Lemon Yogurt Cake

I have been eyeing this recipe for a while and it did not disappoint me, but I am a bit of a lemon freak!  I took it to work and the ladies in my department liked it. My boss, who usually eats anything, said he doesn't do lemon. I have one word for that: Weirdo!

It was simple to make and is so moist. The simple sugar poured over the warm cake has a lot to do with that I am sure. The recipe comes from Big Mama's Home Kitchen and she got it from the Barefoot Contessa at Home Cookbook.

Lemon Yogurt Cake
1 1/2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
pinch of salt
1 cup of vanilla yogurt
1 cup sugar
3 eggs
2 teaspoons of lemon zest
1 teaspoon of vanilla
1/2 cup vegetable oil (I used canola oil)

Lemon simple sugar: 
1/3 cup lemon juice
1/3 cup sugar

Lemon glaze:
1 cup powdered sugar
2 tablespoons of lemon juice

Preheat the oven to 350 and grease and flour a loaf pan. Whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. In a separate bowl, whisk the next 5 ingredients together. Add the dry ingredients, then the oil. Bake 45-48 minutes. While the cake cools for 10 minutes, make the simple sugar by boiling the sugar and lemon juice until the sugar dissolves. You can take the cake out of the pan and pour the sugar over or I just left it in the pan after loosening it. Cool the cake and then mix the glaze ingredients together and pour over the cake. Just a note:  I used 3 lemons to make this recipe.

Lemon Bundt Cake

If you like lemon, then you will love this moist cake. It's from the March 2006 Good Housekeeping magazine. Thanks to Michael Ann at The Big Green Bowl for the heads up on where this recipe came from. I tried to find this on the the magazine's website, but I couldn't get it to come up. I have made it several times now. I would love to make it every week. It is that good!

Lemon Bundt Cake From: Good Housekeeping
3 lemons
1 cup butter, softened
2 cups sugar
4 large eggs
1 teaspoon of vanilla
3 cups of flour
3/4 teaspoon of salt
1/2 teaspoon of baking soda
1 cup buttermilk

Frosting:
2 cups powdered sugar
1/2 cup butter, softened
4 ounces of cream cheese, softened
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon of vanilla

For the Cake: Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Grate 2 tablespoons of lemon peel and squeeze out 3 tablespoons of juice (and another 2 tablespoons for the frosting). Set aside. Mix the butter and sugar together. Beat in the eggs one at a time on low. Add the vanilla. Separately mix the flour, salt and baking soda together and add to the butter mixture alternately with the buttermilk. Fold in the 2 tablespoons of peel and the 3 tablespoons of juice. Bake in a well greased and floured bundt pan for 60-70 minutes. Cool in the pan 15 minutes and then on a rack.

For the frosting. Cream the butter and cream cheese together and slowly add the sugar until smooth. Add in the vanilla and lemon juice, beating on high until fluffy. Frost the cake.

Linking up to: Sweets for a Saturday

Lemon Bars

One of the desserts I made for our Cinco de Mayo party was lemon bars. I love them and it's nice to have something a little lighter in taste when you are also serving brownies and carrot cake. This recipe comes from the Taste of Home Baking Book. Etta Soucy from AZ contributed this one.

Lemon Bars

1 cup flour

1/2 cup butter, softened

1/4 cup powdered sugar

Filling:

2 eggs

1 cup sugar

2 tablespoons flour

1/2 teaspoon of baking soda

2 tablespoons of lemon juice

1 teaspoon of lemon zest

Extra powdered sugar for sprinkling on top (about 2 tablespoons)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Mix the 1 cup of flour, the butter and 1/4 cup of  powdered sugar together. It will be coarse and crumbly. Pat into the bottom of an 8 inch square pan. Bake for 20 minutes. Mix the rest of the ingredients together (eggs through lemon zest) and pour over the crust. Bake 20-25 minutes longer. Mine took 20 minutes. Cool the bars and then sprinkle with the powdered sugar. 

Linking up to: Sweets for a Saturday