Lemon Cake w/ Orange Marshmallow Icing

A week or two ago I saw an awesome looking cake on How Sweet It Is, which by the way is one of my all time favorite food blogs! Anyway, Jessica made a lemon cake that was topped with a marshmallow icing and some coconut. I couldn't get the idea of lemon and marshmallow out of my head, so I thought I'd take her recipe, and switch it up a bit based on what we had here at home.
We really like citrus, so I added just a tiny bit of orange zest to the frosting, and it turned out really well. I also nixed the coconut , because I didn't want there to be too many different flavors going on. Thanks, Jessica for the wonderful inspiration!!!

(Props to my sister for decorating the cake!)

Lemon Cake with Orange Marshmallow Icing

Ingredients:

Cake

• 2 cups flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 cup butter, melted and cooled (ours was salted)
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• zest of 3 lemons 
• 1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
• 3 tablespoons milk 

Icing

• 4 egg whites
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla 
• orange zest to taste (I zested a whole orange and just added a little bit at a time until the icing tasted the way I wanted it to.)

Directions:

Cake

1. Preheat oven to 350 and grease a 9 inch pan. 
2. Stir together flour, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl. 
3. Whisk together eggs and sugar until combined, then add butter and vanilla. When these are all combined, stir in the zest, juice and milk. Add the dry ingredients slowly, stirring after each addition until everything is just combined. 
4. Pour into pan and bake for 25-30 minutes or until the cake tests done. 
5. Let cool completely, frost, and enjoy!

Icing

1. Combine egg whites, sugar and cream of tartar in a heat-proof bowl. Place on top of a pot that has simmering water, and whisk for about 4 minutes or until the sugar has dissolved. 
2. Transfer immediately to the bowl of a stand mixer and beat, starting at a slow speed and gradually increasing, until the mixture is glossy and forms stiff peaks. 
3. Add vanilla and zest, beat until combined!

I hope you all enjoy this cake as much as we have!!!

If you do try this recipe, please let me know what you think!

Daring Bakers March 2013--Hidden Veggies

Hi everyone!!!
This month's challenge was really fun!!!
Ruth from Makey-Cakey was our March 2013 challenge host. She encouraged us all to get experimental in the kitchen and sneak some hidden veggies into our baking, with surprising and delicious results!

I  decided that I wanted to base my recipe off of a red velvet cake that I had seen with beets in it. However, when I looked at the recipe, I thought it would be a little on the chocolate-y side, so I figured that I'd just turn it into a fudge cake. I then topped the cake with a not-too-sweet italian meringue buttercream! We even sent a couple of slices over to some friends of ours, and no one guessed that there were beets in the cake!!

(lovely decoration by my sister!)

Anyway, this was a really fun challenge and a really yummy cake!!!

Chocolate Beet Cake

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup pureed beets (one large beet was enough for me....I roasted it in the oven for about 30 minutes, in a dish with about 1/3 cup of water, then I just chopped it and blended until smooth)
• 1/2 cup oil
• 1/2 tsp vinegar (I used apple cider)
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup flour (the original recipe called for 3/4c but I found the batter to be a bit thin)
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 2/3 cup cocoa
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and whisk all of the dry ingredients together in a medium sized bowl. 
2. Stir together all of the wet ingredients and add the dry ingredients about 1/3 at a time, stirring after each addition. 
3. Pour into a greased 9 in cake pan and bake for 20-24 minutes, or until the cake tests done in the center. Remove and let cool completely before icing. 

Italian Meringue Buttercream

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 tablespoons water
• 2 egg whites
• 1 cup room temperature sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions:

1. Combine sugar and water in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil, stirring. Once it boils, stop stirring and insert a candy thermometer. 
2. While syrup is cooking, whip egg whites in the bowl of a stand mixer to soft peaks. When the syrup reaches 238-240 degrees, pour into the egg whites with the mixer on medium speed.
3. Increase speed to high and beat until room temperature.
4. Add the butter 1 or 2 tablespoons at a time until it is all incorporated. I used the whole cup, but I think that 3/4 of a cup would work just as well and maybe the icing would hold up a bit better. 
5. Add vanilla, increase speed and beat until completely smooth. 
6. Refrigerate the icing while the cake is cooling. 

Again, this was such a fun challenge and I have truly enjoyed being a part of the Daring Bakers!!