Glazed Lemon Pound Cake

oooh i can never say no to some good lemon cake. one of my fave things to do is go to starbucks and get their shaken green tea lemonade (1/2 sweet) and a lemon pound cake. and my favorite part of that cake? the thick, sweet, lemony icing on top.  too bad this particular recipe doesn't have a really thick icing, but it does have great flavor and i think one of the easiest and tastiest cakes i've ever baked. 

i learned something in cooking school this week that im really trying to follow: mise en place. it literally means "put in place" in French, and it means to gather all your ingredients all measured out so when you start a recipe, you can really go with the flow and not have to stop to get something measured.  a reason why i never did this was because well, i didn't know there was such a thing, and also because i didnt want to wash all those extra dishes. haha i'll admit it! using an extra bowl for 3 teaspoons of salt is a waste when i can just measure it out from the jar! but i completely understand this approach to cooking and will respect the French :)

look how pretty it is with sliced strawberries

Recipe

Pineapple Mango Upside-Down Cake

This is Martha's recipe from her Baking Handbook, the picture was so gorgeous and sunny i just had to make it over the weekend.  It was a great learning experience because there were so many steps in this cake and it was pretty time consuming, used mostly on cutting up a whole pineapple.  If you don't know how to cut one up i suggest looking on YouTube for videos or going to howtocutapineapple.com.  Seriously.

Anyways, since the directions were kind of a lot to take in, i'll try to break it down in Carmen steps.  

1. Cut up 1 pineapple and remove the divots using the sharp end of a peeler. (this takes alot of time because you should be prepared to literally take out every single divot)
2. Slice 4 good 1/4-inch-thick slices and cut out the core with either a small cookie cutter or gently with a knife (what i did)
3. Peel and cut 1 mango and cut 4 circles from the flesh to fit into the hole that you just cut in the pineapple
4. Finely chop up all of the remaining flesh from the pineapple and mango and put it in a sieve or a cheesecloth so all the juices drain from the fruit. You want it as dry as possible.
5. Cut a piece of parchment paper to fit the bottom of a 8x8 square cake pan. butter all around and sides. Beat 1/2 cup brown sugar and 2 tablespoons of butter in a electric mixer for about 2-3 minutes.  When its done lay the brown sugar mixture on top of the parchment. Make sure its flat and even along the pan.  (while i was doing this i had no idea what this was for, but when it was done i realized it created a glaze on top of the pineapple rings.)
6. Lay the pineapple rings and mango holes on top of the brown sugar




7. Spread the chopped and drained fruit mixture on top of the rings



8. Sift together 1.5 cups of flour, 1/2 tsp salt, 1/4 tsp baking powder and 1/4 tsp baking soda.
9. Make the cake batter: Beat one stick butter with 1 cup sugar until creamy (2-3 minutes); Add 2 eggs (one at a time); Add 1 tsp pure vanilla extract; Add half of flour mixture (step 8); beat until combined; Add 1/4 cup sour cream; Add the rest of the flour mixture; Beat until everything is well combined.
10. Spread the cake batter on top of the chopped fruit



11. Bake for about 50 minutes, rotating halfway through and making sure a toothpick comes out clean when its done.
12. Let cake cool in pan on a wire rack for 30 minutes.  Then flip it over on a cake stand or a plate and remove the pan.
13. TA-DAAAA!! 

DONE!!! i was SO surprised to see it come out the way it did because i was convinced i was doing things wrong while i was making it.  but it was super yummy and moist. it tastes awesome with vanilla ice cream!  a must try (if you have about 2 hours to spare).

White Cake with Strawberries and Fresh Whipped Cream

I literally googled "best white cake ever" and got this recipe cause jase wanted a simple white cake for a lazy sunday afternoon.  Soooo good!! it tastes like a lighter version of a Sara Lee pound cake.  it was super easy to make even though i've never made a cake before.  the only thing was i only had one 9-inch spring form cake pan when the recipe made two cakes. i eyeballed the proportions and baked them one at a time and it worked out, but the baking time for me was different from the instructions which were 26 minutes and my cake was done at about 30. i kept testing it every minute until a toothpick came out dry.  I decided to forgo the chocolate icing and make a strawberry shortcake kind of dessert instead.  it turned out AMAZing.  To sweeten the strawberries use about 1/4 cup sugar and mix it up until it gets syrupy and for the whipped cream definitely put your mixing bowl and the whisk in the fridge for at least 15 minutes to help the cream form faster.  Sweeten the whipped cream with a little confectioners sugar (i use Trader Joe's Organic Powdered Sugar) and a couple drops vanilla. Voila!