Meyer Lemon Pound Cake

This morning was an early one for me — and I am not a morning person! One of my clients at work had a launch, which meant I started working at 5am to ensure everything was ready to go. So, I was in bed chipping away at launch-related work until about 9am.

At that point, I decided it was time for breakfast. I had already decided to work from home since I knew I wasn't likely to get a long enough break in my work to physically make the trip into the office, so I got ambitious. Also, my two weeks of no gluten recently ended, so it was a perfect opportunity to throw gluten back into the mix. My housemates and I get weekly produce from a local farm, and this week's items included a few Meyer lemons. So, I decided to whip up a Meyer lemon pound cake!

Meyer Lemon Pound Cake

Adapted from Martha Stewart

Cake

1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature

2 cups flour

1 teaspoon salt 

2 teaspoons baking powder 

1 1/4 cups sugar 

4 eggs

1 cup milk

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract 

Zest of 1 Meyer lemon

Glaze

Juice from 1 Meyer lemon

Powdered sugar

Zest of 1 Meyer lemon

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Grease one standard-sized loaf pan. 

Using an electric mixer, cream butter and sugar together until fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time. With mixer at a very low speed, add flour, baking powder and salt. While the dry ingredients are being incorporated, slowly add in the milk and vanilla. Add in lemon zest.

Pour the cake batter into your greased loaf pan. Bake for 1 hour to 1 1/2 hours, checking at regular intervals. Test the cake's doneness with a fork or cake tester — it should come out clean. 

While the cake is cooling, combine the ingredients for the glaze in a bowl and whisk together. Use as much or as little powdered sugar as you'd like for consistency (I used about a cup and a half). Pour the glaze over the still-warm cake. 

Enjoy!

For those of you looking for a cake recipe that isn't overpoweringly sweet, this is for you. The glaze is nice and tart, which offsets the mellow, vanilla flavor of the cake itself. It's great as a breakfast bread or a dessert. This recipe is definitely a keeper for me. I'm looking forward to seeing how the leftovers go over at the office tomorrow!

30 Questions: Hobbies

List your top 5 hobbies and why you love them.

1.) Cooking - I've loved cooking my entire life. My earliest memories are of cooking! I don't know why I love it so much...I think it has to do with the cultural element of food. It brings people together, no matter where they're from or who they are. It's something everyone has in common. Nobody gets mad when you bring them delicious food!

2.) Shopping - It's always been a stress reliever for me, which is odd since my family tends to not particularly enjoy it. There are few things that make me happier on a Saturday afternoon than going to the mall and just leisurely wandering around. I don't have to buy anything...I just enjoy going. Yes, I know it's weird.

3.) Traveling - I don't feel like I should have to explain this one! There's so many amazing things you can get out of travel. From the bit of traveling I've done, I've gained new favorite foods, a new appreciation for different cultures, language skills, friends, indescribable experiences...the list could go on for ages. The magical thing about travel is that it changes you as a person for the better. I wish everyone could dive into another culture with an open mind...it'd make the world a better place.

4.) Exercising/Being Active - While I sometimes have a love/hate relationship with the gym, I love being active, particularly when it doesn't seem like I'm doing it solely for the exercise aspect. Whether it's throwing on a pair of skis and or going for a walk, I love being able to get out, experience nature and appreciate my body for the amazing things it is capable of doing.

5.) Writing - I've always expressed myself far better through written words than spoken ones. Writing just makes sense to me. I love it and I would not be who I am without it.

Macaron Cooking Class!

I just signed up for a holiday macarons cooking class at Sur La Table in Salt Lake City!

If you've ever been to Europe with me, you know of my love of these delightful French cookies. They're a very unique sandwich cookie...some sort of delicious filling in the middle of two soft yet crisp (it makes sense if you've had one) meringue/almond meal cookies.

Even though I'm traditionally a straight up chocolate dessert kind of girl, macarons are fantastic in about any flavor you can imagine. I believe my love of salted caramel came from a macaron I tried at Laduree in France, long before that flavor was all over Starbucks and every other chain in the world.

When I was in London this summer and went to Paris for about eleven hours, I made a point of stopping in Laduree. When I returned to London, I learned there was one in Harrod's! So, of course, I had to go to Harrod's myself and see if they were as wonderful as the ones in Paris.

Of course, they were great...but I had to make sure ;) 

Anyways...the ability to make these fantastic concoctions has always escaped me, so I'm more than a little excited to take a class about it. Supposedly, the instructor is fantastic. The recipes are all holiday-themed, too, so it should be an introduction to some fun flavors!

Stay tuned for more macaron posts after I become an expert!

Chocolate Oatmeal Cake and Following Recipes

Last night's adventure...baking chocolate oatmeal cake.

I got the photo off of Tastespotting (it was Pinterest before Pinterest existed), which led to the recipe here.

I had to get a little creative due to a lack of ingredients for the icing they suggested (namely, marshmallows and milk), but it appears to have worked out! Who knew that French vanilla coconut milk creamer could make such tasty (albeit not so smooth) ganache? The one critique I have about the cake itself is that this definitely turned out more like a brownie than a cake, so I'm referring to this recipe as "Chocolate Oatmeal Brownie Things." This isn't a bad thing to me, as I much prefer brownies to cake, but I can see where it'd be annoying if someone were going to try it for a special occasion.

This is why you should always, always use your go-to recipes for special occasions, friends!

Granted, I'm not one for following my own advice. Typically, I use holidays as excuses to bake up whatever random thing I find online. One Easter, I actually invented my own recipe for cookie dough layer cake (while it turned out well, I do not recommend going rogue on cookbooks for a big occasion!). Last Thanksgiving, I made pecan pie for the first time and decided to make a second with chocolate in it (again, diverging from recipes).

Cookie Dough Cake...or, more accurately, brown sugar cake with chocolate chip cookie dough filling, cookie dough icing and chocolate chip cookie crumbs

Alright, now that I've got that out of my system...back to the chocolate oatmeal cake. I am baking at high altitude here in Park City, so the texture could've been a problem with my altitude adjustments. I don't typically see that much of a difference, though.

The final verdict? This stuff is tasty and I liked it. Work people liked it. I'll probably make it again!