More lemon squeezer details....

Having had a request for more details about my lemon squeezer I have had a look at the packaging label it came with. Unfortunately details are sketchy.

The label says it is made by “AMCO Houseworks”, Vernon Hills IL 60061-1547 and is model number 8645. No website or contact details are provided.

However, having googled “Amco houseworks lemon squeezer” quite a few hits came up. This US based web retailer sells them, and for the UK, the best option seems to be Amazon.

Happy squeezing everyone!

Iced lemon curd layer cake

Today is Mothering Sunday so what better treat for the Caked Crusader’s Ma (CCM) than something lemony? The CCM has a penchant for lemon and I reckon this cake must be a lemon-lover’s dream. The sponge contains lemon, the lemon curd is practically all lemon, and the lemon icing is topped with lemon zest. I don’t see how any more lemon could be added to this cake!


The finished cake is attractive and I like the layering when a slice is cut; I love this photo as the main cake is visible in the background. It's come out rather arty, albeit unintentionally:



Nothing about this cake is difficult but there are several stages to it. I made the sponge and the curd the day before I wanted the cake. This only left assembly and icing on the day itself. It all begins with simple sandwich sponges:


I have been quite vocal in the past about my lemon-loathing but even I have to admit that this cake looks a beauty. The curd was particularly pleasing to make; so many lemon curd recipes contain yucky things like cornflour to thicken the mix. This one doesn’t and I think has a better taste and consistency for it. Here it is cooking in the pan:


I also got to use my new lemon squeezer – it’s great because it gets all the juice out without any risk of pips falling into the mix. And in this age of hi-tech gadgetry it couldn’t be a simpler piece of equipment!


Ingredients:
For the sponge:
175g unsalted butter, at room temperature
175g caster sugar
Grated zest of 1 lemon
1 tablespoon lemon juice
3 eggs
175g self raising flour
1 teaspoon baking powder

For the lemon curd:
Grated zest and juice of 1 large lemon
75g caster sugar
2 eggs
50g unsalted butter

For the lemon icing:
50g icing sugar
2-3 teaspoons lemon juice
Zest of 1 lemon

How to make:

- Preheat the oven to 170°C/fan oven 150°C/325°F/Gas mark 3.
- Grease two 18cm sandwich tins.
- Cream the butter and sugar together until they are pale and fluffy. Don’t skimp on this stage – give the mixture a good beating.
- Gradually beat in the eggs, lemon juice and zest, alternating with the flour and baking powder i.e. beat in a bit of the wet ingredients, then some of the dry ingredients, then some wet etc. This avoids the mixture curdling.
- Spoon into the tins and level.
- Bake in the oven for 35 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean. Mine took exactly 35 minutes.
- Allow to cool in the tin for a couple of minutes before turning out onto a wire rack and allowing to cool completely.
- Now make the lemon curd. Stir together the sugar, lemon zest and juice, eggs.
- Cut the butter into little pieces and add to the lemon mix.
- Either place the mixture into a bain marie pan or, if you don’t have one, simply put a bowl over a pan of simmering water making sure the bowl and water are not touching. Cook for approximately 20 minutes until the curd has thickened. Stir frequently – you don’t have to be obsessive, just don’t wander off and forget about it. For the first few minutes the mix will look very runny but then will suddenly thicken!
- When it has thickened remove from the heat, spoon the curd into a bowl and leave to cool.
- Up to this point, everything can be done the day before. Keep the sponge in an airtight container and keep the curd in the fridge.
- When you come to assemble the cake cut each sponge through – so you now have 4 layers of cake.
- Spread the lemon curd evenly over each layer and start to stack the cake. The curd covers the three middle layers – the top will have icing.
- The icing is made by simply beating together the icing sugar and lemon juice until the consistency is smooth and runny. Allow to rest in the bowl as it will thicken slightly.
- Spread the icing on the top layer of cake and don’t panic if it drizzles down the side.
- Whereas for the cake and curd the lemon zest was grated to ensure it was fine, for the top you want something a little more dramatic so use a zester and this will provide long curls of lemon zest!
- Scatter the lemon zest on top and voila – cake made!
- Bask in glory at the wonderful thing you have made.
- Eat.

What the Caked Crusader chose to bake to this week (1 Mar 2008)

Having mentioned him in my music post last week, I decided to listen to Johnny Mercer this week. Many people know of him as a master lyricist – and goodness me, what lyrics they are! Too many wonderful songs to list and for every masterpiece such as “Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate the Positive” there are hundreds of others that deserve equal mention.

The mark of a great lyricist as opposed to a merely good one, is the speakability of the lyric. What that means is whether you can comfortably speak the lyric rather than sing it. Lesser (but still good) lyricists play around with word order to get the rhyme or the rhythm right and this makes the lyric sound clumsy when spoken, for example, this couplet from Ira Gershwin’s lyric in “Someone to Watch over me”:

Although he may not be the man some girls think of as handsome.
To my heart he carries the key.

The words just aren’t in the right order. Johnny Mercer never does this and this is why I think he’s the second greatest lyricist ever (Sorry Johnny, it’s close but Irving Berlin is THE man!). Although not my favourite song of his – that would have to be “Fools Rush In” – possibly his greatest technical lyric is “The Days of Wine and Roses”. A whole song where the lyric comprises of only two sentences!

The days of wine and roses laugh and run away like a child at play, through the meadow land toward a closing door, a door marked "nevermore" that wasn't there before.
The lone-ly night discloses just a passing breeze filled with memories of the golden smile that introduced me to the days of wine and roses and you

What many people don’t realise about Johnny Mercer is that he was also an awesome singer. His deep, relaxed vocals could provide the dictionary definition of “easy listening”. Nothing is ever strained or hurried and the result is singing of the absolute highest quality.

My favourite album is the album of duets he recorded with Bobby Darin called “Two of a Kind”. Both terrific singers in their own right, something magical happens on the album – two people sparking off each other resulting in recordings that are slick, sometimes silly, frequently funny, always excellent – just joyous to listen to.

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