Happy Birthday to Me!

 

My birthday is the day before Valentine's Day and I often make myself a cake.  We had friends over for dinner on Friday night, so I did it early to celebrate with them.  It was a big hit - little kept telling me "you should always make this cake" or  asking "when will you make this cake again?" and ate most of the leftovers herself!  We have meyer lemons on our trees and if you have access to a few fresh lemons, chances are, you also have the rest of these ingredients on hand.  You could even pull this off for Valentine's Day today!  Don't skip the lemon syrup at the end!

How cute is my new spatula?!?

Lemon Bundt Cake
from Martha Stewart

For the cake:
2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
3 c. all purpose flour
2 T finely grated lemon zest (from 2 lemons)
1/3 cup fresh lemon juice
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 1/2 cups sugar
6 large eggs
1 cup sour cream

For the lemon syrup:
1/2 cup lemon juice
1/2 cup sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Spray bundt pan with baking spray (or coat with butter and flour).  In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, lemon zest, baking soda, and salt.

In the bowl of a mixer, beat butter and sugar on medium high until light and fluffy (4-5 minutes).  Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.  Mix in the lemon juice.

With mixer on low, alternate adding the flour mixture and sour cream (beginning and ending with flour mixture) until blended but do not overmix.  Spoon batter into prepared pan.  Smooth the top with a spatula and tap the pan on the counter to level the batter.

Bake until a tester in the center comes out clean (50-60 minutes).  My cake got pretty brown in the first 30 minutes so I tented the top with aluminum foil for the rest of the time.

Make lemon syrup by combining the lemon juice and sugar in a small sauce pan.  Whisk it over low heat until the sugar is dissolved.  Let cool to room temperature.

Cool the cake in the pan for 20 minutes and then turn out on a rack to cool completely.  Poke holes all over the cooled cake and brush with lemon syrup.  If it won't absorb it all, let it sit for about 20 minutes and continue to brush with the rest of the syrup.