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit, 180 degrees Celsius, Gas Mark 4.

Pour the milk into a large measuring cup (2 cup or larger.) Add the lemon juice, stir and let sit for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, grease a 9 inch springform pan and line the bottom with parchment paper. Grease the paper.

 In a large bowl whisk together the flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking soda and salt.

If it's been 10 minutes, stir the milk and lemon juice together again. Add the lemon zest, eggs, vanilla and oil to the measuring cup and stir well to break up the egg yolks.

Add the wet mixture to the dry mixture. Stir together with a large spoon until it's blended together, don't overmix it. Just stir it enough so it's all incorporated.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan and spread it out evenly.

Bake for about 30-40 minutes. Until it passes a toothpick test and looks done in the center.

While the cake is baking, make the glaze.

Add the lemon zest and a few tablespoons of lemon juice to the powdered sugar and mix together. If it needs more lemon juice add a little more until you get the consistency of a glaze that is thick enough to pour and cover the cake well.

When the cake is done, let it cool for 10 minutes. Run a knife around the edges of the pan to loosen it from the sides. Remove the sides of the springform pan and place it on a plate. Poke holes all over the cake using a skewer, (if you don't have a skewer, a fork will do.) Pour the glaze over the cake. Spread the glaze all around the sides. Go around the cake and spoon up the glaze that has fallen down the sides of the plate, and spoon it back on the sides of the cake so it's all covered well in glaze. Serve immediately or the cake can be stored in an airtight container for about 3 days.

I hope you love this recipe as much as I do!

Fresh Peach Cobbler with a Biscuit Crust

"The summer night is like a perfection of thought. "

- Wallace Stevens

This is the best cobbler I've ever made. Sometimes I make cobblers and don't blog about them because I'm not in love with them. As a matter of fact, I just threw out the remains of the last one as I put this one in the fridge, this one is already gone, (from being eaten) damn, it's good.




Fresh raspberries from my very own raspberry bushes

I have an affinity for fresh fruit baked with a crust. Crisps, pies, cobblers, I love it all. This cobbler combines the warm, jammy fruit, with a sweet, crumbly, buttery, biscuit like crust. It's the tastiest crust I've ever tried on a cobbler. I'm absolutely smitten with it.




peaches and a few nectarines
 

Tis the season for fruit desserts. Fresh Summer fruit just might be my favorite thing about the season. As I write this, we have ripe raspberries and blackberries on bushes, and peaches, pears and apples hanging from trees

 

 

My fruit after mixing it up with the sugar and flour - I baked this in a 2 1/2 quart Pyrex Cinderella bowl and it was the perfect size
 



Just before adding the butter to the flour mixture to make the topping - It only calls for a stick and a tablespoon of butter, I didn't use all of the butter in the photo.
 

After adding the butter cut into pieces


So, clearly, I need a cobbler recipe that I love in my back pocket.

After mixing that butter up into the flour mixture - I used the pastry blender in the photo and then switched to using my hands after I got it cut up good using the pastry blender.

After adding the boiling water - you just need to mix it a few times till it comes together, don't mix it up too much

 

When we first moved here 7 years ago, we planted a lot of fruit trees. I'm telling you, it feels like it's taken an eternity for them to bear fruit!

Ready for the oven

 

 

But I'm super happy they have!  

 

Right out of the oven - It smells like heaven


I added raspberries to this cobbler, that is why the color is pink. Just because I had them available. (And not to mention that the slightly tart raspberries are the perfect compliment to sweet peaches.) So I have a peach melba cobbler here.



My raspberry bushes

Our Peach Tree

More of my raspberry bushes, I just love them. Thanks Suzanne!


You can use any fruit you'd like. Peaches only, nectarines, plums, berries, cherries, or a combination of a few. Either way, I think you and your family with adore this simple mouthwatering Summer treat!

I hope you're having a fun and relaxing Summer!


Here are a few more summer fruit recipes I love -

Any Fruit Crisp

Double Crust Peach Pie made with Fresh Peaches - This one has a delicious, very flaky, all butter crust.

This vintage Pyrex Sandalwood Cinderella Bowl is available at my Etsy shop, Coco's Kitchen. Where I sell vintage kitchen items and vintage cookbooks. You'll find vintage pots and pans, vintage Pyrex, vintage cake carriers, and lots more!

Did you know? These vintage milk glass Pyrex bowls were made completely different than current day Pyrex. It's the current Pyrex bowls that have had problems with exploding. I've never heard of these vintage opal Pyrex having any problems when baking in the oven. So they not only look prettier, but they are much more solid and well made.

Check out this great collection of Pyrex!

 

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Vintage Embroidered Tablecloth, Mid Century Knowles bowls, and the vintage silverplated spoons, are available at my Etsy shop, House of Lucien.







Fresh Peach Cobbler with a Biscuit Crust

As I mentioned, you can use any stone fruit or berries, or a combination. One peach equals about 1 cup of fruit, or 167 g. so use 6 cups total of fruit.

Ingredients for Cobbler

About 5 large peaches, chopped in large bite size pieces


About 1 cup (167 g.) fresh raspberries


1/2 - 2/3 cup (100 - 165 g.) sugar - if you use raspberries the larger amount of sugar is better, due to the tartness

 

1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice - If you use raspberries I think it's optional - If you use only peaches that are sweet, I think the lemon juice is a good idea

3 Tablespoons Flour

 

Ingredients for Topping

1 cup (150 g.) all-purpose flour

1/2 cup (100 g.) sugar
 

1 teaspoon baking powder
 

1/4 teaspoon salt
 

3/4 stick (6 Tablespoons) cold butter, cut into small pieces

1/4 cup (59 ml.) boiling water

Coarse sugar for topping - optional but recommended

Directions

Preheat oven to 400 Degrees Fahrenheit, 200 Degrees Celsius, or Gas Mark 6. Start a pot of boiling water.

In a large bowl, with your clean hands, toss together the fruit, sugar, lemon juice (if using) and the flour.

Make the topping. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar,  baking powder, and salt. Add the chopped cold butter and mix together using a pastry blender or 2 knives. I start using my hands after I get it started. Mix it until it's a coarse meal. Add the boiling water and stir until it just comes together. It will come together easily after you add the boiling water.

Drop the topping like biscuits on top of the fruit. Sprinkle the biscuits with coarse sugar.

Bake for 35-40 minutes. Until the top is nice and golden brown. Check the center to make sure the biscuits are cooked through. If they aren't, bake until they are done. If needed, you can place a cookie sheet over the cobbler, so the top won't brown anymore but it will cook the center.

I hope you love this recipe as much as I do! Happy Baking!

 

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cupcakes

"The great lesson is that the sacred is in the ordinary, that it is to be found in one's daily life, in one's neighbors, friends and family, in one's backyard."    

  - Abraham Maslow     


                 



 

I love peanut butter. I just love it. Haagen Dazs Chocolate peanut butter ice cream is my go to binge food around a certain time of the month (and their Sea Salt Caramel Gelato, but I digress). So these cupcakes really do it for me. It's hard for me to have these in the house without wanting to eat them all in one sitting. I've been making these for a while now, and they're always a big hit. I can't believe I haven't shared these with you sooner!




Here is my peanut butter cream cheese filling 

I start with my Best Moist Chocolate Cupcake Recipe. These really are the best chocolate cupcakes ever, sorry, they just are. They're light and super moist at the same time. The flavor and the texture is spot on. Then I fill those delicious little morsels with a cream cheese peanut butter filling. A fluffy peanut butter buttercream tops these babies off.

Here are my Best Moist Chocolate Cupcakes, these are the most awesome chocolate cupcakes I've ever had.

So you don't just get a little hint of peanut butter flavor, you get a giant peanut butter blast in your mouth!

This is the tip I used for filling the cupcakes. I used a round tip large enough for the filling to come out of. You can also use a filling tip, you can see a photo of one of those in my Raspberry Filled and Frosted Cupcakes post.

The cream cheese in the filling adds a little tang like cream cheese does. Which pairs perfectly with the creamy and fluffy peanut butter buttercream. All paired up with the yummy chocolatey goodness of the cupcakes.

Here are my cupcakes after being filled

 

My peanut butter buttercream, nice and fluffy ready to frost my cupcakes

Here's a funny little story. I made these for a client, I had a large cake box filled with them. The lid was closed and I opened the box and, whoosh! A big hit of peanut butter smell took over the air around us. It was wonderful. Peanut butter has a distinct, intoxicating and delicious, very strong smell.

Here is the tip I used, a large star tip, Wilton's 1 M.

If you are in a hurry and don't have time to fill cupcakes, the peanut butter buttercream is really easy to throw together. You can just frost the cupcakes with the buttercream and you will still have something special.

 

 

To frost cupcakes start on the outside, going in a circle

 

The peanut butter buttercream isn't too sweet, like a lot of standard buttercreams. It gets body from not just the powdered sugar, the peanut butter gives it body as well, so you don't need as much powdered sugar to provide that stiffness. If this is important to you, make sure your peanut butter doesn't have sugar in it.

 

Then as you go around, sort of build up the frosting on top of the first layer, finishing by bringing the frosting into the middle. If you don't like the way it looks, just take a knife and scrape it off, or lift it off, (making sure not to get any crumbs in the frosting,) put it back into the bowl and try again until you like the way it looks.  Practice really does make perfect.

If you have a peanut butter lover in your life you'll need to make these for them. You will seriously blow their little minds!

Like peanut butter but want to use another cupcake? Both the filling and the frosting, or just one of them, would be great with:

The Best Moist and Fluffy White Cupcakes

If you like the banana and peanut butter combination, you could try the frosting with my

Moist Banana Cupcakes

Or the frosting would be great on these dark chocolate little gems

Mini Dark Chocolate Cupcake Bites





Here are my little darlings, Coco and Lucien. They have been enjoying the warm weather and playing outside a lot lately. They especially love chasing birds, squirrels and bunnies. They just chase them. If they actually get close to catching them they just bark at them. Maybe they just think they're playing a fun game with their fury little friends. However, I'm sure the birds, squirrels and bunnies don't feel the same way.

If you didn't already know, I have a second Etsy shop! Coco's Kitchen is where I sell vintage cookbooks and vintage kitchen items. You'll find vintage Le Creuset, vintage Pyrex, vintage Descoware, lots of vintage cookbooks and more!  I add new items all the time, and I would love it if you checked it out, and favorited my shop, and even spread the word, if that's your kind of thing. Thank you so much!

Of course, House of Lucien is my shop where I sell vintage china, vintage glass, collectibles and more, for setting a beautiful table or just adding beauty to your home.

Never miss a post! Follow The Alchemist on Facebook! Or Pinterest! 

The vintage pink and blue tablecloth, antique Bavaria small plates with pink roses, Hammersley China Cake Stand, vintage silverplated cake server, and the Wexford 2 Tiered Tidbit Stand are available at my Etsy shop, House of Lucien.







Chocolate Peanut Butter Cupcakes

This recipe makes about 25 cupcakes

Ingredients

25 of my Best Moist Chocolate Cupcakes  - Cooled. (that recipe makes over 30 of them so you might have a few more cupcakes than filling or frosting depending on how much frosting you use, etc.)

OR 25 of your favorite chocolate cupcakes


Peanut Butter Filling Ingredients

1/2 cup or 1 stick butter (114 grams), room temperature

1 1/2 cups (354 ml.) smooth peanut butter - I used Adams natural peanut butter that has no added sugar, if you use a peanut butter that has added sugar you might want to use a little less powdered sugar

1 - 8 oz. (226 grams) package cream cheese at cool room temperature

1 3/4 cups (225 g.) powdered sugar

2 tablespoons of milk

2 tsp. vanilla extract


Peanut Butter Buttercream Ingredients

1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) (339 g.) butter - room temperature

2 cups creamy peanut butter - I used Adams natural peanut butter that has no added sugar, if you use peanut butter that has sugar in it your frosting will be sweeter. Or use less powdered sugar, but you'll need to use enough to get the frosting to be a good spreading consistency.

3 Tablespoons milk or as needed

1 Tablespoon vanilla extract

4 cups (500 g.) powdered sugar


Grated chocolate for topping, optional


Directions

Start by making the filling. Beat together the cream cheese and the butter until thoroughly mixed, in a stand mixer, or with a hand mixer. Add the peanut butter and mix again until light and fluffy. Add the powdered sugar and the vanilla.  Mix until well combined. Now check the consistency. If you want the filling a little thinner, add milk a tablespoon at a time to get the consistency that you want.

Set the filling aside, and start the frosting. If you only have one bowl for your stand mixer, then clean it now to make the frosting.

Make the frosting. In the bowl of the stand mixer, or in a large bowl with a hand mixer add the room temperature butter and mix it together until it's broken down and fluffy. Add the peanut butter and mix again until completely mixed and incorporated. Add about half of the powdered sugar and the vanilla and mix again. Add the rest of the powdered sugar and a few tablespoons of milk and mix again until fluffy. Now check the consistency. If it's too tightly held together and not fluffy, add a little more milk and mix again. I probably added maybe 6 tablespoons of milk total to get it really light and fluffy.

Fill the cupcakes -

Spoon this mixture into a pastry bag fitted with a filling tip, (a large long tip used for filling cupcakes) or a round tip big enough to push the filling through . You can see photos of a filling tip in this post, Raspberry Filled and Frosted Cupcakes.
Fill the cupcakes with the filling by pushing the tip 3/4 of the way down the cupcake, squeeze, then slowly lift up to fill the entire inside of the cupcake. I recommend using a test cupcake. Fill one, then cut it open to see if you filled it entirely. If you don't fill it with enough filling, the cupcake could just absorb the filling and not come across as a filled cupcake. Once you do a few and get a hang of it, it will go easy from there. Fill them up good, but don't overfill them. If you overfill them, they burst, or crack open.

Frost the cupcakes. As shown above, I used a large star tip, Wilton's 1M tip. 

Top cupcakes with grated chocolate, if desired. To grate some chocolate, just take a piece of chocolate, (I used a little  Ghirardelli square, because that's what I had laying around.)  Use the small holes of a box grater, or use a Microplane and grate the chocolate onto it. Make sure your chocolate is cool or cold, it needs to be hard and solid, and not melty.

Serve them immediately or within a few hours. Store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge. These are best eaten at room temperature, so if taking them from the fridge, let them sit on the counter for 30 minutes or so before serving.

I hope you love these as much as I do! Happy Baking!