Lemon Cake with Raspberry Flair

I made a lemon cake for Easter Sunday dinner. 

Isn't it beautiful? It was also immensely tasty. My mom first tried this recipe when I was in high school. I'm not sure where she found it, so I can't give credit where credit is--seriously--due. But I can share it with you!

Cake:                                                                           

1 1/3 cups sugar                                                          

6 TB butter, softened                                               

1 TB grated lemon rind                                               

3 TB thawed lemonade concentrate                            

2 tsp vanilla extract                                                     

2 large eggs                                                                 

2 large egg whites

2 cups flour

1 tsp baking powder                                                    

½ tsp salt                                                                    

½ tsp baking soda

1 ¼ cups buttermilk

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Then get started on the cake batter by whipping up your sugar, butter and lemon rind with an electric mixer. When that's well-combined, add the lemonade concentrate and vanilla. Whip it up, whip it up good.

Add your eggs and egg whites, one at a time, beating between each. 

In a separate bowl, sift the flour, baking powder, salt, and baking soda. Listen. You don't actually have to sift it. I know, I always hate it when recipes tell me to do this. But at least stick it in a different bowl and mix them together with a whisk. 

Then add the flour mixture and the buttermilk alternately, bit by bit, beating with the electric mixture after each addition. (flour-beat-buttermilk-beat-flour-beat-buttermilk-beat, etc.)

Pour the batter into two 9-inch round pans, which you previously greased and floured, of course. Sharply tap each pan once on the counter to remove air bubbles. Bake for about 20-30 minutes. Let the cakes cool in the pans on a wire rack for ten minutes or so and then remove from the pans. Allow the cakes to finish cooling completely on the cooling rack. 

Frosting:

2 TB butter, softened

2 tsp grated lemon rind

2 tsp thawed lemonade concentrate

½ tsp vanilla extract

8 ounces cream cheese

3 ½ cups powdered sugar

To prepare frosting, place butter, lemon rind, lemonade concentrate, vanilla and cream cheese in a large bowl; beat with a mixer at high speed until fluffy. Add powdered sugar, and beat at low speed just until blended. Chill 1 hour.

Raspberry filling:

1 1/2 C fresh raspberries

1 TB cornstarch

2 TB fresh lemon juice

1/4 C sugar

Throw all of that in a small saucepan and heat it until it simmers, let it cool in the fridge for about an hour. Then assemble your cake!

Easter Sunday Dinner

This Easter, I did something I had never done before: I made prime rib roast for dinner, just like my Nana always does. It was perfect and delicious. PLUS, I made fantastic-tasting gravy from the drippings. SUCCESS.

Lemon cake for dessert, which matched my cute table. 

It was a lovely evening with a few friends. Hope your Easter was delightful!

Muddy Waters Cafe

On the way home from Boston, Nick and I stopped for brunch in the historic waterfront district of New London, Connecticut. We found the most adorable place, The Muddy Waters Cafe, and stepped inside to escape the blustery New England wind. Instant love: this cafe was my dream.

The interior was decorated with vintage couches and comfy armchairs, plenty of old movie posters framed on the walls, stacks of board games on the tables, and beautiful books for our perusal. 

We chose to cozy up in front of the fireplace. 

While we waited for our food, I played a little diddy on the baby grand in the corner. Classy. 

Amazing yogurt muffin selection, in addition to a great menu featuring homemade soups, fresh sandwiches, and all-day breakfast items.

Per.fec.tion. This toasted blueberry muffin almost made me cry, it was so delicious. Would've been tears of joy.

I had the salmon and lox. Nick ordered a fantastic roast beef and egg croissant sandwich.

Best birthday brunch! 

Birthday Road Trip

I had an audition in Boston on my birthday this year. At first, I was a little bummed that I wouldn't be able to celebrate at home. Then I thought, Hey, I get to sing and act on my birthday, two things I love! This will be great! 

How to take full advantage of traveling on your birthday? Make it a cool East Coast road trip with your lovely someone! 11 hours each way, and we only fell more in love. 

We spent the hours googling the history of the great cities we were driving through, reading Ender's Game, and conversing in goofy voices. We actually got lost in Yonkers on the way through New York and we stopped in Connecticut to have sandwiches near a snow drift. When we reached Boston, I used a Wendy's bathroom to change my clothes and put some makeup on. Don't worry, it's cool. 

After a great audition, Nick took me downtown for birthday dinner at an Ethiopian restaurant called Addis Red Sea.

My phone died while we were waiting for our table (er...basket? You sit around a cool basket/table that doubles as a big plate for the whole group) so I don't have pictures of the great decor inside. This place was hopping, so there was a fairly long wait. It was worth every minute!

Ethiopian cuisine has plenty of vegan choices, as well as spicy chicken and pork entrees. Our meal had a lot of tumeric and cumin spices, every dish was delectable. The food is served on a platter of thin, slightly spongy pancake-like flatbread called injera. You also use this flatbread to scoop up each bite, as traditionally Ethiopian food isn't served with utensils. This made this meal incredibly fun. Need a date idea? Check!

Before we were seated, we studied the eclectic groups seated near the front door. The food smelled fantastic, but people weren't eating everything they were served. They only took dainty little bites and never even tore into the injera that lay beneath the food. We were starving by the time we were seated (in the more private and less-bustly basement) and served our order. We demolished that meal! We ate the entire platter, including all the injera; we used the last bit to wipe up every last drop of the yummy sauces left behind. We were stuffed, and super happy.

Best thing: turns out there is an Ethiopian restaurant here in Chapel Hill! Can't wait to try it!

Five Guys

Nick introduced me to Five Guys. It was a giant, delicious burger.

And yummy i-can-tell-this-was-a-potato-just-a-short-time-ago french fries.  

Nothing like going for a burger run in the middle of the night!

Ladies' Pasta Night

My fabulously talented friend Zhara invited a few fun girls over to make ravioli, from scratch. The resulting meal was, as you can see, wonderful!

We all gathered at Zhara's; her knack for amazingness in the kitchen is well-known in these parts, so she often receives aprons as gifts--we each chose one to sport for the evening.

Zhara's home is cozy and classy. She had every burner working in her little kitchen when we arrived.

Zhara made the noodle dough ahead of time; then we ran it through the press over and over and over again.

Once the dough was thinny thin thin, we laid it out and dropped dollups of yummy fillings (again, made by Zhara earlier that afternoon).

We had four delicious fillings: spinach and cheese, mushroom, herbs and cheese, and butternut squash. 

 We had a pretty good system working for us: some girls rolling out pasta, some of us dolluping filling and cutting out the ravioli pieces, someone boiling the finished gems at the stove:

 







In the meantime, Zhara was whipping up homemade marinara sauce, as well as a browned butter sauce for the pasta:

She pulled a fresh loaf of focassia bread out of the oven and tossed up a simple salad. The table was laden--it was beautiful!

 The ladies:

 I love these classy girls. We had a great time cooking and chatting. I thought, "How lovely, to know such wonderful people and spend such a delightful evening in their company." Plus, the food was DELECTABLE. Happy, happy night indeed.