Lemon Squares ☀

I've been FORCED to bake this week.  How terrible!  ...  With all the craziness happening right now and work being super busy there has been little time for anything, never mind my precious baking!  And also, strangely enough, there haven't been too many events, or reasons to bake or make things for (at least not ones that I can disclose right now!) so I found myself come to the end of the weekend with nothing to bake about. 

HMPHH.  So when Tuesday rolled around, and a glorious spare hour came to me between work and work I jumped on the chance to bake something delicious!  No time to go to the shop, so I was lucky enough to flick through a recipe book of 'Cakes and Slices' and come across Lemon Squares that didn't need more lemons than I had, and the 1 1/2 lemons sitting in my fridge would work perfectly.  Phew!  So I got right to it.

 

I'm so glad I did it as well... Since I started this blog in January 2013 I have really made it my aim to blog EVERY week about something, no matter how awesome or how small the project was.  There have been busy times that I thought I had nothing to blog about, but nothing has compared to how things are right now.  So whilst no one was physically forcing me to bake and to blog this week, my own mind definitely was - and I'm glad I did, because not only were the lemon squares perfectly lemony and delicious, but also it means I'm here - writing a post even if I don't really have time for it!
Hopefully I'll have enough to blog about the next couple of months too... we'll see, week after week what I can come up with.  And let's face it, baking is a go-to option even if no sewing or crafting is happening!

Well, after all that rambling about being busy, let's actually get to the lemon squares - it was the point of this after all!

 

Ingredients:

125g unsalted butter
75g sugar
155g plain, all-purpose flour

Topping:

4 eggs, at room temperature, lightly beaten
250g sugar
3 tablespoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest
30g plain, all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder

 

Method:

1.  Preheat the oven to 350°F/ 180°C.  Lightly grease a 9 x 9 inch tin and line the base with baking paper. (Yes, these first few photos show a rectangular tin as that is what the original recipe stated, however I wanted a slightly thicker bottom crust, so I made the decision and switched to a square tin instead!).

 

2.  Cream the butter and sugar in the mixer until light and fluffy.   

 

3.  Fold in the flour with a metal spoon. 

 

4.  Press into the tin and bake for 20 - 24 minutes, or until golden and firm.

 

Leave to cool.

 

 



5.  For the topping - beat the eggs and sugar using the mixer (or electric beaters) for 2 minutes, or until light and fluffy. 

 

6.  Stir in the lemon juice and lemon zest.

 

 

 

7.  Sift together the flour and baking powder, and gradually whisk into the egg mixture.  

 

 

8.  Pour onto the base (when cool) and bake for 25-28 minutes, or until just firm.

 

 

9.  Leave to cool in the tin.  Cut into squares and if desired, dust with icing sugar before serving.

 

After baking, I was desparately hoping the squares cooled in time to take some to my choir rehearsal... and luckily, just in time they were!  We got to enjoy them mid-rehearsal... I may have eaten a few too many, especially as I had one more when I shared them with my husband later that evening! 



I'm glad I chose the smaller pan so that I got more of a biscuit-y crust.  I think I could have done with cooking it a bit longer (now accounted for in the recipe) but it still had a crunch to it.  And my favourite pieces were definitely the edge pieces that had a nice caramelised edge to them!

 

 

With enough squares left for a couple more days, we're all set!  But be warned... You can't just eat one of them!  Which is why I'm glad I cut them into small little squares instead of big pieces... but that's up to you :)

No Spring in Toronto... only Winter and then a couple of weeks later WHAM Summer!  These Lemon Squares are a perfect flavour and taste for a sunny day!

 

☀  Enjoy!  ☀

 

Summer Bash Nautical Cake

Whew what a busy day!  I can't believe it's the end of the weekend already and I'm only just getting this written... And that camping food post I promised, oops still not got around to that yet... all in good time!

Yesterday we had a super fun family celebration with my husband's family, cousins, 2nd cousins and family friends etc all up north in cottage country celebrating by the lake.  Lots of family, food and fun for everyone and as soon as the email came around asking who wanted what food contribution I jumped right into the cake slot :-)

May I introduce my 2013 Summer Bash Nautical Themed Cake:  Earl Grey Tea Cake with Orange Buttercream and Marzipan and Fondant decoration...

Last year I made my Summer Citrus Cake - lots of lemon with pretty citrus slices to decorate so this year I thought I'd go a different route.  And I did ... completely differently!

I LOVE to bake and decorate with fondant, however many family members don't like the taste of fondant, and I know on a hot day that a heavy cake with sticky fondant perhaps isn't what you want to eat.  Instead I went with marzipan to top the cake - a favourite with all of my Estonian in-laws!

As I've mentioned before, I love the chance to try something new, and although usually I don't try out a recipe before baking for an event (I know I should :-S) - I just hope for the best... this time I was putting together some recipes and some flavour combinations that I hadn't come across before so this time was an exception for me.

Late last Saturday night I baked a batch of Earl Grey tea cupcakes, added an orange buttercream layer and placed a round of marzipan and candy lemon on top to decorate!  This was the recipe I wanted... A few tweaks for the actual cake, but I am so grateful to The Gingered Whisk for the basic recipe I used, it was great!

With about 50 people at the party I thought I would go for a full 9" cake and am so excited that we hardly came home with any!  (Jonathan perhaps isn't as pleased about that!).  I love the flavour combination of the tea and the orange, and then the orange and the marzipan too.  Not giving up fondant completely I did the fun parts with fondant, setting the nautical theme with an anchor, rope, sail boats with a buttercream pearl border for the sea (or lake!).

There are some definite parts I wish had been better, neater etc but pretty pleased overall.  I wish in hindsight I didn't overlap the rope and cut it flush together at the back of the cake... I wish my royal icing glue was not as visible... I wish the sides of the cake were straight so the ships would lay flat on the marzipan... But apart from that, the taste was yummy (best with a bite of buttercream and cake at the same time) I think, I hope!

Here's the recipe - I'd definitely recommend it and it was dense enough to decorate over and lasted all day with nothing collapsing!!  (Something I was worried about on the drive up there :-S!)

Ingredients for the Cake:

1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature

2 cups sugar

3 eggs

3 cups flour

4 1/2 tsp baking powder

1 1/4 tsp salt

1 cup milk I used 3.25% whole milk

4 tbsp loose earl grey tea I used Teaopia's Lady Earl Grey which had slightly more lemon as well, more citrus yey!  Just what I had in the cupboard :-)

1 tsp vanilla

Method:

1.  Preheat the oven to 350°F

2.  Prepare two 9" sandwich cake tins.  Butter the tins, place a circle of parchment paper at the bottom, butter that and then flour the sides - shaking off the excess.

 3.  Grind the tea - with a mortar and pestle/food processor - or like me I used a coffee grinder that has yet to be used for coffee!  Not quite to a powder but don't leave any bits too big!

4.  In a small saucepan, scald your milk until almost simmering - turn the heat off and add the tea.  Steep while you prepare the cake.

5.  In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.

6.  Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well between each addition and add the vanilla.

7.  In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt.

8.  Add the flour mixture to the butter mix in 3 additions, beginning and ending with the flour.  

9.  Take out 1 1/2 tablespoons of the steeped tea leaves but add rest of the milk and tea mixture to the mix and stir until just combined.  

10.  Add the remaining dry ingredients and mix until combined - don't overstir!

11.  Divide the batter between the two pans, and bake for 30-35 minutes.

12.  When a cake tester comes out clean remove the cakes from the oven and cool in the tins for 10 minutes in the pan and then turn out on to a wire rack.  Cool completely before frosting.

Ingredients for the Orange Buttercream:

8 cups icing sugar (powdered sugar)

1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature

1/2 cup milk

2 tsp vanilla

1 tablespoon orange juice

2 tablespoons orange zest

Method:

1.  In a large bowl, mix together the butter, orange zest and vanilla extract until all lumps are gone.

2.  Add the milk and slowly mix until incorporated.

3.  Slowly add about 1/2 cup icing sugar at a time mixing on a low speed.

4.  Once all the icing sugar is in, cream on high for 2 minutes.

5.  Mix in the orange juice.

I sandwiched the cakes and filled them with buttercream.  Once filled, I frosted the outside of the cake and then added a circle of marzipan to the top of the cake, and then also places the sides of marzipan around the edge.

I piped the pearl border (my first time trying this!) with blue vanilla buttercream, and then placed all of the fondant decorations I had created while the cake cooled.  

For the anchor I used a large cookie cutter I bought a couple of months ago... I searched EVERYWHERE for a smaller version too, but nowhere to be found in this exact shape.  I'll have to order online for next time.  I cut out the star hole at the top with a star icing puncher I have from Wilton.

A small boat cookie cutter I do have!  Then I cut out a triangle of white fondant, and then with the same star cutter placed a red star on each sail.

And the part I was pretty excited about - the rope!  I rolled out two long sausages of brown fondant and braided them together - just a simple one over the other! 

I definitely ran out of photos at this point, oops!  Hopefully the finished look gives you an idea of how I created the ships, anchor and rope!

Hope everyone is having a great Summer so far!  I'm off to England tomorrow (wahoo!) for a quick visit to see my family... Maybe there will be some time to catch up on some posts at the airport, but we'll see!  Ciao for now :-)

Celebrate with Cake!

It's time to celebrate!

And what better way to celebrate than with cake?!

This week I am super excited to be celebrating 6 months of my blogging life :-)  That is 6 months since I started this blog, writing weekly posts, sharing my projects at some amazing link parties, being featured on some incredible sites and really learning a LOT about the blogging world and how to do it better!

There are some things in particular I am really proud of and some projects that have had some really kind and positive feedback on and so I wanted to share my celebrations with some cake!

These are some cakes I have made (and eaten) recently and haven't had the chance to post about, so I thought - why not put them all together and have one big feast of 6 cakes for 6 months!

Today I'll be sharing a few more photos and info about the 6 cakes featured today in my celebration of cakes, and next week it'll be Celebrate with Cakes Part 2 - all about 6 months of blogging.  6 things I'm proud of or have learnt, and 6 aims and ideas I have for the next 6 months!

So here are the 6 cakes in a little more detail:

1.  Summer Cake ~  Lemon sponge cake, with a raspberry jam and butter cream filling, decorated with white fondant and buttercream piped grass, topped with fondant flowers and butterflies.

This was the second time I made a cake for my choir's silent auction.  We were raising funds for the choir to go to Festival 500 in Newfoundland - and they just got back!  Check out their flash mob in Avalon Mall - so fun...I was really sad to miss it!

I was super happy that the winning bid on the cake went to a choir member's Mum whose birthday it was the next day!  Ready made birthday cake :-)  I hope she enjoyed it!!

2.  Mini farm cupcakes ~  A lot of you have seen the Quiet Book I made for a special little 2 year old's birthday this year (click here if you haven't!), and these are the edible gift we took along as well!  She enjoyed a super fun morning at the farm - on a 'Rise and Shine' theme, with breakfast served for the guests in the barn - what an amazing idea!  Sadly I had to miss the party (REALLY SADLY as I LOVE the farm, like really love!) but we did get to spend the afternoon and evening with our friends, celebrating the birthday girl and hanging out in the sunshine!

Seeing as she enjoyed a farm party, I made some mini lemon cupcakes and frosted them with piped 'grass' buttercream.  The cupcake toppers were rolled out fondant which I cut out with my mini animal cookie cutters that I usually use for Easter!  A baby pig, bunny rabbit and chick, as well as some little flowers, and the same butterfly you also see on the Summer cake.

3.  Banana Loaf ~  This is the most recent of all of these cakes, having just been made this week!  A few bananas left over, and me missing baking (it had been at least 2 weeks of no baking!!!!!  VERY unusual) meant it was time to try something different.

Jonathan's family just returned from their 2 week vacation, so we bought them a few groceries and left them with this little homemade treat to welcome them home :-)

Oh yes of course there were a couple of cupcakes baked too, we couldn't give them the whole thing without trying it ourselves!  It was a recipe I hadn't tried before as well so it was good to check it out (hehe)...and confirmed...it was yummy!  Thank you Mary Berry via Queen of Everything for the recipe inspiration!

Something I had thought of when first thinking of making the banana loaf was the banana embellishment!  I sliced up the extra banana I had, and laid it on top of the batter just before putting it in the oven.  I was not sure how this would turn out, and about half way through cooking was worried they were sinking - but the batter rose, and pushed up the banana slices with it and it turned out almost perfectly!  Yey...and phew!

4.  Trio of mini cupcakes ~  Did anybody notice I like lemon?  Again these mini cupcakes were lemon, this time with a vanilla buttercream frosting, piped in a couple of different ways.

But why a trio?!  Well we had a trio of celebrations in June.

First of all we were invited to Jonathan's cousins' church for his little cousin's baptism, and a celebratory bbq at their place afterwards!  He got the blue cupcakes with white fondant stars!

That same Sunday also happened to be Father's Day!  Hence the tie on these ones, with a smart black and white cupcake wrapper.

And the third and final celebration that day was Jonathan's Great-Aunt's birthday!  Pretty spring cupcake wrapper with flowers for her :-)

Whilst the cupcakes were made specifically with those celebrating in mind, we did all get to share and eat them!

5.  Brown Sugar and Coffee Muffins ~ This is another set of mini cupcakes, but with a recipe that I have been meaning to try for a LONG time now!

I baked these cupcakes for a church lunch event, and figured, why not make mini ones, more cakes this way even if they were smaller.  But at these church events - desserts are not sparse!

I found this recipe on Pinterest a long time ago... I loved the sound of the brown sugar muffins, and the coffee/icing sugar glaze on top.  Here's where it originally came from (just click!), and oh how I wish my glaze looked as pretty as hers did!

6.  English Country Garden Cupcakes ~ Well I couldn't make a cake for my choir auction, without baking something for the choir to enjoy after the concert!  We had worked hard after all!?

I gave them a taste of what the silent auction cake was, with a lemon cupcake and the same grass buttercream, with flowers and butterflies to top them off.

We all enjoyed them at our post-concert dinner/pub trip ♫

So here it is, the start of my week of celebrating 6 months of blogging!

I hope you can join me next week and read all about the 6 things I have learnt and enjoyed in 6 months of blogging, as well as the next 6 aims I have for Sew Lah Tea Dough :-)  I'm excited for the next six months and what it will bring!!