happy birthday jon!
Sunday, March 21, 2010 
I started the freshman 15 because Jon Tilton, a college student, wanted to learn how to cook on his own in a healthy way. He's come a long way since the first recipe, and today he's turning 21! That's officially a grown up! Though his Toy Story collection might indicate otherwise.
So in honour of this today's recipe is for lemony birthday cake. It's perfect for small gatherings and people who might not be into chocolate (*gasp* the horror!).
You will need:
- 2 mixing bowls
- lemon zester & press
- a spatula
- an electric mixer
- an 8 inch round cake pan
Ingredients:
- 1 cup whole grain all purpose & pastry flour
- 1 1/2 tsp minit tapioca
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 3/4 cups turbinado cane sugar (or splenda)
- zest of 1 lemon
- 1/3 cups fresh squeezed lemon juice (about 3 lemons)
- 3 egg yolks
- 4 egg whites
First thing's first, preheat your oven to 350°F & grease your cake pan.
Next up mix the dry ingredients together in a mixing bowl. (Yes, Jake, the tapioca IS important) Then zest & juice your lemon. If you have a fancy zester go ahead and use that, I have one made by Zyliss and it's excellent. If you don't have a lemon zester you can use a cheese grater or microplane. If you don't know what either of those things are see your local kitchen store. Make sure you wash your lemons pretty well because most of them have a waxy seal on the outside. Next juice your lemons with your lemon press into a measuring cup. If you don't have a lemon press, squeezing really hard works too. Try pressing a spoon into the middle while you squeeze & the juice will come out better. Just watch out that you don't get any in your eye! When you've got all the juice (and no pits) pour it into the dry ingredients.
Then you'll need to separate your eggs. We've covered this before, see "The Key to a Woman's Heart is Pancakes" Beat your egg whites in a smaller mixing bowl until they're foamy but not too stiff. The egg yolks can go straight into the rest of the batter. Mix the dry ingredients, yolks & lemon together until thoroughly mixed. Next take your egg whites and gently fold them into the batter with your spatula.
Fill your cake pan with the batter & bake for 40 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. (if that last statement confused you it means stick a toothpick in the middle and pull it out. If there is no goop it's cooked! And no, Jake, you cannot just use a fork.)
Set the cake on a rack to cool before you try and remove it from the pan. When it's mostly cool pop it out onto a serving plate. The easiest way is to flip the plate upside down on top of the cake pan. Then grab the cake pan & the plate tightly together and flip it back. Voila! Birthday cake!
A simple icing is cream cheese, the juice of 1 lemon & a touch of sugar. If you're feeling fancy top it with sliced strawberries & lemon zest.
Happy Birthday Jon!
Reader Comments (1)
Thanks Kat! You're amazingly awesome. :)