Move over Martha. I do believe Ina Garten of Barefoot Contessa is inching in on your territory. She throws picture perfect parties, she has her own Hampton-entourage, she has numerous books here, here, and here. Next thing you know, Ina will have her own talk show, focusing solely on how cool her florist friends are. Because that’s exactly what the world needs, right? Another Martha…

I’ll admit, I never used to be an Ina fan. She seemed uptight, pretentious, and very East-Coast bored housewife. That was before I tuned into her show, and read the reviews of her recipe. Unlike Ms. Stewart, Ina has a pretty good repetoire among the baking world. I decided to give her a shot, and picked up a copy of her Parties! book at my library.

This book is a small one, but it holds a good amount of handy and delicious recipes, from Lobster Rolls to Chicken Pot Pie. If I only had more dinner parties, I’d be able to put these dishes to test. But my idea of a dinner party involves grabbing some pita bread and hummus at my favorite Greek restaurant or eating girl scout cookies with champagne. Classy right?

 

The one recipe that caught my eye is Ina’s Lemon cake. Buttery and dripping with a zesty fragrant syrup, it practically begged for me to bake it. It felt like a nice breather from the heavy chocolate desserts I had been baking. Seasons change, as do baked goods.
I did make some minor changes to the recipe. I used fresh local oranges in addition to some lemon juice. I wanted a more citrus-y cake than just an orange one and the end result was quite tasty. Also, I didn’t make the lemon syrup and opted to just drip freshly squeezed orange juice on top of the cake right before serving it along with some powdered sugar sprinkles.

The best part of this cake has to be the crumb factor. Sweet and tangy from the orange juice, it melts in your mouth giving way to the rest of the cake. Normally crusts on these kinds of cake can be too crunchy, too dry. But not this one. I enjoyed my slices of lemon cake with a nice cup of tea while catching up on my homework, and brought it into work the next day to celebrate my friend Rhea’s triumphant return to my work. Suffice to say, she loved it as well and instead of working, we sat around, catching up on (important) gossip and nibbling on this citrus cake.ps. If you want to wander on over here, you can see Deb from Smitten Kitchen’s take on this cake too.

Lemon Cake
from Barefoot Contessa Parties! by Ina Garten

Ingredients:

2 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 1/2 cups sugar
4 extra-large eggs, at room temperature
1/3 cup grated lemon zest, 6 to 8 large lemons (I used fresh oranges)
3 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon kosher salt
3/4 cup plus 3 1/2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice (I used the juice from my fresh oranges)
3/4 cup buttermilk, at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted. (optional)

Directions:

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour two 8 1/2-by-4 1/4-by-2 1/2-inch loaf pans, and line the bottoms with parchment paper.

Cream butter and 2 cups sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment for about 5 minutes, or until light and fluffy. Mixing at medium speed, add eggs, one at a time, and lemon zest.

Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a bowl. In another bowl, combine 1/4 cup lemon juice, buttermilk and vanilla. Add flour and buttermilk mixtures alternately to butter and sugar mixture, beginning and ending with flour. Divide batter evenly between pans, smooth tops, and bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour, until a cake tester comes out clean.

Combine 1/2 cup sugar with 1/2 cup lemon juice in a small saucepan, and cook over low heat until sugar dissolves.

When cakes are done, let them cool 10 minutes. Invert them onto a rack set over a tray, and spoon lemon syrup over cakes. Let cakes cool completely.

For the optional glaze, combine confectioners’ sugar and remaining 3 1/2 tablespoons lemon juice in a bowl, mixing with a whisk until smooth. Pour over top of cakes, and allow glaze to drizzle down the sides.

Yield: 2 cakes.