Wednesday, December 12, 2012

Lemon Queen Cakes with Meringue Frosting

Hello everybody! The Fresh Pioneer is back and we have a delicious recipe that will knock your socks off. And your blood sugar will never forgive you. But that's another story...

 


 Edna kept talking about 'queen' cakes. They sounded good until she got to the part about them being not quite cooked. WHAT???

 So, I had to try it out. I've always been told that the cake MUST BE COOKED completely. If I'd known raw cake was okay to serve, I wouldn't have had to poke so many cakes in my life. All those little sticks. All those little holes. All those wasted minutes.

 
 
If this worked out, I might never have to time a cake again. I'd just cook it... halfway.


Beat together (Isn't that the way all good recipes start??)
1/2 cup unsalted butter
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 tbs grated lemon zest. MMMMM.


4 eggs separated (no lawyer needed)
 
 
Add to this mixture

1/2 cup lemon juice
3/4 cup flour
1 1/4 cup whole milk
1/4 tsp salt
 
Wisk the leftover egg whites until fluffy and fold into batter gently.

 
Pour into buttered ramekins.
 
 
I think you actually have to have them for this recipe. Edna said these could be cooked into oven safe teacups, but that kind of glassware is RARE around here. :) Vintage glass like this... if you see it, snatch it up and make queen cakes!
 
 
Set each ramekin in an inch or so of water.
 
 
 
30-32 minutes at 350, until firm on top. Here's the thing, there's no need to poke them! The bottom is pudding! Crazy, huh? I guess it gets hot enough that the uncooked cake won't kill you. Edna was telling me the bottom is like the best lemon cream I've ever tasted.
 
 
 
I was still thinking, "RAW! DANGER!" (Look at those pretty food poisoning microbes!)
 
 But hey, Edna knows best.
 
So, now whip 4 egg whites, 1 cup sugar, and 1/8 tsp salt into a stiff meringue. Add it to the top. Now, if you have one of those uber-cool kitchen blow torches, now would be the time to bring that out. But I did not. so I put it in the oven under broil.
 
 
Uhhhhhh, apparently there's approximately a 1.3 second window for the browning of the meringue. The leisure you gain by not having to actually poke the cake is taken back from you ten-fold with the dumb meringue.
 
Ok, this is better, now that I know I actually have to PAY ATTENTION.

So, here's the bottom of one of the cakes.

Layers of meringue, lemon cake, and then a smooth lemon pudding... Really, really fancy. I can see why they call them 'queen cakes'!

This definitely wasn't diet food, so after this we had to go outside and rake a big pile of leaves.

 And jump in them! Wheeee!

 I'm hoping our next outdoor photo will look like this...

 
A girl can dream!

 Until next time!



 
 
 
 




















3

 meringue on top, simmiering water, whisk to 160F and then whip to stiff peaks, broil

14 comments:

  1. I have heard of queen cakes even made them but not like these. The ones we have are little cakes or cup cakes with its either 5 or 6 currents around the top to look like a crown.

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    1. Oh, that sounds fun! Sort of like Jan's Scottish cake with almonds the other day!

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  2. Oh, my...these look absolutely wonderful. I LOVE lemon stuff and these could score high on the lemon scale.

    Yum! I must try these, Virginia. Thanks to both you and Edna for sharing this delightful recipe.

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    1. They were very easy to make, Mindy! But rich, oh boy. Even one ramekin was too much and I'm no dessert wimp.

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  3. That's what a Queen cake is? Who knew?! Edna, obviously! Honestly she's better then the entire household staff at Buckingham Palace. What did you ever do without her?!

    I'm definitely going to do this recipe. Just love lemon -- and we used to be able to get a kind of mix that made pudding at the bottom and cake on top but I haven't seen it in ages. I'm uber excited!!!!!

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    1. Kav, my dad said the same thing. He said, 'hey this reminds me of a mix we used to be able to make...' etc. etc. So, I bet you two shopped at the same store, BOUGHT THEM ALL and now they're out. :D Mystery solved.

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  4. These look so fancy - are you sure they're easy?

    'Cause if they are, they're going on the menu. I even have all the ingredients - oh, except the lemons.

    Hmmmm. Can I wait two days until shopping day?

    And I don't have ramekins, but I do have custard cups. It will be interesting to see what they look like in clear glass.

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  5. Oh, I bet they'd be beautiful in clear glass! It was really easy. Honestly. Except for the meringue part. I'd never made it before so that was interesting. And the browning. But I this you could always just sprinkle with powdered sugar and it might even cut down on the calories. They were DELICIOUS.

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  6. Oh, this is a great and wonderful recipe that I will be trying soon! I love lemon... I love meringue.... I love layers... and I love and laud anything that makes its own sauce. SO TOTALLY GOOD!!!!

    Can't wait to try it!!!! Delighted with the pics and

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  7. Throw one in the freezer for me beside the almond cake! Yummy :D

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  9. Hahaha! yeah, you think so!! And Nada was just here making nut roll. I'll set one of those halves in the freezer. It was a HUGE process. I couldn't believe all the work. Holy mackeral.

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  10. I'm so cracking up at the 1.6 seconds between brown and burned! :) Around here, I always discover that difference (on the burned side)! :)

    These look amazing. I think I said this the other day about orange zest. But there isn't much better than lemon zest or orange zest. Fresh juice, too.

    Jan, I'm with you. I only have custard cups. Will try those!

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