Lemon Cake with Mix and Instant Pudding #Recipe Peg Cochran/Margaret Loudon

 

 

I wanted to make a cake for Easter dinner and it had to be gluten free.  I also wanted it to be easy (who doesn't, right?) I decided one of those cakes you doctor up a mix with things like a pudding mix would be great.  (Spoiler:  it was!) Unfortunately, I couldn't find a box of lemon pudding or a box of gluten free lemon cake mix.  No problem, I substituted a gluten free white cake mix and vanilla pudding.  The lemon flavor from the lemon juice and zest might have been more subtle but it was still good.  This is also meant to be baked in a pretty bundt pan but I have horrible luck getting the cake out of mine so I decided a plain, utilitarian tube pan would be safer.  You're supposed to dribble the glaze artfully over the top of the cake.  Well, that didn't quite work out for me.  I obviously need more practice!  But the cake was glazed and that's really the most important thing, right?  This recipe was adapted from one The Seasoned Mom.

 

CAKE:

1 (15.25 ounce) box lemon cake mix (can substitute white or yellow cake mix)

1 box instant lemon pudding mix (can substitute vanilla)

¾ cup water

¼ cup freshly-squeezed lemon juice

½ cup vegetable oil

4 large eggs

 

GLAZE

1 ¼ cups confectioners' sugar, sifted

2-3 tablespoons freshly-squeezed lemon juice

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease and flour a Bundt cake pan, or tube pan or use cooking spray.

Using  an electric mixer on medium-high speed tbeat together the cake mix, dry pudding mix, water, lemon juice, oil and eggs for about 2 minutes.

 

Pour the batter into the prepared pan.   

 

Bake for 40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the cake comes out clean.

 

Cool for 10 minutes in the pan, then invert onto a wire rack to cool completely before glazing.

Whisk together the confectioners' sugar, 2 tablespoons of lemon juice, and the vanilla extract until you have a thick, pourable glaze. Add more lemon juice to thin, or more sugar to thicken.  Drizzle over the cooled cake.

 

 

  

 

When a wealthy local benefactor is slain on the farm, Monica has to figure out who wanted to cash in on the killing . . .

As Sassamanash Farms hunkers down for the long winter, Monica agrees to let the local animal shelter host their Christmas-themed fundraiser there. The draw of the event—a chance to have your pet’s picture taken with Santa—brings in animal lovers from far and wide. But when the crackling fire dies down and the festive holiday props are all carted away, Monica discovers a very un-jolly sight next to the barn—the dead body of one of the shelter’s biggest donors. With the farm’s good name in jeopardy, Monica goes to work to root out the killer.

By all accounts the victim was a charming and generous supporter of the shelter, but Monica discovers that he was loathed by those who knew him for being tight-fisted and unscrupulous. Suspecting money might be the motive, she turns her sights on his stylish wife and her lavish lifestyle, along with the manager of the struggling shelter, who stood to collect a hefty bequest from his will. But as Monica closes in on one final clue, the culprit closes in on her. Caught unawares, she’ll have to survive the brutal winter weather, as well as a cold-blooded killer . . . 

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Lemon Sour Cream Cake @MaddieDay #giveaway

MADDIE DAY here, with a yummy cake and a celebration! 

Ten years ago exactly, I made the decision to leave my day job as full-time software technical writer. It had been my most recent career of several, and it was a good one for me for about twenty years. I worked with words and with smart engineers and other writers. Pay was good, dress was casual, hours were flexible. What's not to like?

Except...I really, really wanted to write more crime fiction. I had one mystery out. The first Local Foods mystery was releasing the following month. I'd written the second and had a contract for a third, and I had several short stories in print. 

But I was fitting it all in around the edges of a demanding job involving WRITING, with an hour commute each way. 

So I conferred with my Hugh (it helped that we'd downsized the previous year and have no mortgage), mustered my nerve, and gave notice.

I never would now be sitting here with nearly thirty published books and more on the way if I hadn't ended my five-year plan three years early. I'm so glad I did, and that deserves cake! 

So I bring you this delicious lemon sour cream cake. Easy to make, and easy on the tongue.

Lemon Sour Cream Cake

Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

2 cups white sugar

1 cup butter at room temperature

3 eggs

1 cup sour cream (option: substitute whole milk plain yogurt)

1 large lemon, zested and juiced, divided (note: always zest before juicing)

½ cup powdered sugar, sifted

2 tablespoons butter, melted

Directions

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Grease and flour a fluted tube pan, such as a Bundt pan.

Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt in a bowl. Combine sugar and butter in a large bowl; beat with an electric mixer until smooth and creamy. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. 

Add flour mixture, sour cream, and lemon zest. Beat until smooth.

Pour batter into the prepared pan.

Bake in the preheated oven until a toothpick inserted into center comes out clean, 55 to 60 minutes. 

Cool on a wire rack for 5 minutes. Run a table knife around edges to loosen. Invert carefully onto a serving plate or cooling rack. Let cool completely, about 1 hour.

Stir 3 teaspoons lemon juice, powdered sugar, and butter in a small bowl until a thick glaze forms. Poke holes in the top of the cake with a chopstick. Drizzle glaze over cooled cake.

Enjoy with tea, coffee, or sherry – and a good book.

The latest in each of my series, plus my new short story collection.

Readers: What's your favorite flavor of Bundt cake? Have you had a momentous career change? I'll send one commenter your choice of one of my latest books! (Make sure you include your email address.)

📕🎂📚

My most recent release is A Questionable Death and Other Quaker Midwife Mysteries, out in April 2023.

The next book will be Murder at a Cape Bookstore, releasing in August, 2023.

Following that in quick succession will be "Murderous Mittens" in Christmas Mittens Murder and Murder Uncorked, both featuring my new wine bar manager Cece Barton.

Check out all my writing!

We hope you'll visit Maddie and her Agatha Award-winning alter ego Edith Maxwell on our web site, sign up for our monthly newsletter, visit us on social media, and check our all our books and short stories.

Maddie Day (aka Edith Maxwell) is a talented amateur chef and holds a PhD in Linguistics from Indiana University. An Agatha Award-winning and bestselling author, she is a member of Sisters in Crime and Mystery Writers of America and also writes award-winning short crime fiction. She lives with her beau and sweet cat Martin north of Boston, where she’s currently working on her next mystery when she isn’t cooking up something delectable in the kitchen.

Lemon Cake from @TinaKashian1

Hello from TINA KASHIAN! I love chocolate, but I also enjoy desserts with lemon. Lemon meringue pie, lemon bars, lemon pound cake, and lemon cookies. I recently found a recipe for a lemon cake that is perfect for dessert or in the morning with my cup of tea. I hope you like this one as well.

Ingredients:

½ pound butter

3 cups granulated sugar

5 egg yolks, beaten

4 cups flour

1 cup milk

Juice of one lemon

Grated rind of one lemon

½ teaspoon baking soda

5 egg whites, stiffly beaten

Directions:

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Cream the butter, adding the sugar gradually, until light and fluffy. Add the remaining ingredients, except the egg whites and confectioners’ sugar. Mix until well blended. 

Stiffly beat the egg whites until frothy. I used my electric mixer.

Fold in the beaten egg whites.

 

Divide the batter between a two 8x8 pans.

 

 Bake for one hour or until an inserted toothpick in the center of the cake comes out clean.

 

Serve with ice cream if you'd like. Enjoy!

 

 

 

What is your favorite dessert? Please share!

 

Hummus and Homicide is the first book in my Kebab Kitchen mystery series.

http://amzn.to/2ADDHqr

 

When Lucy Berberian quits her Philadelphia law firm and heads home to Ocean Crest, she knows what she’s getting—the scent of funnel cake, the sight of the wooden roller coaster, and the tastes of her family’s Mediterranean restaurant. But murder wasn’t on the menu…

Things are slow in the off-season in this Jersey Shore town, but Lucy doesn’t mind. She doesn’t even mind waitressing at the Kebab Kitchen. Her parents have put in a new hummus bar, with every flavor from lemon to roasted red pepper. It’s fun to see their calico cat again, and to catch up with her old BFF, who’s married to a cop now.

She could do without Heather Banks, though. The Gucci-toting ex-cheerleader is still as nasty as she was back in high school…and unfortunately, she’s just taken over as the local health inspector. Just minutes after eating at the Kebab Kitchen—where she’s tallied up a whole list of bogus violations—she falls down dead in the street. Word on the grapevine is it’s homicide, and Lucy’s the number one suspect…

Recipes Included!

Please visit www.tinakashiancom to sign up for my newsletter, find out what I’m working on, and to enter my monthly giveaways of one of my books and books from other authors.

 

Tina Kashian is an attorney and a former mechanical engineer whose love of reading for pleasure helped her get through years of academia. Tina spent her childhood summers at the Jersey shore building sandcastles, boogie boarding, and riding the boardwalk Ferris wheel. She also grew up in the restaurant business, as her Armenian parents owned a restaurant for thirty years. Tina still lives in New Jersey with her supportive husband and two daughters.

Please visit her website at www.tinakashian.com to join her newsletter, receive delicious recipes, enter contests, and more!

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