Happy May, my dear blogging friends and family. If Spring has arrived in your part of the world, I hope nature is doing her thing and providing a restorative balance for you. Ahhhh, there’s nothing like the feeling of warm sunshine on our faces, fresh air in our lungs and being surrounded by Spring’s beauty. It makes my heart sing and I have to confess to a few tears too, over the wonder of it all.
We are experiencing a lovely spring here and that saying;
has held true this 2022 spring season. That thrills me, as we live in an arid climate, which requires lots of moisture in the ground before we head into our usual, hot summer season. (But who knows with climate change what will come this summer) Last week was glorious though and I gleefully wandered through our yard snapping pictures of some of the blooms.
First I went down to our fruit orchard and snapped a few pictures of our larger cherry trees. I was absolutely delighted to see so many bees happily buzzing from blossom to blossom. Oh the joy of seeing bees is another glorious spring sign! The plum tree to the right in the above picture is also about to erupt in bloom,. In the forefront, you can see my newly conditioned strawberry beds. There are little white flowers blooming in that bed too so hopefully we get lots of luscious strawberries…that is if they make it into the house!
Then I strolled up the west side of our house to capture the last blossoms of our neighbour’s gorgeous Star Magnolia tree. Sadly I missed it’s peak of bloom as you can see from the petals lying on their garden shed roof, but it’s still a stunning sight in the spring time.
Another beautiful sight are the baby pink blossoms on our Flowering Plum tree. I pruned it back a bit last year as I wanted it to eventually have branches arching over our gate. You can’t really see from this angle but if you come from the other side you see that it’s starting to happen. In our summer climate it’s nice to have trees near our house to keep things cooler.
I snapped a few pictures of some flowers blooming too….
Are you looking for an early blooming Clematis? Check out our, “Niobe,” which has just given us two beautiful, fuchsia pink blooms to enjoy early this May.
Our lawn is looking great too and while some people are removing their lawns, since we still have kids that love to run, we still have a bit of lawn in our backyard. Also, I use the lawn clippings to mulch our garden in the summer which improves the soil and keeps the plants cool in the summer.
Yesterday we had a torrential rain storm. It felt so good after several days of sunny weather. Later in the afternoon, just after my sister J came for a quick visit, it really started to pour. As I looked out into the garden you could just see all the green plants shining with happiness as they danced in the showers. I even danced a bit when I went out briefly to plant some Lovage and Catnip in my herb bed. Our cat Ryuuki is going to love the Catnip. I plan to dry it and stuff a little fuzzy mouse toy with it next fall. He doesn’t catch the real things anymore!
“And hope, if it had a scent, would smell like spring, like rain, like something new and alive.” ~Jennifer Rush~
Well, I could chat on and on about plants, gardening and pets, but what I really intended to do was share a recipe with you. Since Mother’s Day is quickly approaching, I thought I’d share my latest fav cake recipe. And, (hint, hint) if you know anyone who might want to surprise their mother, or special woman in their life, this is the perfect dessert to do that.
It’s light, lemony, and speaks of all things blooming.
Before I jot down the recipe, I thought I’d share a few pictures of the cakes I’ve made this spring. The first one I made was for my sister J’s birthday in March. She and my mom used to share March birthdays together. (mom’s been gone 10 years now)
Mom used to say that my sister J’s arrival was the best birthday present she was ever given as she was born the day before our mom’s birthday on March 20th….the first day of spring. Also, whenever I see ladybugs (long story) it reminds me of our mom, so when I found a lady bug kitchen timer, I had to put it on J’s cake to remind her that mom was right there singing Happy Birthday to her too.
I used three layers to make this cake and filled it with lemon….it was so yummy! Also, I used a bit of yellow icing on the cake as J has recently renovated her kitchen and cozy living room and while I haven’t seen it in person due to Covid, I know she has splashes of yellow accents in her newly renovated house. Yellow is the perfect spring colour!!!
And then I made the cake again at Easter. My mom made Bunny cakes every year at Easter and I have continued the tradition. I made the same recipe above but split all the icing into two cake pans instead of three. Below you can see how you cut the cake up for the bunnies, head, ears and bow.
Kate, Will and Tori had such fun decorating this year’s Easter bunny cake. I’m glad I got a picture of it as that bunny was eaten in record time!!!
I hope these pictures inspire you to create your own Spring white cake and share it with your loved ones. Maybe take it outside to the garden and have a little tea party. Here’s the recipe that I used and hopefully it will become another of our family favourite recipes.
White Spring Cake with Lemon Filling
Ingredients
Cooking spray
1 tablespoon cake flour
3 ½ cups sifted cake flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
¾ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon baking soda
1 ¾ cups sugar
¼ cup softened butter
1 ½ tablespoons sunflower/ or vegetable oil of your choice
2 large egg whites
1 ⅔ cups milk
½ cup plain fat-free yogurt…I used vanilla yogurt and it was lovely
2 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract/ 1 tbsp lemon zest
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Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Spray 3 or 2 round cake pans with cooking spray and then dust with 1 tbsp of flour (some people like to use parchment paper cut to fit the bottom of the pan….you choose what you would prefer)
Combine sifted flour, baking powder, salt and baking soda in one bowl. Mix well!
In a large mixing bowl combine, sugar, butter, and oil and using an electric mixer; beat at medium speed for around 5 minutes. Add egg whites, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Combine milk and yogurt and place in a small bowl.
Now alternating between the flour mixture and milk mixture, add these to the sugar/butter and eggs. Do this alternating method until everything is combined really well. Finally, stir in the vanilla and lemon zest.
When everything is combined well, pour cake batter evenly into prepared pans. Give the pans a sharp tap on the counter to remove any bubbles.
Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes or until the wooden pick inserted in the middle of each cake comes out clean. Cool in pans 10 minutes on wire racks; remove from pans.
Cool completely on wire racks.
Just a thought as I’m looking at the two layers I cooked above….if your oven is hot like mine, a large cookie sheet on the bottom oven rack may prevent the cake from getting too hot and it will be a lighter brown on the bottom. We all have different ovens but I’m finding that this is helping my baked items come out a bit more golden brown. It really helps if you know your oven!
And now the fun part. Filling and Icing. While your cake bakes, you can make the lemon filling. (Doubling the recipe is a good idea if you want some on the top too. Also, if you are like me, you can eat spoonfuls of the stuff…. my mom used to put it on toast!)
Lemon Filling Recipe
Ingredients
1 cup sugar
4 tablespoons cornstarch
1 egg, beaten
1 cup water
1⁄2 cup lemon juice (fresh is best)
1 teaspoon lemon rind, grated (from the fresh lemon)
1 tablespoon butter (no substitutions)
Directions
Mix sugar and cornstarch together thoroughly
Combine the beaten egg, water, lemon juice and rind, add to the dry ingredients.
Cook in a double boiler about 15 minutes on medium high, stirring constantly…in that old figure 8 configuration we learned in high school foods class.
Take it off the burner when it looks like it’s thickening and then add the butter. Mix it in well and then cool completely before you spread it between the cake layers.
Make sure the cake and the filling are well cooled before you put them together. I often pop my cake layers in the freezer for 20 minutes before I start to put everything together. When the cake and the lemon filling are cooling this is a great time to make the frosting. What kind do you want on your cake??? I think a lemon, buttercream frosting is perfect for this cake personally. Layering the lemon is a bit like layering a favourite scent….perfectly luscious!!!
Lemon Buttercream Frosting
Ingredients
1 cup softened butter
4 to 5 cups of icing sugar (depending on how you want it to spread….firmer allows you to use it for piping decoration)
1 tbsp lemon zest
1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
A drop of yellow food colouring, depending on the appearance you want for your cake. While I used predominately white icing to make J’s ladybug and the Easter bunny cake, I did do some yellow icing to decorate J’s cake to make it look a bit more spring like.
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Directions
- In a mixer, add the butter and the lemon juice.
- Cream together on low speed until they are completely combined.
- Add the icing sugar, one cup at a time and continue to beat on medium speed until the frosting is creamy.
- Add the lemon zest and 1 small drop of yellow food colouring (if desired)
- Continue to mix.
- Tip…I like to add the icing sugar slowly… 1/2 cup at a time until it reaches the consistency I want for my cake
Now for the BEST part…put your bottom cake layer on your cake plate and decorate the bottom layer’s sides. Spread the top with some lemon filling, then add another cake layer. Do the same as above until you finally have the top layer on the cake. You can ice all of the top with buttercream icing but if you have any lemon filling left you can spread some of it in the middle of the top layer. I did that with J’s ladybug cake. This is where you can be as creative as you like. I put sweetened flaked coconut on the bunny cake and it was yummy! Look at the one I found below on Pintrest….that can’t be too hard to ice right?
Well that’s it my dear people. Wherever you are, and whatever you are doing this spring, I hope you take some time to get out in nature and let it fill your soul with all things beautiful. With all the crazy stuff happening in our world right now we need to do whatever we can to keep our spirits peaceful. And if you take a bit of cake out into the garden with a cup of tea I think you will find that all the sweeter.