The Starving Musician Recipes
My Mom's Mother's Mother's Lemon-Glazed Cake
Makes 1 9"x13" cake.
This is our family's favorite cake. My mom, grandma, or
great-grandmother made this cake every Easter or Mother's Day, so you knew
Spring had arrived when the ingredients appeared in their kitchens. (Similar
recipes have been kicking around for a while. Here's theirs, which I
found scribbled on a piece of paper in Mom's recipe box.) It's
great for a picnic, BBQ, or brunch, because it's easy to make ahead, is
served from the pan, and people love it, so it goes fast. The small amount
of fat in the glaze makes this cake lower in fat than other frosted cakes.
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1 pkg. lemon cake mix (the kind with
pudding in the mix--My mom uses Betty Crocker Supermoist) to make 9"x13"
oblong cake
-
Eggs, canola oil, and water to prepare
cake mix according to package directions
Lemon Glaze:
-
zest of 1 lemon, yellow part only
-
1/3 cup freshly-squeezed lemon juice
(pulp is OK, but no seeds! Don't use the bottled stuff.)
-
2 Tablespoons water
-
2 Tablespoons butter (not unsalted)
-
2 cups confectioner's sugar (also known
as powdered sugar, 10X sugar, icing sugar), fluffed with a fork before
measuring to lighten it a bit
Bake lemon cake according to package
directions for 9"x13" oblong pan. Ten minutes before cake is due to come out
of the oven, prepare glaze: in 1 qt. saucepan over low heat, melt together
water and butter. Whisk in lemon juice and zest, and slowly whisk in
confectioner's sugar to thoroughly combine. Continue whisking until mixture
is hot, but do not boil. Set aside to keep warm while cake cools in its pan
for 10-15 minutes. (Glaze will taste very tart but will mellow out on the
cake.) Using dinner fork, poke evenly-spaced holes in warm cake. Whisk warm
glaze briefly to reincorporate; spoon glaze evenly over warm cake. (It will
look like too much glaze for the cake, and you may even worry that the cake
will float away. Relax; it will work.) Let stand at least 30 minutes to
allow cake to absorb glaze. Serve while still slightly warm, or at room
temperature. Store in the pan, tightly-covered.
Tips: 1. If a lemon cake mix isn't available, you can use a yellow cake
mix, substituting 3 Tablespoons freshly-squeezed lemon juice and 1 teaspoon
lemon zest for 3 Tablespoons of the water called for in the directions, but
it's not quite as good.
2.
If you can't find a cake mix with pudding in the mix, prepare the cake using
a Duncan Heinz lemon cake mix, 1 3 1/2 oz. package instant vanilla pudding
mix, 4 eggs, 1/2 cup water, and 1/4 cup canola oil. (If lemon cake mix isn't
available, substitute 3 Tablespoons freshly-squeezed lemon juice and 1
teaspoon lemon zest for 3 Tablespoons of the water and use instant lemon
pudding mix.)
Creative Options: Even Lower fat version: We've never tried it
because the original is so amazing, but you can reduce the fat in this cake
even more by preparing the cake according to the lower-fat directions on
some cake mix boxes (which usually involves substituting applesauce for up
to half the oil). The result may be somewhat drier.
Recipes ©2004 Randi Reed
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