Lemon-Raspberry Cake

This may have taken all day to make, required two trips to the grocery store (with 3 children in tow… not an easy or simple feat), and caused undo stress trying to keep my middle child from poking holes in the entire thing as he tried to eat the icing as I was decorating it… but it was worth it.

The cake itself was a little heavy: I whipped the egg whites in the stand mixer, as the directions instructed, and about 10 minutes later I called it a day.  I should have used the hand mixer.  But it was still delicious, and the icing was amazing.

If you do make this? Make sure you have enough eggs on hand.  It requires a full 14.  You can knock out some by using store-bought lemon curd, but the homemade lemon curd was so rich and delicious and not at all hard to make, so I do recommend making it.

Happy birthday to B, the most wonderful husband ever!

Lemon-Raspberry Cake, from Flour: Spectacular Recipes from Boston’s Flour Bakery + Cafe, by Joanne Chang.  Pg 172

Shaker Lemon Pie

The only America’s Test Kitchen recipe that’s been a total dud!  It was my fault, but I think the instructions should have been more clear.  It said to slice the lemons thinly, but did not elaborate on what “thinly” meant.  I totally missed the mark, and think I cut them thickly.

When you pick out the giant chunks of lemons, what’s left is pretty good.  Basically, it’s a crust with some lemon cream.  The lemon cream is very good, and I bet a pie full of it would have been excellent.

Shaker Lemon Pie, from Cook’s Country Best Country Recipes: Every Recipe, Testing, and Tasting from the Third Season of Cook’s County from America’s Test Kitchen.  Pg. 2.