Lemon Butter Cake

My children sometimes challenge me in ways I never thought imaginable. They can be fiery, and they test their boundaries at every turn keeping me forever on my toes. We are trying our best to take advantage of the summer break and we wish desperately that Mother Nature help us out a little. The incessant rain and gloomy skies haven't given us much motivation to rejoice so instead we rely on indoor activities like, practicing our best Paula Dean accent to fulfill each day. Alex's impression of Paula Dean is almost perfection while Sammy and I still have work to do.

"Welcome to Pawla Deeen's Besst Diashes. Today we're goinna bake a deliciouz, Lemon. Butter. Cake. Don't that jes make yer mouth warter?"

The other day I baked a cake even though there was no birthday or anniversary to celebrate. I just thought a cake might be the thing we needed to lift our spirits. That and a little Paula Dean.

Modern Classic, Book 2, by Donna Hay is absolutely wonderful. Donna's recipes are time savers and require few ingredients which is exactly the type of baking I enjoy most -- simple.

Lemon Butter Cake

Recipe from: Modern Classic, Book 2, by Donna Hay

Ingredients:

Cake:
4 oz butter, very well softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup caster (superfine) sugar (can be found at William Sonoma or other specialty food stores)
3 eggs
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, sifted
1/2 teaspoon baking powder, sifted
1/4 teaspoon baking soda, sifted
1/2 cup milk
1 tablespoon zest of lemon

Preheat oven to 300 degrees.

Place the butter, vanilla, sugar, eggs, lemon zest, flour, baking powder, baking soda and milk in the bowl of an electric mixer and beat on low speed until combined.

Increase speed to high and then beat the mixture until it is smooth.

Grease a 8 inch round cake tin and line with non-stick baking paper. Spoon in the mixture and bake for 1 hour 5 minutes or until cooked when tested with a skewer. Allow to cool for 5 minutes then turn onto a wire rack. Serve plain or spread with basic icing.

Basic Icing:
Sift 1 1/2 cups confectioner's sugar into a bowl. Mix through 2 tablespoons water or 2 tablespoons lemon juice and 1 teaspoon lemon zest until smooth.