(Freakishly Good) Lemon Bundt

You know what are awesome? Birthdays.

Not mine, my mom's. And there's not a lot my mom likes more than a good bundt. I have no idea why, but put a hole in the middle of a cake, and it tastes a thousand times better in her book. It's weird.

Anyway, she's the birthday girl, if she wants her cake with a hole in it, so be it! There was just one problem. Our bunt pan decided to fall apart a couple weeks ago. It had an enamel coating, and for some reason, it just decided to fall off, making it fairly unusable, at least, not without a mouthful of gunk! So I figured I'd pop down to Target and pick up another pan as a bonus birthday present, since I had to pick up some lemons anyway, no big.

Lies! Apparently bundts are NOT trendy right now. Target? None. TjMaxx? Marshalls? Nada. Finally I asked myself, Self, if you were in Blacksburg, where would you go? Well, I would go to the fancy kitchen store on South Main that I've always wanted to go to but haven't for fear of spending too much money. Or I'd go to fancy South Main Kroger with the giant section of kitchen doo-dads. (I don't think I've ever written out "doo-dads" before. It's strange.) With no Kroger for 50 miles, I headed to Shoppers as a last resort, if they didn't have one, I was making due without!

Birthday snow! And the cat.

Lo and behold, the baking gods were smiling on me. In Shopper's tiny little baking section with almost no pans, they had a bundt. Christmas, er, my mom's birthday, was saved!

Anyway, this is about baking, not an epic bundt quest. As expected, this cake was amazing. It was moist, and tasty, and not too sweet. The glaze not only added, it was completely necessary, as there really wasn't enough lemon in the cake itself, and it made a gorgeous crust when it cooled.

But you know what sucks about this recipe? Lemon zest. Two freakin' lemons worth of it. I still hate zesting lemons with a fiery passion. Mostly because my lemon zester sucks. Oh, how I wish I had a normal one, like this. *Hint hint! I've been hinting since last summer that I want one for Christmas, but NOBODY figured it out. My birthday IS coming up!*

Simple a dessert as this was, it was perfect. I think it would taste great with strawberries. In summer. On the front porch. Right about at sunset. That's not too picky, is it?

I hate it when they stamp the lemons too, it seems so gross

Lemon Bliss Cake
From King Arthur Flour

1 cup butter
2 cups plus 3/4 cup sugar
1 tsp salt
4 large eggs
2 tsp baking powder
3 cups flour
1 cup milk
Zest of two lemons
1/3 cup lemon juice

Beat together butter, 2 cups sugar, and salt until fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the baking powder, then add the flour alternately with the milk, starting and ending with the flour. Mix until smooth. Stir in the grated lemon rind or lemon oil.

Spoon the batter into greased bundt pan, smoothing the top with a spatula. Bake at 350 for 55 to 60 minutes.

While the cake is baking, make the glaze by stirring together the lemon juice and 3/4 cup sugar. Set it aside.

Let cake cool 5 minutes, then remove from pan onto a cooling rack. Poke the hot cake all over with a cake tester or toothpick, and brush glaze on the hot cake. Let it sink in, then brush on more glaze, continuing until all the glaze is used up. 

Allow the cake to cool before slicing.