How is it that when you sprinkle powdered sugar on any dessert, it immediately becomes fancy? It is such a simple little trick, but it works every time! Fancy waffles, fancy brownies, and the list just goes on and on. If you add a fancy Bundt cake pan into the equation, you get double fancy! We thought this might be a fun experiment to see if kids could make something as fancy as this Italian Lemon Cake.
Recently, my Mom was given this pretty Bundt cake pan and we have been eyeing recipes that might be worth trying. Although we are not huge lemon dessert fans, this recipe looked very tasty, and exploring out of our comfort zone is our goal.
How to Make Cake Flour
This gave the option of using cake flour instead of all-purpose. After a bit of research, we found out that cake flour can create a much lighter and more delicate texture. Of course, we do not have this fancy flour in our pantry, but it was so easy to make ourselves! For every 1 cup of all-purpose flour, you simply take 2 tablespoons and replace it with corn starch. This was exciting to try!
What Slowed Down Our Fancy Italian Lemon Cake
Just when we thought we were making progress, we read that the the eggs and cream should be at room temperature before mixing. Agh. That room temperature business again. Since we knew NOT to microwave the eggs to warm them up, we decided to postpone our cake making for an hour and play for a bit.
When they were finally at the right temperature, we realized that the recipe called for an egg yolk. (Do you see why we called this cake fancy?) Time to bring in Mom. She broke the eggshell in half and then carefully poured the yoke back and forth between the two halves to let the egg white drip out. Let’s just say that kids should have some extra eggs around if they plan on trying this for the first time themselves. We may have had a few egg tragedies. Mom watched in horror, and then said we need to buy an egg separator.
Folding the Batter
Since we had done all of this extra work in making cake flour and waiting for the eggs to be at the right temperature in hopes of making this lemon cake light and delicate, we took our time with mixing the batter. The directions say to fold in the flour and cream, so we brought our bowl away from the beloved electric mixer and started gently mixing some dry and then wet ingredients a little at a time.
Adding the Lemon to the Italian Cake
Up to this point, we hadn’t added anything to make this a lemon cake. At least we do have a fancy zester! We carefully zested our lemon into the cake batter. Of course, I have yet to do this without scraping my finger and this was no exception. Off to get a Band-Aid.
We gently poured our batter into the Bundt cake pan, hoping that it would easily come out after cooking.
Cooking a Mushroom Looking Cake
After about 30 minutes we checked our cake and were a little worried. It looked like it was rising in the middle and not up the sides. Would we have a flat bottom? We took it out at 35 minutes and knew right away that this was going to be a bit funny.
When Mom came over and finally stopped laughing at our “mushroom looking cake,” she said that next time we should take some of the batter and pull it up on the sides of the pan before baking. This can help it rise more evenly.
At least it looked pretty from the top.
And our work at creating a fancy Italian Lemon cake was a success. This was very light and fluffy while keeping its shape when cutting. To sound even more fancy, we would say the taste was, “delicate.”
How Kids Can Make Fancy Italian Lemon Cake
A light and delicate lemon cake.
Ingredients
- 2 Cups + 1 Tablespoon Cake Flour (See Above) Or All-Purpose Flour
- 2 Teaspoons Baking Powder
- 1/2 Teaspoon salt
- 7 Tablespoons Butter (Melted)
- 3 Large Eggs (Room Temperature)
- 1 Large Yolk (Room Temperature)
- 1 3/4 Cups Powdered Sugar
- 2/3 Cup Heavy Cream (Room Temperature)
- Zest of One Lemon
- 1 Teaspoon Vanilla
- 1 Tablespoons Lemon Juice
Instructions
- Pre-heat oven to 350F. Lightly grease and flour a 9 1/2-inch Bundt cake. Ours did not need any greasing, see pan directions.
- In a medium bowl whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt set aside.
- Melt the butter in a small pot or microwave, and let the butter cool.
- In a large mixing bowl on medium speed or the bowl of a stand mixer using the paddle attachment, beat the eggs, yolk, and sugar until light and fluffy, approximately 2-3 minutes.
- With a spatula gently fold the flour mixture, alternating with the cream into the egg mixture, keep folding until mixture is completely combined,
- Gently fold in the zest, vanilla, melted butter, and lemon juice.
- Pour the cake batter into the prepared Bundt pan. Using a rubber spatula, gently pull the batter up the sides of the pan.
- Bake for approximately 30-35 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.
- Let the cake cool 15-20 minutes in the pan, and then move to a wire rack to cool completely. Dust with powdered sugar to make it fancy!
Notes
Adapted from An Italian in My Kitchen