Tuesday, February 2, 2010

Lemonade

Someone once said, "When life gives you lemons, make lemonade."  Which means... when you find yourself in a not-so-fun situation then try to make the best of it.

Ariane - I got goosebumps when you gave me the "lemonade" award.  I was bummed, to say the least, about no-baking my way through Christmas.  This award was such a sweet uplifter for my soul.  Although, my husband would probably say that HE is the one who deserves this award for putting up with me. tee hee hee hee!

For those of you who are new to my blog... (who am I kidding, I've had the same 12 faithful readers for the past year now)...  here is a recap.

This past November we moved into a home that doesn't have a working oven... and then...

On November 25 I posted that I was thankful for a working toaster oven.

On December 7 I made no-bake snowman cookies and announced that I received my first cookie swap invitation.  {{How are you supposed to go to a cookie swap if you don't have an oven?}}

On December 13 I reminded you that I still didn't have a working oven.

On December 14 I noted links to recipes for 4 types of holiday related no-bake cookies.

On December 17 I made no-bake oreo truffles... which I will make again for valentine's day.

On December 23 I planned a no-bake Christmas dinner.

On January 3 I made no-bake mint cookies.

On January 15... drum roll please... I presented my new, working oven!  What I failed to mention in this post was that I totally burnt the coffee cake that I made and smoke was taking over the whole house.  Dear Husband was kind enough NOT to poke fun about it.

Has life given you lemons lately?  If so you can cheer up with Susan's Lemon Cake (thanks Cake Mix Doctor), if you are not in the mood for lemonade.



Napmom's review:  This cake is wonderful and lemon-ey and always a hit at parties.  I recently made the cake to celebrate Lulu's awesome cheerleading performance just so I would have pictures for this blog post.  It was very yummy!

Napmom's Glaze Tip/cheat: Originally, I wasn't crazy about the recipe for the glaze. From now on, instead of making the glaze, I just warm up some store bought vanilla icing and drizzle it over the top of the cake. Much better (in my opinion).  If you have a good cake glaze recipe then please leave me a comment... I'd love to try it sometime.

Here is the cake recipe.

Serves: 16

Preparation time: 5 to 7 minutes
Baking time: 40 minutes
Assembly Time: 5 minutes

Cake:

Vegetable oil spray for misting the pan
Flour for dusting the pan
1 package (18.25 ounces) plain yellow cake mix
1 package (3 ounces) lemon gelatin
2/3 cup vegetable oil, such as canola, corn, safflower, soybean, or sunflower
2/3 cup hot water
4 large eggs

Glaze:
1 cup confectioners' sugar, sifted
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice (from 1 lemon)
1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest (from 1 lemon)

1. Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly mist a 12-cup Bundt pan with vegetable oil spray, then dust with flour. Shake out the excess flour. Set the pan aside.

2. Place the cake mix, gelatin, oil, water, and eggs in a large mixing bowl and beat with an electric mixer on low speed for 1 minute. Stope the machine and scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Increase the mixer speed to medium and beat for 2 minutes more, scraping down the sides if needed. The batter should look thick and well blended. Pour the batter into the prepared pan, smoothing the top with the rubber spatula, and place the pan in the oven.

3. Bake the cake until it is light brown and just starts to pull away from the sides of the pan, about 40 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven and place it on a wire rack to cool for 10 minutes.

4. Meanwhile prepare the glaze Combine the confectioners' sugar, lemon juice, and lemon zest in a small bowl and stir with a wooden spoon until smooth.

5. Run a long, sharp knife around the edge of the cake and invert it onto a serving platter. Spoon the glaze evenly over the warm cake so that it drizzles down the sides and into the center. Slice and serve warm, or let it cool before slicing.

Store this cake, covered in plastic wrap or placed under a cake dome, at room temperature for up to 1 week. Or freeze it, wrapped in foil, for up to 6 months. Thaw the cake overnight on the counter before serving.


Did life hand you lemons recently?  Was there someone there to help bail you out?  If so, this cake is a wonderful way to say 'thank you.'

I will be doling out some lemon awards of my own very soon.  Thanks Ariane!

2 comments:

Mrs. Bird said...

Yum!!

SusieQ said...

That cake looks really good, but we don't have stuff like that around here for the 2 chubbys that live in this house! And it seems like you make a LOT of chub food??? I am a firm believer of the lemon/lemonade theory.. Make the best of every situation, whatever it is...