Lemon Buttermilk Sheet Cake

I'm not a big lemon person. 

That being said, I always try to have a bowl of citrus on my table. It's great for making drinks, squeezing fresh juice on anything, and it brings some great color into the kitchen. 

Last week, a coworker of mine brought me some lemons. What do you do when life a coworker hands you lemons?

You make cake. 

This cake is made with two of my favorite ingredients as of late: buttermilk and cake flour. The buttermilk keeps the cake moist, and the cake flour keeps the cake light and fluffy. 

I baked this cake in a cookie sheet so it would feed a large crowd, but you can cook it in a 9x13 if you want it to be thicker. 

Lemon Buttermilk Sheet Cake

Yields: 24-30 servings (fewer servings if you make it in a 9x13)

Cake

2 1/2 cups cake flour (or 2 1/4 cups all purpose flour + 5 tbsp cornstarch)

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

3/4 cup buttermilk

1/4 cup lemon juice

1 tsp vanilla

12 tbsp butter (1 1/2 sticks) 

1 1/2 cup sugar

3 eggs + 1 egg yolk

1 tbsp lemon zest

Glaze

3 cups powdered sugar

3 tbsp lemon juice

2 tbsp buttermilk

1/4 cup sugar

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees fahrenheit. Grease and flour a cookie sheet. 
2. In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. 
3. In a small bowl or measuring cup, combine buttermilk, lemon juice, and vanilla. 
4. In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs and yolk one at a time, then add the lemon zest. 
5. Add the dry ingredients, alternating with the wet ingredients, to the butter mixture. Mix until incorporated, about 30 seconds. Pour into the prepared pan and bake for 15-22 minutes, until set. 
6. Mix together the powdered sugar, lemon juice, and buttermilk to make the glaze (it will be thick). Pour on the hot cake and spread it on the cake. Immediately sprinkle the sugar on top of the glaze. Slice with a plastic spatula or knife and enjoy! 

Lemon White Chocolate Chip Cookies

I like chewy cookies. Why do people even bake crunchy cookies?

Did you know that brown sugar is the ingredient that keeps cookies chewy instead of crunchy?! I didn't know this.

I don't really have anything else to say about these cookies except that they are good, y'all. They have very slightly crispy edges and the lemon and white chocolate work together beautifully.

Lemon White Chocolate Chip Cookies

Yields: 18-20 cookies

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1/4 cup dark brown sugar
1/4 cup white sugar
1 egg
1/2 tsp lemon juice
1 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
zest of 1 lemon
3/4 cup white chocolate chips

1. Cream together butter and sugars until light and fluffy, about 4 minutes. Add egg and lemon juice and beat for about 1 more minute.

2. In a separate bowl, mix together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and lemon zest. Add slowly to the butter/sugar mixture until just incorporated. Add in the white chocolate chips and mix until they're evenly distributed.

3. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour. Preheat oven to 350 degrees fahrenheit. Scoop cookies out onto a cookie sheet lined with silpat or parchment paper. Bake for 8 minutes [they will appear to be not done, but they will continue cooking after you take them out]. Let the cookies sit on the pan for 10 minutes before removing them to a cooling rack.

Bon appétit!

Lemon Raspberry Muffins

Finals Week! The worst and best week of the entire semester. It's the best because at BYU we get two "reading days" where we're supposed to study (I'll let you guess how much studying actually goes on...) I had some raspberries leftover and I wanted to make muffins.

Muffins are really great. Have I ever told you that? They're like little mini cakes you can eat for breakfast without anyone judging you. They're beautiful. They usually have yummy berries or chocolate chips in them. Delectable.

When you eat a cupcake, everyone knows you're eating dessert, but when you have a muffin somehow it becomes more acceptably healthy. Hey, I'm not complaining. These muffins were exactly what I needed to relieve my finals stress.

I also bought a giant thing of bubble wrap at Walmart to relieve the rest of my stress. It's working. I'm essentially stress-free and I only have one final left. What a beautiful finals week!

Lemon Raspberry Muffins

Yields: 18 muffins

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup sugar

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 eggs, lightly beaten

1 cup buttermilk (1 cup milk + 1 tsp vinegar)

1/2 cup veggie oil

1 teaspoon grated lemon zest

1 1/4 cups raspberries

1 cup powdered sugar

3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. 

2. Combine dry ingredients (flour, sugar, baking powder, salt) in a large bowl. 

3. In a separate bowl, beat eggs, buttermilk, oil, and lemon zest. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix until just incorporated. Gently fold in the raspberries. 

4. Scoop the batter into 18 muffin papers or sprayed muffin tins 2/3 full and bake for 18-20 minutes. 

5. Whisk together the powdered sugar and lemon juice and dip warm muffin tops in the glaze and let it harden slightly for about 3 minutes before eating. 

Bon appétit!

Lemon Cheesecake with White Chocolate Ganache

Saturdays are beautiful days. I love waking up and feeling absolutely free for a whole day. Now that it's finally spring here in Provo, we can actually do fun outside-y stuff. Yesterday I woke up and went for a hike up rock canyon. It's an amazing view of most of the valley (did I mention I got a horrible sunburn?)

After one of the busiest weeks of my life, I finally had the Saturday that I needed. This week I planned the Relief Society birthday party, for which I baked 216 cupcakes and made enough buttercream frosting for all of those.

But it was so fun to plan!

Balloons are the happiest things on earth. 

Anyway, when I got home after getting all sunburned at Rock Canyon, I was really craving more lemon. I had a bunch of cream cheese to use, so...

Lemon Cheesecake 

1 9-inch cheesecake

1 1/2 cups gingersnaps, smashed to smithereens

3 tbsp sugar

5 tbsp butter, melted

4-5 8 oz packages of cream cheese, room temperature

1 cup sugar

3 eggs

1 cup sour cream

1/2 tsp vanilla

3 tbsp fresh lemon juice

zest of 1 lemon

1. Mix the crushed gingersnaps, sugar, and butter together until all the gingersnaps are moistened (I used my pastry cutter). Press into the bottom of a 9 inch springform pan and bake at 325 for 10 minutes. 

2. Beat the cream cheese and sugar together for about 2 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, and beat between each. Add the sour cream and beat. Add the vanilla, lemon juice, and zest. Beat. 

3. Pour it into the crust and bake for approximately 1 hour at 325 degrees fahrenheit. Bake with a pan of water on a rack below the cheesecake. 

4. When it's done, it will be jiggly all over and more jiggly in the middle. Don't remove it from the oven-- crack the oven and turn it off. Keep it open for about 10 minutes, then close for about 30. Do this twice. 

5. Refrigerate for about 4 hours. 

Doesn't it look so pretty?

White Chocolate Ganache

1 cup white chocolate 

1/2 cup heavy cream

Microwave heavy cream until it's really hot and pour it on top of the white chocolate. Whisk it until all the chocolate is melted. Pour it on top of the lemon cheesecake. 

Top with whipped cream and lemon wedges!

Lemon Blueberry Pound Cake

It finally got warm here! Spring has arrived! After months and months of freezing snowy weather, it got warm! Happy day!

Lemon is obviously the best way invite spring back. 

I had been craving blueberries and lemon, so I decided to make a moist lemon-blueberry pound cake. 

What I thought of when I made this was the time I discovered lemon zest. I was using recipe that called for lemon zest. I asked my dad what that meant and he said, "It's the outside of the lemon grated." 

I didn't understand. Why would anyone want to eat the peel? Isn't that like eating a banana peel?

I was disgusted.

BUT... I have learned to really love lemon zest. It adds texture and taste to lemony recipes that can't be created any other way! So, I encourage you to leave the lemon zest in this recipe! Don't skip out on it!

Lemon-Blueberry Pound Cake 

Yields: 1 loaf

1 1/3 cup flour
1/4 tsp baking soda
pinch of salt
1 stick of butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
1 tbsp lemon zest
2 eggs
1/2 sour cream
2 tbsp milk
3 tbsp lemon juice
1/2 cup blueberries

1 cup powdered sugar
3 tbsp lemon juice

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees fahrenheit. Grease and lightly flour a 9x5 or 8x4 loaf pan.

2. Mix the flour, baking soda, and salt in a small bowl. In a separate medium bowl, cream butter, sugar, and lemon zest for about 4 minutes on a high speed until it's light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating for about 30 seconds after each egg.

3. In a small bowl, mix the sour cream and milk. To the butter mixture, add the flour and the sour cream mixtures, alternating between the two while mixing. Add the lemon juice and beat for 1 minute so it's well incorporated.

4. Bake at 350 for 40-45 minutes for an 8x4 or 45-50 minutes for a 9x5.

5. Whisk together the powdered sugar and lemon juice and glaze over the pound cake when it's still warm.

6. Enjoy!

Bon appétit!