A few weeks ago I posted about how I’m totally in love with my new KitchenAid mixer. To celebrate my adventure into kitchen mixer ownership, I scrounged up whatever ingredients I had in the house and baked a pound cake. It was good.
Last weekend, I decided to continue my adventure by tackling Cynthia’s recommendation of Ina Garten’s Lemon Cake. A bit of googling and I found the recipe from the famed, barefooted Food Network star. (I wish I could share the recipe, but sadly wasn’t able to get permission. 🙁 )
I made a few tweaks to the recipe to cut down on the lemon-ness. I basically cut the recipe in half, and reduced the amount of lemon zest and lemon juice that was used. I also needed to find a buttermilk substitute, since I didn’t have any on hand. It turns out that you can add white vinegar to your milk to help simulate buttermilk, which is what I did.
Aside from a little incident where I accidentally zested part of my knuckle (ouch!) the baking experience was relatively smooth. My lovely KitchenAid mixer did an awesome job mixing the ingredients together. I even pushed her up to level 5 speed, which I thought was pretty brave on my part. She mixed everything to such a smooth texture and I’m certain my arm would’ve pooped out before the mix looked half as good.
I poured the mix into my loaf pan and an hour later, I had this:
(While this may LOOK the same as the previous pound cake loaf, trust me that it absolutely is not. The first loaf, I was a little heavy handed with the almond extract. This loaf came out perfectly.)
Totally delicious.
I think it’s safe to say that Miriam and her mixer have successfully conquered this lemon cake recipe. Conquered and eaten.
Stay tuned for Mix Master Miriam’s next mixing adventure – fresh whipped cream.
looks yummy!