Bad mom + the easiest lemon cake in the world.

As a punishment, the kid has to bake a cake – he rocked his chair during class.

(I, too, do forbidden things, but at least I don’t let them catch me!)

I place a fool-proof recipe on the table and say good-bye for the afternoon: he who rocks and gets caught, can bake.

After 2 hours I arrive back at home, from the house wafts a heavenly scent of lemon cake.

Together we whip up some frosting, decorate the cake and then prepare dinner.

I have to go to a parent meeting.

2 1/2 hours later I am back – house still filled with lemon cake aroma.

We chat about the parent meeting, kiddo goes off to his room, I suddenly feel an irresistible urge to eat lemon cake (I can’t explain it either!).

And, what do you say, – you might have an inkling already – I discover a lemon cake on the kitchen table.

The kid hears suspicious noises and calls from his room:

"Mooooom?!!! You are not eating the cake right now, or are you?!”

Me (nearly choking): "Phake? Whipf phake? Oy dunno whipf phake you mean…”

Kid (horrified tone of voice): "MOOOOM!!! I need exactly 24 pieces for tomorrow! You ARE NOT allowed to eat any!”

Me: "Tshoo late.”

Kid: "MOOOOOOM!!!!"

Me (with utter conviction): “No problem. We’ll have 24 pieces. Everything’s fine.”

The next morning I cut the cake.

There are exactly: 23 pieces.

No matter how much I try – one piece is definitely missing.

Darn, darn, darn.

Quick, how do I  extricate myself from this “bad mom” show?

I really do hope that one of the students (by name of Finn/Noah/Augustus) has hipster parents, who think that everything containing lactose-gluten-wheat-sugar-nuts is made in hell. 

But I likely won’t be so lucky, we don’t live in Berlin after all.

The kid (is quite mad): “Just because of you! Now I am the only one who won’t be able to eat a piece of cake!”

Me: "Um…I didn’t do it for myself! I didn’t exactly EAT the cake, I TESTED it. Imagine, if you had used salt instead of sugar! You would have remained the underdog forever after such a disaster! I did it only for you! For your class! For our country!"

Kid (still mad, yet can’t help but laugh):”Well, great. It’s incredible. Nobody will believe me when I say that my own MOTHER ate the missing piece.”

Me (calling after him): “Like I said: selflessness! A little more gratitude, if you please!”

When I passed by a shrub around lunchtime, I spontaneously decided to bake a small lemon cake and decorate it with cookies: the leaves’ fall color hues are my inspiration.

(Additionally, it is suggestive of me being supermom – while in reality all I want to do again is play.)

A little later the kid returns home, is very happy about the surprise – and declares joyfully that there was exactly enough cake for everybody, as one child was absent from school today.

But main thing is to get all stressed out beforehand, right….. 

And as the recipe is so easy that any child can bake it, preparation takes barely 10 minutes and the finished result can be decorated, so that even October birthday children are impressed, I will tell you our basic recipe!

Easiest lemon cake in the world:

(Quantities are enough for two small bread tins (24 pieces, heheheh…) or one big cake – the cake in the picture requires half the amount.


3 sticks of butter
1 ¼ cup sugar
6 eggs
1 tsp vanilla essence
lemon peel (2 organic lemons)
1 ½ cups flour (mixed with 3 tsp baking powder)

Mix everything together to obtain a batter, bake at 350°F for about 20 minutes.

For the frosting:
Juice of 1 lemon
¾ to 1 ¼ cups confectioner’s sugar




And this makes the birthday variation:

1. First cut off the domed top of the cake and turn cake upside down, so that you end up with a plane surface.

2. If you want an opaque white frosting, mix an egg white with a lot of confectioner’s sugar until you obtain a shiny, smooth mixture.
This mixture is supposed to be nearly solid – then add lemon juice drop by drop until the mixture has returned to a viscous consistency.
Use half of it as frosting for the whole cake, distribute the other half into small bowls and add food coloring as desired (see HERE).

2. You need this recipe for the lemon cookies.
Cut out circles in desired size with a round cookie cutter – I use a champagne glass for this.

I always use the Wilton colors from this pack for the cookies, because they are very intense and you only ever need a tiny little bit.

And thanks to the restored search function on Liebesbotschaft – on the left hand side on the blog, underneath my profile picture – you can easily find this recipe again at any time!
What a great service…



Love,
Joanna


P.s. The kid will never rock his chair again.
The risk to be the only one without a piece of cake is simply too high. 



This post was translated by Ginnell Studio.