Meyer lemon cake

At Christmas, my nice sister always gives us a bag of fabulous homegrown lemons from Las Vegas.  You can't find beauties like these at any price in a store.  Meyer lemons are thin-skinned, heavy and almost as sweet as oranges.

I took her advice and squeezed and froze most of the juice in ice cube trays for later.  I had one big one left and thought a fresh lemon cake sounded good. Imagine making a cake with just one lemon? That's how big they are.

I bake cakes from scratch occasionally (not often enough, John would say) and when the mood hits, there's no shortage of recipes on the Internet. If you love lemon, this is a good one:

Super Lemon Bundt Cake

2 1/4 cups flour
2 1/4 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
4 eggs
2 cups sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
2 tbs. lemon zest
3 tbs. lemon juice
1 1/4 cup whole milk
10 tbs. unsalted butter


Preheat oven to 350 and grease a Bundt pan thoroughly.

Whisk the dry ingredients together in a separate bowl.  Beat the eggs until they are thickened and pale in color, then add the sugar slowly on low. Beat until light and fluffy then add the lemon juice, zest and vanilla. Slowly pour in the dry ingredients and mix on low.

Meanwhile, heat the butter and milk in a small saucepan until melted.  Do not boil.  Pour into the batter and mix until smooth.  Batter will look alarmingly thin.

But it raises quickly and bakes in less than 45 minutes, surprisingly short for a deep Bundt cake.

The batter is sticky, so let it cool in the pan before you try and plate it.  I was in a bit of a hurry, but icing covers many sins.

This is a soft, moist cake, dense but not heavy, with a fresh lemony flavor.  The glaze is simple--just fresh lemon juice mixed with powdered sugar.  A nice light-tasting dessert for a cold winter night.