Jerry's Thoughts, Musings, and Rants!

Lemon Pudding Cakes

Pudding cakes are a hybrid of two well-loved desserts – cake and pudding. But you don’t actually use either cake or pudding to make them.

Confused?

Sorry. You won't be for long . . .

All you really need to know is that you whisk together most of the ingredients, fold them into some whipped egg whites and bake. What goes in the oven as a soupy batter comes out as cake on top and pudding on the bottom – like magic. If you baked these with kids, I bet it would blow their minds.

 If you need some sunshine in your life, make these Lemon Pudding Cakes. They’re bright and sweet and light – a perfect pick-me-up after a long, cold winter or a dark and stormy Spring day.

For us they were the perfect finish to our Good Friday feast!

Even better, this recipe is from the folks at Eating Well magazine so they are relatively good for you (high sugar content notwithstanding) with only 2 tablespoons of added fat.

Lemon Pudding Cakes

Adapted from Eating Well
Serves 8

I managed to use 4 6-ounce ramekins and 3 7-ounces very full ramekins for this batch, so you’ll need at the very least 8 6-ounce ramekins for the full batch. I strongly recommend using fresh squeezed lemon juice as it’s the star flavor in this very lemon-y dessert. I tried these both warm and chilled – I preferred mine chilled.

3/4 cup + 1/4 cup granulated sugar, divided
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 cup low-fat milk
2 teaspoons freshly grated lemon zest
1/2 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
2 large egg yolks, room temperature
3 large egg whites, room temperature

powdered sugar, for dusting

Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray eight 4- to 6-ounce ramekins with non-stick baking spray. Place ramekins in a roasting pan or baking dish deep enough to reach the top of the ramekins.

In a medium bowl, whisk together 3/4 cup sugar, flour and salt. Add milk, lemon zest, lemon juice, melted butter and egg yolks. Whisk to combine.

Using an electric mixer with a whisk attachment, beat egg whites on medium-high speed until soft peaks form. While beating, slowly add the remaining 1/4 cup sugar. Continue beating until egg whites form stiff peaks and look glossy. Carefully fold the egg whites into the batter. (It will be soupy).

Divide batter among prepared ramekins in roasting pan. Put roasting pan in oven and fill pan with enough really hot tap water to come halfway up the side of the ramekins. Bake until set on top and lightly browned, 25-30 minutes.

Cool ramekins on a wire rack. Serve warm or at room temperature, or cover each ramekin with plastic wrap and chill to serve cold. Dust with powdered sugar before serving.

Mexican Chocolate Soufflés

This is year three of the Cooking Light Supper Club - a monthly blogging event that brings cooks from around North America together for a virtual meal . . . all from the pages of Cooking Light magazine. Each month we have a theme and we select recipes to make and blog about that will fit the theme.

This month's theme was 'Dreaming of Summer - Mexican Fiesta' - perfect now that we have finally gotten some Arctic temperatures here in Ontario. Right now dreaming of summer is a happy thing because the bitterly cold reality will scare the heck right out of you.

I decided to make these Mexican chocolate souffles for my dish this month. I love the heady mix of bittersweet chocolate, pepper, and cinnamon in Mexican chocolate dishes so I thought that they would be perfect. The recipe makes 8 but I didn't want to be eating cake for 4 nights - sure it's light but does one really need a cake a night when a bit of fruit will do after the December indulgences?

This is one of those recipes that looks far more complex than it is - I had most everything made in advance so that when we were sitting down to dinner I just whipped the egg whites, mixed everything together, and popped the souffle cakes into the oven. They were ready to serve by the time we were done eating and we were back to the New Year's monopoly tournament.

These were amazing - intense chocolate flavour with the added layer of cinnamon and pepper in every bite. I almost regretted not making the full recipe because we had to fight over who got the leftovers. One doesn't mind the added calories form leftovers like THIS!

Mexican Chocolate Soufflés

Cooking spray
3 tablespoons granulated sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon ground red pepper (optional)
3/4 cup fat-free milk
3 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon coffee-flavored liqueur (such as Kahlúa)
1 large egg yolk
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
6 large egg whites
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
Powdered sugar (optional)

Preheat oven to 375°.

Coat 8 (6-ounce) ramekins with cooking spray; sprinkle with 3 tablespoons granulated sugar.

Combine 1/2 cup granulated sugar, cocoa, flour, cinnamon, salt, and pepper, if desired, in a medium saucepan. Gradually add milk, stirring with a whisk until smooth. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat; cook 1 minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat; add chocolate, stirring with a whisk until smooth. Place chocolate mixture in a large bowl; stir in vanilla, liqueur, and egg yolk.

Place the cream of tartar and egg whites in another large bowl; beat with a mixer at high speed until foamy. Add 2 tablespoons granulated sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time, beating until stiff peaks form. Gently stir one-third of egg white mixture into chocolate mixture; gently fold in remaining egg white mixture. Spoon evenly into ramekins; sharply tap ramekins 2 or 3 times on counter to level. Place ramekins on a baking sheet.

Bake at 375° for 30 minutes or until puffy and set. Sprinkle with powdered sugar, if desired. Serve immediately.

So what did the rest of the group bring to the party?

Our newest member Giz of Equal Opportunity Kitchen started us off with an appetizer of Camarones Fritoes with Mexican Cocktail Sauce.

For the main dish our dedicated leader/organizer/reminder Val of More than Burnt Toast chose appetizing Chicken Carne Asado Tacos with Pickled Onions.

Sandi of The Whistlestop Cafe offers some delectable Pork Hominy Chili.

Roz of La Bella Vita ties it altogether with a thirst quenching Sangria.

Truly a meal designed to help one think about somewhere nice and warm!

See you next month ladies . . .

Pear Cake with Pine Nuts

It seems like it was just yesterday that we had the last Cooking Light Supper Club! Can it really have been a month?

WOW

Between work, life, travelling, and all of the wonderful things that crop up from time to time the past month has raced by quicker than Christmas vacation.

The theme this time out was selected by Roz - she picked Late Autumn Harvest. My originally recipe was a pear crisp but when I got around to making it  realized that we had just spent the past week finishing off an apple crisp that I made last week - I didn't really jump for joy at the prospect of another!

At the last minute I deciced to make this quick pear cake. This coffee cake has an interesting mix of flavours with the lemon, pears, cinnamon, and pine nuts in a light cake. To make it even bette r- it wasn't that complicated to make. While I enjoy cooking I don't enjoy spending hour sin the kitchen baking fiddly things. this didn't take hours nor was it fiddly - a recipe for success in my baking book!

Pear and Pine Nut Coffee Cake

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup chilled butter, cut into small pieces
2 tablespoons pine nuts, toasted
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/3 cup fat-free sour cream
1/4 cup 1% low-fat milk
1 teaspoon grated lemon rind
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 large egg
Cooking spray
2 cups thinly sliced peeled pear

Preheat oven to 350°.

Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups, and level with a knife. Combine flour, sugar, and salt in a large bowl; stir well with a whisk. Cut in butter with a pastry blender or 2 knives until mixture resembles coarse meal. Remove 1/3 cup flour mixture; place in a small bowl. Stir in pine nuts and cinnamon; set aside.

Combine the remaining flour mixture, sour cream, and the next 6 ingredients (sour cream through egg) in a large bowl. Beat with a mixer at medium speed until well blended. Pour the batter into a 9-inch round cake pan coated with cooking spray. Arrange the pear slices evenly over the batter. Sprinkle with pine nut mixture. Bake at 350° for 45 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean; cool completely on a wire rack.

Pear Upside-Down Gingerbread Cake

I've mentioned on occasion that I am not a dessert person; I'd far rather eat something savoury than something sweet. That being said, when I do make a dessert if I can add a savoury hint to it  am game to do so. I wasn't sure about this recipe though . . . mustard? Really?

I was in a quandry.

In the end, I recongnized that the fine folk at Cooking Light had not led me astray so I gave it a go. I followed the recipe as printed and the results were amazing!

Pear Upside-Down Gingerbread Cake

3 peeled small pears, cored and cut lengthwise into 1/4-inch-thick slices (about 1 pound)
2 tablespoons grated peeled fresh ginger, divided
1 tablespoon lemon juice
Cooking spray
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar
1/4 cup butter or stick margarine, softened
1 large egg
1/2 cup low-fat buttermilk
1/4 cup molasses
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon dry mustard
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 350°.

Combine pears, 1 tablespoon ginger, and lemon juice. Coat a 9 x 2-inch round cake pan with cooking spray; sprinkle with granulated sugar. Arrange pears in bottom of pan in a circular pattern.

Combine brown sugar and butter in a large bowl; beat at medium speed of a mixer until well-blended. Beat in egg. Add buttermilk, molasses, and 1 tablespoon ginger; beat until well-blended. Lightly spoon flour into a dry measuring cup; level with a knife. Combine flour and next 6 ingredients (flour through nutmeg). Add flour mixture to batter; stir until well-blended. Pour over pears. Bake at 350° for 40 minutes or until cake springs back when touched lightly in center. Cool in pan 20 minutes on a wire rack. Place a plate sprinkled with powdered sugar upside down on top of cake pan; invert cake onto plate.

Dimply Plum Cake

The plums this summer have been incredible - so incredible in fact that I have been unable to leave a farmers' market without a basket or two in my bag! The result is that I have been looking for new ways to use them.

Last week, while on a search for ways to use up some plums, I came across 100's of references to something called 'dimply plum cake'. Now generally I would not bother to click through - the name being enough to send me running, however a few of the sites made reference to this recipe being by Dorie Greenspan . . . and really, other than David Lebovitz, who is more famous in the baking world than Dorie?

Clicked through I did and we are certainly happy I overcame my issues with the name. The cake is a classic . . .  a few ingredients, a straight-forward technique, slightly rustic, slightly spicy, barely sweet, supremely satisfying. YUM A perfect vehicle for all of those plums flooding the market these days.

Given Dorie's suggestions for being creative with the recipe there are many variations on the web. The version I made comes from the Smitten Kitchen.

Dimply Plum Cake

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
Scant 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
3/4 cup (packed) light brown sugar
2 large eggs
1/3 cup flavorless oil, such as canola or safflower
Grated zest of 1 orange
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
8 purple or red plums (or even Italian prune plums, when they are in season), halved and pitted

Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350°F. Butter an 8-inch square baking pan, dust the inside with flour, tap out the excess and put the pan on a baking sheet.

Whisk the flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon together.

Working with a mixer, beat the butter at medium speed until it’s soft and creamy, about 3 minutes. Add the sugar and beat for another 3 minutes, then add the eggs, one at a time, and beat for a minute after each egg goes in. Still working on medium speed, beat in the oil, zest and vanilla; the batter will look smooth and creamy, almost satiny. Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the dry ingredients, mixing only until they are incorporated.

Run a spatula around the bowl and under the batter, just to make sure there are no dry spots, then scrape the batter into the pan and smooth the top. Arrange the plums cut side up in the batter–Dorie says she usually makes four rows of four plum halves each–jiggling the plums a tad just so they settle comfortably into the batter.

Bake for about 30 to 40 minutes (Dorie says 40, mine was done in 35 so check early and often), or until the top is honey brown and puffed around the plums and a thin knife inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Transfer the cake to a rack and cool for 15 minutes during which time the plums juices will seep back into the cake then run a knife around the sides of the pan and unmold the cake. Invert and cool right side up.

Photo Hunt Spiral

This week's Photo Hunt theme is spiral. I am staying in the little Italy area of San Diego. I was tempted to wander the stores to find a big bag of fusilli or some spiral pasta but that just sounded like work. I checked the photos I have on my lap top and found this:

The icing on these cup cakes is a delicious spiral. MMMMM

Don't ask me why I had a photo of cup cakes, but I did . . .

---

Lots of the slow travel  community members also photo hunt when they aren't traveling. You can find their posts by clicking the links below. 

• Old Shoes, New Trip
• Eden's Wanderings and Wonderings
• My Place in the Sun
• Churches in Venice – Mosaics, Marble, and Miracle-Working Madonnas
• Palmabella's Passions
• What I Really Think
• shave Ice and Gelato
• Jerry's Thoughts, Musings, and Rants!
• Keep your Feet in the Street
• Postcards from the Trail
• Cooking at the Whistlestop Cafe
• Candi's Corner
• Trekcapri's Blog

This week's Photo Hunt theme is spiral. I am staying in the little Italy area of San Diego. I was tempted to wander the stores to find a big bag of fusilli or some spiral pasta but that just sounded like work. I checked the photos I have on my lap top and found this:

The icing on these cup cakes is a delicious spiral. MMMMM

Don't ask me why I had a photo of cup cakes, but I did . . .

---

Lots of the slow travel  community members also photo hunt when they aren't traveling. You can find their posts by clicking the links below. 

• Old Shoes, New Trip
• Eden's Wanderings and Wonderings
• My Place in the Sun
• Churches in Venice – Mosaics, Marble, and Miracle-Working Madonnas
• Palmabella's Passions
• What I Really Think
• shave Ice and Gelato
• Jerry's Thoughts, Musings, and Rants!
• Keep your Feet in the Street
• Postcards from the Trail
• Cooking at the Whistlestop Cafe
• Candi's Corner
• Trekcapri's Blog

Tuscan Cake with Citrus Compote

It's rare for me to try a recipe from a magazine as soon as it has arrived in the house. I generally have a huge pile of things to try so something would have to look pretty impressive in order for me to place it immediately on top of the cure. The March Cooking Light magazine featured a recipe that immediately caught my attention.

This light cake recipe is essentially a citrus cake made with olive oil instead of butter.  It has the added heft of cornmeal. In fact, it reminded me a good deal of the citrus olive oil cake that the Sunday Slow Bakers made a few years back.

The cake gets even better with the added bonus of a citrus compote. I'm not normally a fan of grapefruits but this was delicious. The compote wasn't very sweet and had just the right amount of spice from the allspice (you wouldn't think 1/8 of a tsp would have a great impact but it did!)

All in all, this was a great dessert. Everyone LOVED it.

Tuscan Cake with Citrus Compote

1/2  cup  sugar
6  tablespoons  extra-virgin olive oil
2  large eggs
1  tablespoon  grated grapefruit rind
1 1/2  teaspoons  grated lime rind
1/2  teaspoon  vanilla extract
1  (6-ounce) container plain low-fat yogurt
5.6  ounces  all-purpose flour (about 1 1/4 cups)
1.5  ounces  fine yellow cornmeal (about 1/4 cup)
3/4  teaspoon  baking soda
1/4  teaspoon  baking powder
1/4  teaspoon  salt
Cooking spray

Compote:
2  large red grapefruit
4  large oranges
2  tablespoons  fresh lime juice
3  tablespoons  honey
1/8  teaspoon  ground allspice

Preheat oven to 325°.

To prepare cake, place sugar and oil in a large bowl; beat with a mixer at high speed for 2 minutes or until well blended. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Add rinds, vanilla, and yogurt; beat until combined.

Weigh or lightly spoon flour and cornmeal into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour, cornmeal, baking soda, baking powder, and salt, stirring with a whisk. Add flour mixture to oil mixture; stir with a whisk just until combined. Pour batter into a 9-inch spring form pan coated with cooking spray. Bake at 325° for 30 minutes or until golden brown and a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes on a wire rack; remove sides from pan. Cool cake completely on rack.

To prepare compote, peel and section grapefruit and oranges over a medium bowl, reserving juices; place sections in another bowl. Combine reserved juices and lime juice in a small saucepan; bring to a boil. Stir in honey and allspice; reduce heat, and simmer 4 minutes or until syrupy. Cover and chill 30 minutes. Pour over fruit sections; toss gently. Chill. Serve compote over cake.

Torta di Mele al Burro (Buttery Apple Cake)

Fall has arrived in earnest. We've had a fire for the past two nights. I am sitting here typing in a sweatshirt and jeans (after 6 months of shorts and t-shirts this is a challenge). When it is cool like this I start craving stews and cake. I don't know why, perhaps for me these are comfort foods the way others drool over a grilled cheese sandwich.

I was looking for a recipe to use some apples up the other day and came upon this recipe in a Williams-Sonoma Regions of Italy cook book. This cake is a specialty of the Friuli-Venezia region of Italy. It sounded amazing - a soft buttery cake covering tender apple slices that had also been cooked in butter. Frankly I am shocked that Paul Deen hasn't suggested that she has invented this recipe as it has her trademarks . . . mainly an excess of butter.

I made it for dinner and it was well received. Actually, it was more than well received as someone who shall remain nameless ate 3 pieces. I think that this must be the reason that I am only about 8 pounds more than said someone. A milestone for us as I have always been about 20 - almost 80 (ARGH) pounds lumpier.

Oh oh - yet again I have digressed.

I was worried that it would all get eaten and we'd get fatter so I took the leftovers into work where my colleagues also loved it.

Clearly this recipe was a winner.

Even better - it wasn't a challenging cake to pull together. I appreciated that.

If you're craving a delicious taste of fall as well give this a try. It isn't low-fat but it is amazing and life should be about good things in moderation IMHO!

Torta di Mele al Burro (Buttery Apple Cake)

1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
3 Golden Delicious apples, peeled, cored, and cut into slices 1/4 inch thick
2/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 eggs plus 1 egg yolk
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup sugar
1/2 tsp lemon zest
icing sugar

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Butter and flour a 9 inch round cake pan with 2 inch sides (I used a spring form pan)

In a large frying pan over low heat, melt the butter. pour 6 tablespoons of it into a small bowl and set aside. Add the apples to the frying pan and cook, stirring occasionally, until the apples are tender, about 10 minutes. Remove from heat.

In a small bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder, and salt.

In a large bowl, beat the eggs and egg yolk until blended. Add the remaining 6 tablespoons of butter, vanilla, granulated sugar, and the lemon zest. Stir in the flour mixture. Gently fold in the apples. Spoon into the prepared pan and smooth the top.

Bake until the cake is brown - 30 - 35 minutes (my cake needed 45 minutes). Transfer to a wore rack and let cool in the pan for 5 minutes. Remove the cake from the pan onto the rack and allow to cool completely.

Just prior to serving dust the cake with icing sugar (we skipped this and didn't miss it at all!)

Chocolate Zucchini Cake

This one surprised me - I've finally managed to get my head around zucchini in a cake or sweet loaf but the thought of chocolate tossed in there just about threw me over the edge. Once again though, since Elise, author of Simply Recipes, was sharing it I thought 'hmmm' and promptly threw my doubts aside and gave it a shot. Funny how I will put my reputation as a cook in the hands I've never so much as e-mailed!

Last Friday was an unusual day for me. In eight years at my current job I've never worked on the Friday prior to a long weekend or holiday. I was sure that it would be dead in the office - likely myself and the support staff. I thought that I'd bake some treats to make everybody's live a wee bit better.

People were a tad skeptical about this at first. However, once the first brave soul (not me incidentally) took a tiny bite an declared it delicious the cake was gone in a flash! I had to stash some away quickly in the midst of the feeding frenzy to take home for Paul!

I followed Elise's recipe carefully but I didn't feel the need to 'gild the lily' with the glaze.

My recommendation?

If you have a bunch of zucchini in your garden, make this recipe and if you don’t, run to the market to grab some!!!

Enjoy!

 Chocolate Zucchini Cake

2 1/2 cups regular all-purpose flour, unsifted

1/2 cup cocoa

2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon cinnamon

3/4 cup soft butter

2 cups sugar

3 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla

2 teaspoons grated orange peel

2 cups coarsely shredded zucchini

1/2 cup milk

1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans

Glaze (directions follow)

Preheat the oven to 350°F.

Combine the flour, cocoa, baking powder, soda, salt, and cinnamon; set aside.

With a mixer, beat together the butter and the sugar until they are smoothly blended. Add the eggs to the butter and sugar mixture one at a time, beating well after each addition. With a spoon, stir in the vanilla, orange peel, and zucchini.

Alternately stir the dry ingredients and the milk into the zucchini mixture, including the nuts with the last addition.

Pour the batter into a greased and flour-dusted 10-inch tube pan or bundt pan. Bake in the oven for about 50 minutes (test at 45 minutes!) or until a wooden pick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in pan 15 minutes; turn out on wire rack to cool thoroughly.

Drizzle glaze over cake.

Glaze: Mix together 2 cups powdered sugar, 3 Tablespoons milk, and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Beat until smooth.

Cut in thin slices to serve. Makes 10-12 servings.

Zucchini Olive Oil Cake with Lemon Crunch Glaze

Last spring the Sunday Slow Bakers worked their way through some recipes in Dolce Italiano by fellow slow traveler Gina De Palma. Paul and I were in Italy at the time so we missed the zucchini olive oil cake. We finally got around to correcting that a few weeks back. Dear lord - why, oh why, did we wait?

This cake cake is made with olive oil, a very healthy fat. It is  moist with lots of fresh squash and an amazing crunchy lemony glaze on top.  It mixes together in a snap. I generally don't like nuts in cakes but decided to leave the walnuts in - I'm glad that I did because they provided a delicious crunch!

I've whipped it together twice now and it is amazing how quickly it vanishes! LOL

If you still have a glut of zucchini in the garden you'll want to check this out.

Enjoy

Zucchini Olive Oil Cake with Lemon Crunch Glaze

1 cup (75 g) walnut pieces, toasted
2 cups (240 g) unbleached all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon kosher salt
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
3 large eggs
1-3/4 cup (306 g) granulated sugar
1 cup (237 mil) extra-virgin olive oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2-1/2 cups (438 g) grated zucchini (about 2 small zucchini)
confectioners sugar, for dusting (optional -I've never tried this)

LEMON GLAZE
1/4 cup (59 mil) fresh squeezed lemon juice
1/3 cup (58 g) granulated sugar
1 cup (130 g) confectioners sugar

CAKE: Position the rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 350º F/175º C.

In the medium bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg. Set aside.

In the bowl of the stand mixer, beat the eggs, sugar, and olive oil together on medium speed until the mixture is light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl, and beat in the vanilla extract.

Add the dry ingredients all at once and mix on low speed until thoroughly combined, then increase speed to medium and mix for 30 seconds.

Stir in the zucchini and walnut pieces until completely incorporated. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.

Pour the batter into the prepared Bundt pan and smooth the top with a spatula.

Bake for 45 to 50 minutes. Rotate the cake halfway through baking to ensure even browning. Tester should come out clean and the cake edges should start to pull away from the sides of the pan.

GLAZE: Make the glaze while the cake is baking. In a medium bowl, whisk the lemon juice and granulated sugar, then whisk in the confectioners sugar until the glaze is smooth. Strain any lumps as necessary.

Remove the baked cake from the oven and allow to cool in the pan for 10 minutes. Place the wire rack over a piece of wax paper and invert the cake onto the rack. Use a pastry brush to brush the glaze all over the hot cake. It will stick to the cake and set as the cake cools, leaving a nice crunchy surface. Allow the cake to cool completely and the glaze to dry completely. OPTIONAL: You may dust the cake with confections sugar before serving.

Wrap cake in plastic to store and use within 2 days.