Lemony Fourth of July Cake with Coconut Buttercream Frosting

My mom usually makes a flag cake every Fourth of July.  You know, the quintessential 9x13 cake rectangle with blueberries in one corner and slices of strawberries forming neat stripes across the rest of the cake.    And while I have nothing against those berry flag cakes, I did want to try something different to bring to our Fourth of July barbecue with our friends. 

I got the cake design from 17 and Baking - I had seen this cake on the website last year, and have been itching to make it ever since.  The cake is a lemon white cake - I used only egg whites so that the white layers wouldn't look yellow and so the blue and red colors would come through bright and clear.  The cake is very moist, tender and delicious - my only complaint is that I had trouble cutting and layering the cakes.  If I could do it over, I would probably use a sturdier cake, like Dorie Greenspan's Perfect Party Cake.  I used concentrated gel coloring to dye the cake batter - you'll need a lot to make the colors bright.  I used a little more than a quarter teaspoon.  One more thing: the frosting is very sweet.  Because I was already making a time-consuming and relatively complicated cake, I made a basic buttercream frosting.  It's very quick and easy to make, but it relies on powdered sugar to make it thick, which unfortunately also makes it very sweet.  Lucky for me, my husband is of the opinion that, "There is no such thing as too-sweet frosting."

(Thanks to Naree for taking pictures!)

Lemony White Cake

3 cups flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
2 1/4 cup sugar
3 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 teaspoons lemon zest
9 large egg whites
1 cup milk

Red and blue food coloring (I used Wilton's icing colors)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease three 9-inch round cake pans and line the bottom with wax paper.

Combine flour, baking powder, and salt in a bowl.  Mix well.  In another bowl, whisk milk and egg whites until combined (don't use an electric mixer).

Cream butter and sugar on medium speed until soft and fluffy.  Beat in vanilla and lemon zest.  Reduce speed to low, and beat in 1/4 of the flour mixture, then 1/3 of the milk mixture in alternating batches, ending with the last of the flour mixture.  Scrape down the bowl and beaters after each addition.  When batter is combined, transfer 1/3 of the cake batter directly into the cake pan.  Transfer 1/3 of the cake batter to another bowl and dye it blue.  Dye the remaining cake batter red.  Pour the dyed batter into their pans. 

Bake for 30-35 minutes.  Cool layers for 5 minutes, then unmold to finish cooling right side up.  While cooling, make the frosting:

Coconut Buttercream Frosting

1 cup butter, room temperature
1/2 cup coconut milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
7 - 8 cups powdered sugar

Beat the butter until light and fluffy.  Beat in 1/2 cup of the powdered sugar.  When smooth, add the coconut milk, vanilla extract, and 1 cup of powdered sugar.  Beat until smooth.  Slowly add the rest of the powdered sugar, until the frosting reaches your desired consistency.

To assemble the cake:
(It's a bit difficult to explain in words, so if this doesn't make sense, check out this video of Elissa from 17 and Baking.  She does a great job of explaining everything.)

When the cake layers have cooled, level the top of each cake layer.  Split the red and white layers into two layers.  Do not split the blue layer.  Set one layer of each the red and white cake on top of the blue cake.  Using a bowl or stencil, cut a circle into the three layers of cake.  You want the outer ring to be about 2 inches wide.  Save the outer ring of the blue cake and the inner circles of the red and white cake - the rest are scraps.

Set the large white cake circle on your cake stand/serving surface.  Surround the cake with scraps of wax paper, sticking it a little under the cake.  Spread a thin layer of frosting on the top of both the large and small white cake circles, spreading it all the way to the edges.  Set the large red cake circle on top of the large white cake circle, and the small red cake on the small white cake.  Spread another layer of frosting on the large red cake layer.  Set the blue cake ring on top of the large cake layers.  Frost the inside of the ring.  Set the small cake layers inside the blue cake ring.

Frost the entire cake with a thin layer of frosting.  This is your crumb coat, so it's okay if crumbs get caught in the frosting.  Just make sure that every part of the cake is covered, so that crumbs don't get in your final coat.  Chill the cake in the refrigerator for a half hour.  Frost the cake again with its final coat of frosting.  Slip out the pieces of wax paper for a clean presentation.

Grapefruit Chiffon Cupcakes

Last weekend, David and I went to his sister's house for one of our nephew's birthday party.  When the party was over, several of us went grapefruit picking.  David's sister lives next to a grove of grapefruit trees that we assume doesn't belong to anyone because the ground is overgrown with thorny bushes and there are several overripe grapefruits decomposing under each tree.  At any rate, we picked to our collective hearts' content.  I picked one of each of the three varieties of grapefruit, but my father-in-law went a bit overboard and gave half of his loot to me, despite my protests that I'm the only one in the apartment who eats grapefruit and that the fruit will go bad when we leave to visit my family in a week.  He insisted that they would keep, and this is how I ended up with a plastic bag so full of grapefruit that it's bursting at the seams.

A freakishly large grapefruit

I could probably be happy eating them broiled every morning, but I decided that I wanted to experiment with the grapefruit.  Grapefruit is a fruit that doesn't show up very often in baked treats, probably because of its slightly bitter taste or because its zest isn't as pungent as that of lemons and oranges.  I briefly considered recreating the Hollywood grapefruit cake, but layer cakes can be time consuming and aren't as easy to share (and boy, did I want to share - I've eaten way too much cake this week).  After some consideration, I decided to do a variation of my family's favorite treat: chiffon cake.

Chiffon cakes are a lot lighter than their butter-based counterparts, but not quite as airy as angel food cake.  I was a bit worried that they wouldn't turn out well, as I usually have a lot of trouble beating egg whites to stiff peaks.  I've read so many tutorials that I should be able to do it with my eyes closed, but I guess that baking, as with most things, requires not only knowledge of theory, but lots and lots of practice.  I can usually get the egg whites to stiff peaks, but then they separate for some reason.  The top of the bowl would be foamy, but there would be liquid underneath.  I'm still not sure why this happens - perhaps I've been overbeating them?  At any rate, this is the first time I've beaten cream of tartar and sugar into the egg whites, and it really made a difference - the egg whites didn't separate this time!  Yay! 

I loved these cupcakes.  They're light and airy, and not too sweet.  The grapefruit flavor came through in the cupcakes, but it was really mild and subdued.  David really liked the cupcakes a lot, and he doesn't even like grapefruit!  We tried eating them with several different toppings.  My favorite way to eat them was after dipping the top into granulated sugar.  I really liked the crunch of biting into them and the little bit of extra sweetness it provided.  I also liked them sprinkled with a little bit of powdered sugar.  I tried piping some white chocolate cream cheese icing (leftover from the stuffed strawberries) onto the cupcakes, and while I thought that it slightly overpowered the cupcakes' flavor, my coworkers liked the frosted cupcakes best.

Grapefruit Chiffon Cupcakes
Makes about 40 cupcakes

2 1/2 cup cake flour
1 1/2 cup sugar + 3 tablespoons, divided
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup vegetable oil
8 eggs, room temperature
3/4 cup fresh grapefruit juice
2 tablespoons grapefruit zest
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.  Line muffin tins with cupcake liners.

Separate the eggs into whites and yolks.  Set the whites aside in a large, clean bowl. 

In another large bown, whisk egg yolks with 3/4 cup + 3 tablespoons sugar, until pale yellow and smooth.  Whisk in oil, juice, and zest until combined.  Sift in flour, baking powder, and salt; stir until throughly combined.  The batter should be thick, and fall in thick ribbons.

Using an electric mixer, beat the eggs until foamy.  Add the cream of tartar, and beat until soft peaks form.  Slowly add the remaining sugar, little at a time, until stiff glossy peaks form.

Stir in 1/4 of the egg white mixture to the grapefruit batter, to lighten it up.  Fold in the remaining egg whites gently until no streaks remain.  The batter should be light and foamy.

Divide batter between muffin tins, filling each one almost to the top.  Bake for 20-25 minutes.

Broiled Grapefruit

It's been a while since I've eaten grapefruit.  I was obsessed with it a couple summers ago.  I ate a grapefruit half every morning, the way my mom taught me: with salt sprinkled on top instead of sugar.  It muted the bitterness and brought out the grapefruit's inherent sweetness.  I must have gotten grapefruit fatigue, though, because after that summer ended, I didn't eat it again for two years. 

My grapefruit renunciation ended during my honeymoon last year.  David and I went to a restaurant that was supposed to be famous for its pancakes, but when I saw broiled grapefruit on the menu, my interest was piqued and I ordered it instead of the pancakes.

Fine, you got me.  I ordered it in addition to the pancakes.  I had coffee and orange juice, too.  You happy?

The first bite was like breaking into the top of a creme brulee.  Why had I been eating grapefruit with salt this whole time when I could have been eating with with a crackly topping of brown sugar and cinnamon?  My world was rocked.

I made a silent vow that I would eat broiled grapefruit every day from then on.  Sadly, I have not made it once in the past year.  Grapefruit isn't a fruit I really think to buy very often - I usually buy fruits that are easier to eat on-the-go, like apples, pears, plums, and peaches (because I always forget about breakfast until it's time to leave for work).  However, this week I have a large bag of grapefruit sitting on my counter, and they were practically crying out to me, "Broil us!  Broil us!".  And who am I to refuse?

 I originally planned to smear some butter on the top of the grapefruit before topping it with the sugar and cinnamon, as though it were bread and I was making cinnamon toast.  However, once I segmented the grapefruit, the juices starting flowing all over the place, and it would have been impossible to spread butter on it.  Instead, I cut a cold pat of butter into tiny pieces and mixed it in with brown sugar, cinnamon.  Then, just because the ground ginger was sitting next to the cinnamon, I added a smidgen of that, too.  I didn't want it to feel left out of the party.

When I told my co-worker about my breakfast this morning, he recoiled a little and asked, "You cooked it?  It was warm?"  I know I've been saying this a lot lately, but trust me: it might sound weird, but it's really, really delicious.  The heat in the oven caramelizes the grapefruit's natural sugars and brings its sweetness to the forefront.  The grapefruit's bitterness is still there, but it's barely noticeable when the brown sugar and the spices are swimming with the juices.  Best of all, the crackly layer of brown sugar on top...wait, I already mentioned the crackly topping?  Well, it was worth mentioning again.  Crackly topping.

Broiled Grapefruit

1 grapefruit, halved
1 tablespoon cold butter, cut into small pieces
4 tablespoons brown sugar
2 teaspoons cinnamon
smidgen of ground ginger

Move one of your oven racks to the top and turn on your broiler. 

Remove the white pith from the center of the grapefruit.  Segment the grapefruit (your future self will thank your past self for your thoughtfulness): trace your knife around the sections of fruit between the white membrane (if that's what it's called...I really need to catch up on my grapefruit anatomy). 

Combine the butter, brown sugar, cinnamon, and ground ginger.  Sprinkle the mixture onto each grapefruit half.  Broil the grapefruit for 4-5 minutes.

Giddy with Glee: Strawberry Lemonade Bars

Every Tuesday night, David and I host a Glee party, when our friends come over to our apartment to watch Glee and eat dessert.  Glee is far from our favorite show, but it's definitely a show that's better when you watch it with friends.  Even at it's most tonally inconsistent, the show is a lot of fun to watch, and last night was no exception.  The theme last night was "theatricality", which, in the eyes of the show, is synonymous with Lady Gaga. Even though I dislike the show's weekly themes (they usually lead to after-school-special moments, and the characters say the title of the episode every five seconds), I love Lady Gaga songs, even though I sometimes have a hard time admitting it to my friends.  Don't judge me - they're really catchy!

I try to test out a new dessert every Glee night, mostly so I can get honest feedback. My friends aren't afraid to tell me when a dessert is "just okay", or if a cookie is too cakey or too sweet.  Yesterday afternoon, I was having trouble deciding what I should make for Glee night.  Luckily, the first thing I spotted when I walked into the grocery store was a display of strawberries for 99 cents a carton (apparently, they were super cheap all over. It's officially strawberry season, guys). As soon as I saw them, I knew exactly what I wanted to make: Strawberry Lemonade Bars.  I had seen the recipe on Baking Bites last fall and had been itching to make them ever since, but wanted to wait until strawberries were in season.

These strawberry lemonade bars are essentially lemon bars with strawberry puree added. They are the perfect blend of sweet and tart, and trust me when I say that they are addictive. They remind me a lot of the strawberry lemonade at Souplantation (or Sweet Tomatoes, depending on where you live).  These bars are super fast and simple to make if you have a blender or food processor - but even if you don't, they're well worth the extra effort.  You can eat them cold or at room temperature, but I prefer to eat them after they've been in the fridge overnight.  Next time, I might double up on the crust - not because I think the ratio was off, but just because I really, really liked the crust.  And really, what more of a reason do you need?

Strawberry-Lemonade Bars

Adapted from Baking Bites

Crust:

1/4 cup sugar

1/2 cup butter

1 1/2 cup flour

1/4 tsp salt

Filling:

1 cup fresh lemon juice

2-3 tsp lemon zest (I zested two small lemons and got about 2 1/2 teaspoons)

1/2 cup pureed strawberries

1 1/4 cup sugar

4 large eggs

1/4 cup flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.  Grease a 9 x 13 pan.

Make your crust first.  Cream butter and sugar until smooth and fluffy.  Mix in flour and salt until crumbly.  Press into pan in an even layer.  Bake for 17 minutes.

While your crust is baking, make the filling.  Combine lemon  juice, zest, strawberries, sugar, and eggs in a blender.  Blend until combined.  Add flour, baking powder, and salt, and blend until combined.  Pour filling into baked crust.  Bake for 23 - 26 minutes until filling is set.

Cool completely before cutting.  Store in the refrigerator.

Raspberry-Drop Lemon Muffins

Hi friends,

Well, this is my very first blog post...and I want to talk about muffins.

When my friend Lauren Carmen San Diego, adventurer and world-traveler, lover of all things raspberry and lemon, said that she was coming to visit me and David in San Diego for one night only, I knew exactly what I wanted to make for her: tiny lemon muffins with a single raspberry plopped into the middle. Not that she wanted or asked for muffins - it's just that when I saw the recipe, I immediately thought of Lauren and how much I wanted to shove five or six of them into her mouth. (Side note: In the past five months, I've accumulated five or six more recipes involving lemons and raspberries in my mental Rolodex for the next time she visits.)

What I love about these muffins is that it's so easy to change up the flavors. The lemon zest can be replaced with the zest of just about any other citrus, and the raspberries can be replaced with any other berry (though if you want to use strawberries, you should probably quarter them). The muffins are pretty darn tasty as-written, but I'm still looking forward to playing around with the seemingly infinite number of possible flavor variations. Blood orange and blackberries. Lime and strawberries. Meyer lemon and blueberries (though I'm not really a fan of blueberries, so you're going to have to try that one out for me). I might even go crazy and try some grapefruit zest.

I'm not sure how long the muffins last, as ours were gone by the next night, but I think they could probably keep for a few days in the fridge.

Raspberry-Drop Lemon Muffins

Adapted from Smitten Kitchen

Makes 14 large or 56 mini muffins

1 1/8 cup sugar, divided
4 teaspoons lemon zest (I used 2 large lemons)

2 cups flour

2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

3/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter (at room temperature)*
1 large egg

1 cup buttermilk**

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

56 fresh raspberries

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Grease or line muffin tins.

Mash 1/8 cup sugar and the lemon zest until it forms a sort of lemon-sugar paste.

Whisk flour, salt, and baking powder in a medium bowl until combined. In a large bowl, beat butter and remaining 1 cup sugar until smooth. Beat in egg, then buttermilk, then vanilla and lemon-sugar paste. Beat in flour mixture until combined and no traces of flour remain.

Divide batter among muffin cups. Top each large muffin with four raspberries or each mini muffin with one raspberry. Bake large muffins for about 35 minutes or mini muffins for 17-20 minutes.

* If you only have salted butter, omit 1/4 teaspoon salt.

** If you don't have buttermilk, it's simple to make your own. Put 1 tablespoon of lemon juice in a measuring cup, and fill up to the one cup line with whole milk. Let it sit for 5-10 minutes, and you have buttermilk!