Lemon-Mint Buttermilk Cake with Lemon Sauce

So it never rains it pours. Haven’t made desserts in a while and now that’s all I want to do. Go figure. Some will make it to this blog if the images work out.

This cake is easy to make and requires only two bowls (one for dry and one for wet ingredients) and a whisk, no mixer necessary. My kind of cooking as I am not a fan of using too many dishes. Now, there is a catch, if you want to present it as I did in the pics it will take more work but I only served it this way once, the rest of the cake we enjoyed with a dollop of whipped cream and the lemon sauce.

To make things even easier you can buy lemon curd at the store and mix it into whipped cream and use that as the sauce. Easy is often best.

The pink crumb (aka “soil”) you see in the image is something I had on hand from another dessert (lemon semifreddo, coming up) and I incorporated it into this dessert because it was there, but it’s not necessary. The pink colour comes from freeze dried berries that I sourced online after reading about them in some recipes. This week is the first time I am using them and it promises to be quite fun. I bought freeze dried strawberries and blueberries that I process to a powder or fine crumb in the food processor and then mix with the dessert “soil”. I should probably do a post about “soil”. Any interest out there? Let me know.

Smoke is still hanging over the valley from the more than 200 fires throughout BC and I am sad to think of people who lost their homes or have been evacuated. What a season it’s been this year, floods, fires, wind. What next? It affects everything. Having lost our beloved home to fire I have a unique understanding of what these people are going through.

So, here is the recipe for this simple but delicious lemon mint cake to sweeten your day.

I hope you enjoy.

 

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Recipe adapted from NY Times

Ingredients:

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1 1/2 cups flour

2  teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

A pinch of salt

1 cup sugar

Grated zest and juice from  lemon

1/2 cup buttermilk

3 eggs

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup canola oil

A handful of fresh mint leaves, chopped.

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Directions:

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Combine flour, baking powder and baking soda in a bowl and set aside.

In a second bowl combine sugar and lemon zest and rub together to the sugar is mixed with the lemon oils and fragrance of the zest.

Add eggs, buttermilk, lemon juice and vanilla and whisk to combine.

Add the oil using a spatula, scraping the butter from the bottom and the sides of the bowl.

Pour batter into a 9″ X 5″ loaf pan or similar size, place pan on a baking sheet and bake at 350ºF for about 35-40 minutes or until the cake is done.

Let cool in the pan before removing to a wire rack to finish cooling.

Serve with whipped cream and lemon sauce.

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Lemon sauce:

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3/4 cup sugar

1 1/2 tablespoon cornstarch

1 1/3 cups water

4 tablespoons butter, cut in pieces

Juice from 1 lemon

Place sugar, cornstarch and water in a pot and bring to a slow boil.

Lower to a simmer and cook, stirring now and then, until the mixture bubbles, thickens and becomes opaque.

Remove from heat and whisk in the butter.

Add the lemon juice.

Pour into a glass jar and let cool before refrigerating.

Serve on its own with the cake, or add some of this sauce into whipped cream and serve with the cake.

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