Lemon Layer Cake

Last week was Rick's birthday -- I'm married to an old geezer -- he turned 60! --  and he requested a lemon cake.  I scoured my recipe collection, as activity I thoroughly enjoy.  As a matter of fact, I think I enjoy that more than the actual baking.  Anyway, I found a recipe for an orange cake that looked exactly like what I was looking for, except it was orange flavored instead of lemon.


I knew I would probably need to add some additional sugar, because lemon juice is much more tart than orange juice.  Bottom line: I didn't add enough extra sugar.  Rick loved this cake, but it was a tad too tart for me.

I baked two layers and split them.  The filling (the part that needed a bit more sugar) is similar to the filling you would find in a lemon meringue pie.  I used it between each of the layers and on top.  The frosting, which was only applied to the outside, is a simple lemon enhanced butter cream.

It was definitely a pretty cake!

Rick's Birthday

It was Rick's birthday a couple of days ago. I always bake him whatever he requests for his birthday cake (as if I don't bake for him year round??). This year, he requested a German Chocolate Cake. I love this cake, but must confess that I had never baked one before. Off to Google I went.

The recipe I decided on can be found here. Not only was this cake scrumptious, it was pretty easy to make. The only part I skipped was where you're supposed to drizzle melted chocolate around the edge so that it drips down the side in an attractive manner. I sensed that this wasn't as easy as it looked, so I decided we didn't need that.


But seriously, who has 3 layer cake pans, besides Martha Stewart?? So, the message is, this will take a bit longer than the 1 hour estimate stated in the recipe. I would say it was more like 3 -4 hours.

Here's the birthday boy getting ready to cut the cake:



And his friend Jeff joined us for the evening:



What was for dinner, you ask? Chicken and eggplant parmigiana, with a side of spaghetti. Nothing green, in accordance with the wishes of the birthday boy, who is really just an overgrown kid at heart. Before dinner we snacked on smoked salmon spread on rice crackers (mmmm) and libations.