{"id":7417,"date":"2012-05-30T16:47:49","date_gmt":"2012-05-31T00:47:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/foodiddy.com\/?p=7417"},"modified":"2012-05-30T16:47:49","modified_gmt":"2012-05-31T00:47:49","slug":"meyer-lemon-streusel-cake","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/foodiddy.com\/?p=7417","title":{"rendered":"Meyer Lemon Streusel Cake"},"content":{"rendered":"

Lemon cake is a favorite of mine. Our wedding cake was lemon and after receiving some awesome Meyer lemons from my girlfriend’s tree, I couldn’t think of a better way to use them.<\/p>\n

\"Meyer<\/a><\/p>\n

I am not a baker. We have several bakers in the family and trust me, I did not get the “precise” gene. I knew this was going to be a huge undertaking, so I consulted good ol’ Martha Stewart to help me make it happen. I also knew that\u00a0 I didn’t just want to use the juice of the lemons, so I found a recipe that used the entire lemon.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Gorgeous lemons! My girlfriend’s daughter had picked them earlier that day and they looked so pretty in their bowl. When given the green light, I dove into the bowl and filled my purse – and no, I’m not kidding.<\/p>\n

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The Ingredients:<\/strong><\/h4>\n

For the Streusel<\/strong>
\n1 3\/4 Cup All-Purpose Flour
\n3\/4 Cup Packed Light-Brown Sugar
\n1 Teaspoon Coarse Salt
\n3\/4 Cup (6 oz.) Cold Unsalted Butter<\/p>\n

For the Cake<\/strong>
\n5 Meyer Lemons – cut into paper-thin slices, ends discarded
\n2 Cups All-Purpose Flour
\n1 Teaspoon Baking Powder
\n1 Teaspoon Baking Soda
\n1 1\/2 Teaspoons Coarse Salt
\n1\/2 Cup (4 oz.) Unsalted Butter – room temp., plus extra for the pan
\n1 Cup Granulated Sugar
\n3 Tablespoons Finely Grated Meyer Lemon Zest
\n2 Large Eggs
\n1 Teaspoon Pure Vanilla Extract
\n1 Cup Sour Cream<\/p>\n

For the Glaze<\/strong>
\n1 Cup Confectioners’ Sugar
\n3-4 Tablespoons Meyer Lemon Juice<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Directions:<\/strong><\/h4>\n
    \n
  1. Make the streusel: Mix together flour, brown sugar, and salt. Using a pastry cutter or your fingers, cut the butter into the flour mixture until small to medium clumps form. Cover and refrigerate until ready to use.
    \nFoo’s note<\/strong>:<\/span> I used my fingers and didn’t mix the sugar, flour, and salt prior to adding the butter, whoops!<\/em><\/li>\n
  2. Make the cake: Cook lemon slices in a medium saucepan of simmering water for 1 minute. Drain, and repeat. Arrange lemon slices in a single layer on parchment-lined baking sheets.
    \nFoo’s note:<\/strong> I didn’t drain in between batches and next time I will actually use the mandoline to make my lemon slices paper thin.
    \n<\/em><\/li>\n
  3. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Butter a 9-inch angel food cake pan. Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Beat butter, granulated sugar, and lemon zest with a mixer on medium speed in a large bowl until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. With the mixer running, add eggs, 1 at a time, then the vanilla. Reduce speed to low. Add the flour mixture in 3 additions, alternating with sour cream.
    \nFoo’s note:<\/strong> I don’t own a sifter, so I skipped that step.<\/em><\/li>\n
  4. Spoon 1\/2 of the batter evenly into cake pan. Arrange 1\/2 of the lemon slices in a single layer over the batter. Spread remaining batter evenly over the top. Cover with the remaining lemon slices in a single layer. Sprinkle the chilled streusel evenly over the batter.
    \nFoo’s note:<\/strong> I had to re-read this step at least 10 times, ha! ha!<\/em><\/li>\n
  5. Bake until cake is golden brown and a tester inserted in the center comes out clean, about 55 minutes. Transfer pan to a wire rack set over a baking sheet, and let cool in pan for 15 minutes. Run a knife around the edges of the pan, and remove outer ring. Let cool on rack for 15 minutes. Run a knife around the center tube. Slide 2 wide spatulas between the bottom of the cake and the pan, and lift cake to remove from the center tube. Let cool completely on rack.
    \nFoo’s note:<\/strong> This sounds much easier than it really is – I needed Dan and 3 spatulas to pull this step off.<\/em><\/li>\n
  6. Make the glaze: Just before photographing<\/del><\/span> \ud83d\ude42 serving, stir together confectioners’ sugar and lemon juice in a medium bowl. Drizzle over cooled cake, letting excess drip down the sides. Let glaze set before slicing, about 5 minutes.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    \"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

    This is a photo of me being a rebel and adding the cold butter before mixing the dry ingredients together. I told you I was missing the “precise” gene… and I’m guessing the “follow directions carefully” gene too. I’m all about – let’s just get ‘er done!<\/p>\n

    \"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

    It turned out fine and the Martha Stewart baking police didn’t even come knockin’.<\/p>\n

    \"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

    I definitely could have been more consistent with my lemon slices. I ended up only slicing 3 of the lemons because they were on the larger size. What? These don’t look paper thin?<\/p>\n

    \"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

    Lemon bubble bath, minus the soap… 1 minute and then I kicked them out of the tub so the next group could chill out.<\/p>\n

    \"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

    Single layer of lemons on parchment – I ended up blotting them with paper towels.<\/p>\n

    \"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

    I zested 4 of the 5 lemons with my microplane.<\/p>\n

    \"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

    I buttered my pan before adding the first layer of cake batter.<\/p>\n

    \"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

    First layer of batter and lemons are in place…<\/p>\n

    \"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

    Second layer of batter… thanks Dan for getting this photo.<\/p>\n

    \"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

    Second cookie sheet of lemon slices ready to be layered.<\/p>\n

    \"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

    Next up was the streusel topping…<\/p>\n

    \"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

    Timer was set for 55 minutes and it turned out to be just right. My cake tester came out clean.<\/p>\n

    \"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

    On the rack for cooling…<\/p>\n

    \"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

    My glazed masterpiece! Don’t pay attention to the hills and valleys that make up the top, ha! ha! I also might have gotten a little heavy handed with the glaze… hence the great glaze lakes.<\/p>\n

    \"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

    \"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

    \"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

    I carried that piece of cake around the backyard for a good 1\/2 hour trying to get a good shot. There is something dark and fun about the last photo – perhaps it was just me running out of daylight, but I really like it.<\/p>\n

    The cake turned out great! It was a huge hit at our get together, and it has been painfully hard to not eat a giant piece every day since.<\/p>\n

    I got over my baking fear and I’m pretty darn proud of myself. Now that Deede has moved, I have to step it up. I think I will tackle small tarts or a pie next.<\/p>\n

    Have you ever baked a cake from scratch? What’s your favorite cake flavor\/combo?
    \n\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Lemon cake is a favorite of mine. Our wedding cake was lemon and after receiving some awesome Meyer lemons from my girlfriend’s tree, I couldn’t think of a better way to use them. I am not a baker. We have several bakers in the family and trust me, I did not get the “precise” gene. … <\/p>\n

    Continue reading<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[34],"tags":[420,419,418,417],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/foodiddy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7417"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/foodiddy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/foodiddy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/foodiddy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/foodiddy.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7417"}],"version-history":[{"count":29,"href":"http:\/\/foodiddy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7417\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7475,"href":"http:\/\/foodiddy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7417\/revisions\/7475"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/foodiddy.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7417"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/foodiddy.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7417"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/foodiddy.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7417"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}