Day 150 - Lemon Bunt Cake

This after noon at the lake we celebrated my brother's 19th birthday (the real deal is June 1 and he is coming to KC for that - whahoo!!) Anyway, per his request I made a lemon cake. Earlier this week I had trouble finding a good recipe for lemon cake, which kind of surprised me. I ended up borrowing a cook book from my neighbor Katie called, Cupcakes from the Cake Doctor by Anne Byrn and used the recipe for Lemon Chiffon Cupcakes (but decided to use my bunt cake pan, because I had never used it before and I thought it would be easier)

Ingredients:
5 large egg whites
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
1 package (18.25 oz.) plain lemon cake mix (I used Duncan Hines)
6 oz. (3/4 cup) lemon yogurt
1/2 cup vegetable oil (I used Canola oil)
3 large egg yolks
(2 large lemons for zest & juice)
2 table spoons pure lemon juice
1 teaspoon grated lemon zest

Preheat the oven to 350F. (Since we were at the cabin and it was a bit crazy in the kitchen I didn't take too many pictures.) Zest the lemons into a small bowl & set aside. Juice the lemons and set aside. Separate egg white & yolks, putting 5 egg whites in one medium sized mixing bowl and 3 yolks in a small bowl.

Set the yolks aside and add the cream of tartar to the egg whites. Beat the egg whites & cream of tartar with an electric mixer on high speed until stiff peaks form. Again, being at the lake had some restrictions, for example we don't have an electric mixer out there. I ended up having to repeat this step a second time to get the egg whites to the right consistency (or close enough).

In a large bowl combine the cake mix, yogurt, oil, egg yolks, lemon juice and lemon zest and using the same beaters (or whisk) from the egg whites mix until just blended, scrap the sides of the bowl and mix on high for 2 minutes more.

Once the batter is smooth and well blended fold in the egg whites, until the mixture is light and well combined.

Pour the mixture into the bunt cake pan (or cupcake liners) and bake for about 25-30 minutes (again, things were crazy so I didn't even set a time, but just checked on the cake every few minutes after the first 20 minutes passed) for cupcakes bake for 20-24 min.

Once I stuck in a butter knife and it came out clean I took the cake out and let it cool a bit.

Then I found a tray to move the cake to. Since this was my first ever attempt at a bunt cake, I figure it turned out OK (definitely not the beautiful cake I had in mind though). Anyone have any tricks for a successful bunt cake pan removal?

Once the cake cooled I drizzled a simple lemon glaze over the top:

3 large lemons, juiced (or enough for 6 tablespoons of juice)
1 1/4 cup confectioners' sugar, sifted

Place the lemon juice in a small sauce pan over medium low heat and simmer, uncovered until the juice has reduced by half. Remove the pan from the heat and whisk in the sugar until smooth. Spoon over cake.

As we were enjoy a pretty nice day at the lake, we lost track of time and my brother ended up having to leave quickly for work, so we rushed to get the candles in the cake and sing happy birthday - so no pictures. Despite the fact that this cake was anything but beautiful it sure did taste yummy! And, that's all my almost 19-year old brother was hoping for, so I call it a success!

And lastly, because these are too adorable not to post, here are a couple pictures of Liam I took as he sat on the counter and watched, my mom & sisters and I work.