Rhubarb pairs well with sweet ingredients like almonds (ground almonds, amaretto, and almond extract) and corn (such as polenta and cornmeal). The tart flavour of rhubarb also plays nicely with bright orange zest. By combining all these elements, I ultimately adapted a classic orange polenta cake recipe and topped it with rhubarb. If you don't have rhubarb, fresh blueberries or raspberries would make a fantastic replacement for these mini orange polenta cakes.

Unlike this glazed orange cake, which is made with ground almonds and is gluten-free, this orange rhubarb cake has both regular flour and cornmeal.

What You Need To Bake Rhubarb Orange Cakes

• butter—I bake with unsalted butter and add the salt myself. If using salted butter, you may want to reduce the salt in the recipe
• sugar—I like to use a combination of granulated sugar (sweet, but tasteless) and honey (with a robust flavour). Use a strong honey like Greek honey or autumn honey
• eggs—use large eggs for this recipe
• flour—I bake with bleached all-purpose flour but unbleached should work fine
• cornmeal—use a fairly finei cornmeal, otherwise the cake crumb may be too crunchy
• leavening—since the cake batter contains sour cream (an acidic baking ingredient), you will need both baking soda and baking powder for this recipe. Read about baking soda versus baking powder if you are confused about the difference
• salt—I bake with Diamond Crystal fine Kosher salt. If using regular table salt, add half the amount
• sour cream—I prefer to bake with full-fat sour cream, not low-fat or fat-free
• flavouring—both vanilla extract and orange zest are used to flavour this sweet cornmeal cake batter.
• rhubarb—use fresh rhubarb only for this recipe. Trim the stalks and remove the leaves, splitting the stalks into thinner pieces (see photo).

Please see the recipe card for the exact ingredients and quantities.

Substitutions And Variations

How To Make Mini Rhubarb Cakes

I love baking muffins and cakes with cornmeal. These orange cakes with cornmeal and rhubarb are moist and buttery, with a light texture and a pronounced orange flavour. The rhubarb is just right for these cakes. I really hope that you will try this recipe.

Step 1—Whisk the dry ingredients, including the leavening and salt, in a small bowl (image 1) while creaming the butter, sugar, honey, and orange zest in the stand mixer bowl fitted with the paddle attachment (image 2). Then, add the eggs and vanilla (image 3). Ensure that you mix everything thoroughly to incorporate a lot of air and lighten the mixture (image 4).

Step 2—Add a third of the dry ingredients (image 5) alternating with the sour cream (image 6), stirring between each addition. You will end up with a very thick batter (image 7).

Step 3—Portion out the orange batter with a medium scoop (image 8). Divide the batter evenly between the mini loaf pans (image 10) and smooth it out from edge to edge (image 10).

Note: The pan I used to bake this recipe is a Wilton mini loaf cake pan similar to this one on Amazon. If you don't have one, feel free to use muffin pans, but you will have to adapt the size of your rhubarb pieces accordingly, and the baking time will need to be adjusted. The recipe as is would probably make 10 rhubarb muffins.

Step 4—Garnish each cake with 2-3 small pieces of rhubarb (image 11) and bake the cakes until fluffy and golden brown on the edges (image 12).

Let the cakes set before unmoulding them with a mini offset spatula..

Tips For Baking With Cornmeal And Polenta

Cornmeal, also known as polenta, is made from dried corn that is ground. The grind can range from coarse to very fine. It's important to pick the right one when you are baking:

• Coarse cornmeal, also known as coarse polenta is slower to soften when it comes in contact with moisture, which you need to know if you want to bake with it because it will likely stay crunchy and inevitably add a lot of texture to cakes and cookies if you don't give it time to hydrate. Coarse cornmeal is also useful when making homemade bagels or pizza. The cornmeal prevents the dough from sticking to the pan.
• Fine cornmeal or fine polenta will soften faster when incorporated into cake batters and so that is what I used in these orange polenta cakes because I didn't want too much texture, but I still wanted that flavour
• Don't confuse either of these with corn flour, made from dried corn or masa harina, which has been treated with a basic (alkaline) solution in a process known as nixtamalization, which affects the texture and taste. In the UK, cornflour refers to cornstarch, which adds another layer of confusion.

You can add cornmeal to various recipes to enhance both flavour and texture, as seen in the recipe below. Fine cornmeal in these chilli cheese cornbread muffins adds sweetness to balance the spicy chilli peppers and adds texture too. Cornmeal adds crunch to fritters.

Other Rhubarb Baking Recipes

And if you need more things to bake with a bumper crop of rhubarb, check out my best rhubarb recipes, whether you like to bake it on its own in a rhubarb lattice pie or rhubarb crumble or mixed with other berries like raspberry in this raspberry rhubarb upside down cake or strawberries in this strawberry rhubarb muffins. You can even mix it with blueberries like in this blueberry rhubarb crisp with oat crumble topping.

If you tried this recipe for the best orange rhubarb cakes (or any other recipe on my website), please leave a ⭐ star rating and let me know how it went in the comments below. I love hearing from you!

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Orange Rhubarb Cakes

These orange cakes are made with cornmeal and topped with rhubarb. The cake batter includes greek yogurt so they are moist, buttery, fluffy with a light texture and a lovely orange flavour.

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Prep Time 15 minutes minutes

Cook Time 20 minutes minutes

Total Time 35 minutes minutes

Servings 9

Calories 267kcal

Author Janice Lawandi

Equipment

• Mini loaf pan
• 5-quart KitchenAid Artisan mixer
• Mini offset
• Cake tester

Ingredients

• 94 grams bleached all-purpose flour
• 100 grams fine cornmeal
• 5 mL baking powder
• 1.25 mL baking soda
• 1.25 mL Diamond Crystal fine kosher salt
• 115 grams unsalted butter room temperature
• 100 grams granulated sugar
• 2 large egg(s)
• 85 grams honey
• 5 mL pure vanilla extract
• 15 mL orange zest
• 60 mL sour cream (14% fat) or full-fat Greek yogurt or labneh
• 145 grams fresh rhubarb sliced into 27 thin logs of about 2–3"

Metric - US

Instructions

• Preheat the oven to 350ºF (175 °C). Grease and flour a 9-cavity mini loaf pan (like this one from Wilton on Amazon).
• In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cornmeal, baking powder, baking soda, and the salt. Set aside
• In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together the butter with the granulated sugar for 2 minutes. Add the eggs one at a time, beating between each addition and scraping down the sides of the bowl with a spatula as needed.
• Add the honey, the vanilla, and the zest, and beat it all in well.
• Add half the dry mixture to the mixer bowl and stir it in on low. Scrape down the sides of the bowl, then add the labneh, mix again, then add the rest of the dry ingredients.
• Divide the mixture between the greased & floured cavities, smoothing each with a mini offset spatula (like my fave Ateco spatula on Amazon) or the back of a spoon. Top each with 3 strips of rhubarb.
• Bake until a skewer inserted into the center of the cakes comes out clean and the edges of the cakes are golden. This takes about 20 minutes or so.
• Let the cakes cool at least 10 minutes before unmolding them carefully with the help of an offset spatula.

Notes

• Substitutions (With most substitutions, you will have to retest the recipe to ensure it works. Tread carefully and take notes!)
  • Greek yogurt—replace the sour cream with the same amount of Greek yogurt (preferably with 9–10 % fat content). Don't use low-fat Greek yogurt, though it will work just fine, but could result in a dryer texture.
  • Citrus—replace the orange zest with any citrus zest, like lemon or clementine or mandarine. I don't think grapefruit zest has enough flavour but it's worth a try.
  • Almond—you could replace the cornmeal with ground almonds.
  • Glaze—if you want to glaze these, make the orange glaze from this orange almond cake recipe or this orange poppy seed cake. Brush it on top of the cakes
• Make sure to take the time to prepare the cake pans properly by applying a thin layer of softened butter and dusting with flour
• This recipe calls for Diamond Crystal fine Kosher salt. If using regular table salt, add half the amount or the recipe may be too salty!

Nutrition

Calories: 267kcal | Carbohydrates: 36g | Protein: 4g | Fat: 12g | Saturated Fat: 7g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 3g | Trans Fat: 0.4g | Cholesterol: 64mg | Sodium: 105mg | Potassium: 181mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 20g | Vitamin A: 392IU | Vitamin C: 2mg | Calcium: 57mg | Iron: 1mg

The post Orange Rhubarb Cakes appeared first on The Bake School.

Amaretti cookies are one of my favourite easy recipes to use those leftover egg whites after making a batch of lemon curd or lemon bars. These Italian almond cookies store well in an airtight container and they are gluten-free!

Ingredients

Besides egg whites, you only need a few pantry staples to make these gluten-free cookies. Here's what you need:

• sugar—you will need both granulated sugar and icing sugar (powdered sugar) for this recipe. The granulated sugar is used in the dough, mixed with the egg whites to make a meringue and the dry ingredients, and also as a coating before the icing sugar
• egg whites—please weigh your egg whites to make sure you have the right amount. This recipe requires approximately 4 egg whites but going by weight is more accurate and will lead to more consistent results
• salt—I use Diamond Crystal fine kosher salt. If using table salt, add half the amount to avoid making the cookies too salty
• almond extract—use pure almond extract, not artificial. It's usually available in grocery stores with the other extracts. While not essential, the almond extract really brings out that strong almond flavour and aroma that we expect from amaretti cookies
• orange zest—I used the zest of one Navel orange, which yields roughly 2 teaspoons (10 mL) of zest. Feel free to use more or less.

Please see the recipe card for the exact ingredients and quantities.

Substitutions and Variations

Instructions

Italian almond cookies are very easy to make, but it's best to whip the egg whites in a stand mixer to get the best texture.

Step 1—Combine the ground almonds with 100 grams (½ cup) of sugar and the zest of 1 orange with a Danish dough whisk (image 1). Whisk until evenly mixed (image 2).

Step 2—In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, combine the egg whites and salt (image 3). Whisk until frothy, then gradually add 50 grams (¼ cup) of sugar and whip until firm peaks form (image 4). Fold in the ground almond mixture, one-third at a time (image 5) being sure to fully incorporate it before folding in another portion of the dry ingredients (image 6).

Tip: adding salt to the egg whites helps to break up the globular proteins, allowing you to whip them up faster and create more volume more easily.

Step 3—The almond cookie dough will be thick like almond paste (image 7). Use a ¾ ounce scoop to portion out the dough in 24 equal scoops of approximately 22 grams (image 8). I like to portion out all the dough, rolling each scoop into smooth ball (image 9).

Step 3—Place the granulated sugar and icing sugar in separate shallow bowls and start by coating all the balls of dough in granulated sugar to coat (image 10) before coating them in icing sugar (image 11). Coat all the dough in icing sugar (image 12).

Step 3—Place 12 icing sugar-coated portions of dough on each parchment paper-lined sheet pan, staggering them and pressing down each mound slightly to flatten them out (if desired) (image 13). Bake until cracked and set (image 14).

Amaretti Cookie Baking Tips

I tested the recipe without any sugar coating, comparing it to cookies rolled in just granulated sugar, just icing sugar, or rolling first in granulated then icing sugar to show the difference.

Rolling the portioned-out amaretti cookie dough in granulated sugar, followed by icing sugar, is non-negotiable because it creates the most perfect cracked finish and the longest-lasting coating. If you don't roll in any sugar, the cookies don't crack and the surface looks a little more rough. Icing sugar alone is prone to becoming greasy as it absorbs the oils from the almonds. For best results, roll the dough first in granulated sugar, then icing sugar for perfectly cracked amaretti cookies and crinkle cookies.

Whether or not you decide to press the cookies before baking to flatten them out slightly is entirely up to you and the results are very similar, though the shape is different (round versus thick/flat).

Storage

When amaretti cookies are fresh, the day they are baked, they have a crispy exterior and a soft interior. As they sit in an airtight container, the texture will become more soft and chewy, and even throughout, like amaretti morbidi. These can be stored for weeks in a container and improve with age.

Other Crinkle Cookies

I am obsessed with crinkle cookies and the deep cracks that form on the surface. They have such a unique texture! Here are a few more crinkle cookie recipes to try:

If you tried this recipe for orange almond amaretti cookies (or any other recipe on my website), please leave a ⭐ star rating and let me know how it went in the comments below. I love hearing from you!

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Orange Almond Amaretti Cookies

Learn how to make the best orange amaretti cookies with this easy recipe. These gluten-free Italian almond cookies are made with egg whites and ground almonds, and flavoured with lots of orange zest and almond extract for a soft and chewy texture that everybody loves!

Course Dessert

Cuisine Italian

Prep Time 30 minutes minutes

Cook Time 17 minutes minutes

Total Time 47 minutes minutes

Servings 24

Calories 109kcal

Author Janice Lawandi

Equipment

• Danish dough whisk
• 6-quart KitchenAid Pro mixer
• ¾ oz scoop
• Sheet pan

Ingredients

• 300 grams ground almonds
• 100 grams granulated sugar
• 10 mL finely grated orange zest equivalent to the zest of one Navel orange
• 105 grams large egg white(s) room temperature
• 0.625 mL Diamond Crystal fine kosher salt
• 50 grams granulated sugar
• 10 mL pure almond extract

For coating

• 40 grams granulated sugar
• 30 grams icing sugar

Metric - US

Instructions

• Preheat the oven to 350 °F (175 °C). Line two half sheet pans with parchment paper. Set aside.
• In a medium bowl, whisk together the ground almonds, sugar, and orange zest until they are well mixed. Set aside.
• Place the egg whites and the salt in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Whisk until very frothy, then gradually sprinkle in the sugar, a little at a time. Continue whipping until you form a meringue with fairly firm peaks.
• Sprinkle one-third of the ground almond mixture on the meringue and fold it in with a spatula. Repeat with half of the remaining almond mixture, folding it in, then folding in the remainder. You will have a thick almond paste dough that is a little sticky.
• Place the granulated sugar for coating in a shallow bowl, and the icing sugar in a separate shallow bowl.
• Portion out the dough into 24 scoops of approximately 22 grams each (0.77 oz). Roll each into a smooth. ball.
• Roll each ball of almond cookie dough in the granulated sugar to lightly coat it all around, then roll in icing sugar to coat.
• Place 12 cookies per sheet pan.
• Bake the cookies, one sheet pan at a time, until the surface is cracked and set and the bottom begins to brown. This takes approximately 17 minutes in my oven.
• Let cool. Store in an airtight container.

Notes

• Use room-temperature egg whites so that they whip up more easily.
• You can make this recipe with any finely ground nuts, like almonds, pistachios or hazelnuts, or a combination of them.
• You can flavour this cookie with orange zest or lemon zest.
• I like to use a ¾ ounce scoop to portion out the dough.
• Please note that I bake with uncoated aluminum sheet pans that are light in colour. If you are baking this recipe with darker bakeware, you may have to drop the oven temperature to 325 °F (165 °C) to prevent your baked goods from browning too quickly.
• Freshly baked amaretti will have a crunchy exterior and softer interior initially. Then after storage, the textures will become more soft and chewy throughout.
• This recipe calls for Diamond Crystal fine Kosher salt. If using regular table salt, add half the amount or the recipe may be too salty!
•  

Nutrition

Calories: 109kcal | Carbohydrates: 12g | Protein: 3g | Fat: 6g | Saturated Fat: 0.4g | Sodium: 20mg | Potassium: 8mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 10g | Calcium: 27mg | Iron: 0.5mg

The post Orange Almond Amaretti Cookies appeared first on The Bake School.

This recipe for lemon bars is different than most because you bake the crust separate from the filling, which contains no starches or flour and is cooked on the stove.

With this method and recipe, the thickened filling is much less likely to seep between the edge of the crust and the side of the pan. It makes it almost impossible for you to end up with upside-down lemon bars, which is a common problem with many recipes.

For this recipe, you need to know how to make lemon curd and shortbread cookies.

Cooking Lemon Bar Filling On The Stove

I much prefer this recipe and method for lemon bars where the filling is made from a lemon curd cooked on the stove, without thickeners because:

• the thickeners in lemon bar fillings mask the bright citrus flavour, mellowing it out or even muting it.
• the lemon filling without thickeners has a brighter, tart lemony flavour.
• the thickeners, especially flour, give the filling a whiter, more opaque appearance, which isn't as appealing for a lemon dessert.
• when lemon bar filling is baked on the crust, the liquid filling is poured over the shortbread base when it is very fluid and liquid, and this can lead to it seeping: the filling leaks under the crust. The lemon bar layers may end up reversed!
• the uncooked filling is whisked, which makes a foam that rises to the top of the bars as they bake, leading to a bubbly texture on top that has a white cast, so the lemon bars appear white, not yellow. Cooking the lemon filling on the stove eliminates the foam.

There are a couple of drawbacks to this method:

• there's a risk that the eggs cook to the point of being hard if you cook the filling on the stove. The hard cooked eggs are strained out then, which means there's a risk that the bars won't set properly.
• hard-cooked eggs can cause an eggy taste in the curd.

To avoid the eggs hard-cooking in the lemon filling, constant whisking is essential for a smooth, creamy, glossy result.

What You Need to Make Lemon Squares

• all-purpose flour for the crust to make a firm base for the lemon filling so that you can easily cut and serve them
• sugar—use granulated sugar (white sugar), not brown sugar because we don’t want the flavour of the sugar to mask the brightness of the lemon
• salt—I use Diamond Crystal fine kosher salt but table salt will work. Use half if you make this change.
• butter—preferably unsalted butter though salted butter could work, especially in the crust. Omit the salt from the recipe if using salted butter.
• lemon juice—I highly recommend using fresh lemon juice. Bottled lemon juice doesn’t have a great flavour and we want these bars to shine!
• egg yolks and eggs—use large eggs as recommended, otherwise your filling may not set properly and the texture may be affected.

Please see the recipe card for the exact ingredients and quantities.

Substitutions and Variations

The base for these lemon squares is a shortbread cookie crust. You could also opt for a graham cracker crust, made from either store-bought or homemade graham crackers. I have a friend who actually makes the crust for her lemon squares using saltines (salted soda crackers) instead of graham crackers! There's room for creativity here.

How to Make Lemon Bars

To make lemon bars, there are 2 components: a base and a lemon filling. Once baked, the bars are cut into squares and dusted with powdered sugar.

For the base, you can easily fall back on the classic shortbread ingredient ratio of 1:2:3 of sugar/butter/flour, by weight. If you can remember some of the common baking ratios, you could make the base without a recipe! Baking ratios make it easy to scale up and down recipes. We assemble the crust in the food processor to make this recipe really easy.

Pre-cooking the lemon curd filling on the stove also means that you actually don't have to bake the bars a second time. The second baking step is actually optional but it can help the edges of the bars set more firmly, making it easier to separate them from the parchment paper when cutting.

Step 1—Mix the flour, sugar, and salt for the crust in the food processor (image 1) before adding the cold butter (cubed) (image 2). Pulse the mixture until it has the texture of fine, crumbly sand (image 3).

Step 2—Transfer the mixture to a square pan that has been buttered and lined with parchment paper (image 4) and spread it out evenly, pressing it into place with your hands or the flat bottom of a glass (image 5). Bake until set and golden brown (image 6).

Tip—Bake the crust to ensure the base is solid and has good flavour. Underbaked shortbread crust doesn’t taste good and may lead to a soggy bottom on these lemon bars.

Step 3—While the shortbread base is baking, heat the lemon juice with half the sugar in a saucepan on the stove (image 7) until very hot, while you whisk the eggs and yolks with the rest of the sugar (image 8). Whisk until lightened in colour and foamy (image 9) before pouring the hot lemon syrup over top (image 10). Whisk well.

Step 4—Transfer the lemon filling back to the saucepan (image 11) and cook until thick and bright yellow (image 12). Take the pan off the heat immediately.

Step 5—Slowly add the cubes of butter, whisking them in progressively (image 13), then strain the lemon filling (image 14) and pour it on the hot, freshly baked shortbread base (image 15). Immediately after pouring the filling, use a mini offset spatula to smooth it out.

Tip—To make lemon bars foolproof, I prefer to cook the lemon curd filling separate from the shortbread base, cooking it on the stove, just like for lemon curd, cooking it between 170 ºF and 180 °F or 77–82 ºC.

After pouring the lemon card over the base, you may want to bake the bars briefly in the oven because the heat of the oven can help smooth out the top just a little, creating a more smooth, even surface (see images below). This last step is entirely optional and the difference is subtle.

Tip: If you find that your bars sweat a little and have a thin layer of water on the surface after refrigerating, simply blot it with a paper towel gently. Do this right before dusting with powdered sugar and serving.

I used the same filling recipe to make this orange pie recipe, but instead of baking the curd in the pie shell, I added gelatin to help it set firm.

Top Tip For Baking With Lemon

With desserts made with lemon juice and citrus that tend to be particularly acidic, it’s important to use non-reactive bakeware. Use an OXO whisk that is made with high quality stainless steel, for example, and bake the bars in a glass square baking dish or a non-reactive metal pan (either made of anodized aluminum, aluminized steel, or a pan coated with a non-stick finish, like this one from USA pans). If you use a regular aluminum pan for this recipe, the edges of the filling may react with the metal, which will give the bars an unpleasant metallic taste.

Beware of vintage or antique metal brownie pans, which are most definitely made of reactive aluminum. They are great at conducting heat but they will impart a metallic flavour to baked goods like these!

Serving Suggestions

Store these lemon bars in the fridge and keep them refrigerated. Serve them cold. Usually, they aren’t served with ice cream or anything more than a dusting of powdered sugar, though a dollop of lightly sweetened whipped cream would be lovely to make these lemon squares into a plated dessert.

Lemon Bar Baking FAQs

Other Desserts With Lemon and Citrus

If you'd like to bake lemon cookies instead of bars, try these soft lemon crinkle cookies made with ricotta cheese, glazed lemon shortbread cookies, or these chewy lemon poppy seed cookies (a cream cheese cookie recipe flavoured with lemon zest and poppy seeds). Or take advantage of citrus season to make these other citrus dessert recipes:

If you tried this easy recipe for lemon bars (or any other recipe on my website), please leave a ⭐ star rating and let me know how it went in the comments below. I love hearing from you!

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Lemon Bars

Learn how to make lemon bars with this easy recipe, made from a shortbread cookie crust and lemon curd.

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Prep Time 15 minutes minutes

Cook Time 50 minutes minutes

Chill time 8 hours hours

Total Time 9 hours hours 5 minutes minutes

Servings 16 squares

Calories 263kcal

Author Janice Lawandi

Equipment

• 8x8-inch pan
• Food processor
• OXO balloon whisk
• ChefAlarm thermometer

Ingredients

Shortbread cookie crust

• 156 grams bleached all-purpose flour
• 50 grams granulated sugar
• 1.25 mL Diamond Crystal fine kosher salt
• 115 grams unsalted butter cut into cubes, cold

Lemon curd filling

• 250 mL fresh lemon juice
• 300 grams granulated sugar
• 8 large egg yolk(s)
• 2 large egg(s)
• 115 grams unsalted butter cut into cubes, room temperature

Metric - US

Instructions

• Preheat the oven to 350 °F (175 °C). Butter and line an 8x8-inch (20x20 cm) with parchment paper, making sure that you leave overhangs on all sides. You can use metal binder clips to secure the parchment overhangs to the edge so that they stay upright and in place. Set aside.

Shortbread cookie crust

• In a food processor, combine the flour, sugar, and salt. Let it run so they are well mixed.
• Drop in the cubes of butter, and then pulse to form a coarse sandy mixture.
• Dump the mixture in the prepared pan and press it well into the corners and edges. You can use a flat-bottomed glass to even out the surface and to help you press down the crust firmly.
• Bake the crust on the middle rack for 20 to 30 minutes. The edges should be golden brown. If you like a blonder shortbread crust, bake it for 20 minutes, for a more caramelized cookie crust, bake it for 30 minutes.

Lemon curd filling

• While the crust is baking, cook the lemon curd filling.
• Prepare a fine-mesh sieve and place it over a 4-cup liquid measuring cup with a pouring spout or a bowl with a pouring spout. Set aside.
• In a medium saucepan, combine the lemon juice with half the sugar. Heat it on medium–high.
• In a large bowl, whisk together the egg yolks, whole eggs, and the rest of the sugar until light in colour.
• When the lemon juice begins to steam and is almost simmering, turn the heat off, and pour it over the whisked eggs and sugar, while whisking. Combine everything together and when the filling is well mixed, transfer it back to the saucepan.
• Turn the stove back on to medium heat and whisking constantly, heat the filling until it's 77–82 °C (170–180 °F). The lemon curd should be thick, creamy and coat the back of the spoon.
• Immediately take the curd off the stove and incorporate the cubes of butter while still whisking.
• Once the butter has all been incorporated, pour the curd through the strainer into the measuring cup.
• When the crust has baked sufficiently, take it out of the oven and place the pan on a cooling rack.
• Pour the curd over the hot crust and smooth the surface with an offset spatula if needed. Make sure the curd covers the entire surface, from one edge of the pan to the other.
• Place the pan back in the oven and bake for 10 minutes more. The edges of the curd will appear set but the centre will still be wobbly. Note that this baking step is optional but it can help the edges of the bars set more firmly, making it easier to separate them from the parchment paper when cutting.
• Set the pan on a wire rack to let it cool completely for a few hours. Once cooled to room temperature, chill in the fridge overnight. You may want to leave the pan unwrapped to avoid any condensation, but if any water forms on the surface of the lemon curd, you can easily blot it with a paper towel.
• Once chilled overnight, you can lift the bars out of the pan using the parchment overhangs. Carefully peel off the parchment from the edges of the bars, and place on a cutting board to cut into 16 equal bars. Decorate with powdered sugar before serving.

Notes

• The base for these lemon squares is a shortbread cookie crust. You could also opt for a graham cracker crust, made from either store-bought or homemade graham crackers. I have a friend who actually makes the crust for her lemon squares using saltines (salted soda crackers) instead of graham crackers! There's room for creativity here.
• Please use freshly squeezed lemon juice. Do not use bottled lemon juice because the flavour isn't great.
• This recipe calls for Diamond Crystal fine Kosher salt. If using regular table salt, add half the amount or the recipe may be too salty!
• Use a hand-held probe thermometer or a hands-free model for fast temperature reading so you don't overcook the filling.

Nutrition

Calories: 263kcal | Carbohydrates: 31g | Protein: 3g | Fat: 15g | Saturated Fat: 8g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 149mg | Sodium: 45mg | Potassium: 48mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 22g | Vitamin A: 520IU | Vitamin C: 6mg | Calcium: 21mg | Iron: 1mg

The post Easy Lemon Bars appeared first on The Bake School.

There are two types of sugar cookies: cutout sugar cookies that require chilling, rolling and cutting with cookie cutters and sugar cookies that are drop cookies where the dough is scooped and baked. These lemon sugar cookies fall in the drop cookie category, which means less work and a faster reward!

While both these lemon poppy seed cookies and these chocolate sugar cookies don't require chilling, that's not true for every drop sugar cookie recipe. These maple sugar cookies are a little more complex (in both the ingredients and the method) and take a little more time (chilling in the fridge overnight), but they are still well worth the effort!

What You Need to Make Cream Cheese Sugar Cookies

These lemon poppy seed cookies are based on a cream cheese sugar cookie recipe. Adding cream cheese to sugar cookie dough creates a thick and chewy cookie with a really nice flavour. Here's what you need to make these:

• butter—this recipe was developed with unsalted butter. If using salted butter, you may want to adjust the salt in the recipe to avoid the cookies being too salty
• cream cheese—use full-fat cream cheese sold in bricks (blocks). I prefer to bake with Philadelphia brand cream cheese. Don't use whipped cream cheese or spreadable cream cheese because the composition is different and it will affect the texture and spread of the cookies.
• lemon zest—fresh lemon zest adds a ton of flavour. I zested 2 lemons to get enough zest for these cookies. The zest of 1 lemon wasn't sufficient in my tests
• sugar—you will need white granulated sugar for this recipe. Don't use brown sugar which will impart too much colour and molasses flavour that doesn't work here
• egg—all the recipes on this site are tested with large eggs. If using smaller or larger eggs, this will affect the texture of the cookies and how they spread
• flour—I bake with regular bleached all-purpose flour. These cookies will likely work with unbleached flour, though the texture may be a little different
• poppy seeds—if your poppy seeds are old, toss them out and buy more because the oils in them can go rancid and the flavour will be off
• leavening agent—you will need baking soda, not baking powder for these cookies. Read about baking soda versus baking powder if you aren't sure the difference
• salt—I bake with Diamond Crystal Fine Kosher salt. If you are using regular table salt, you may want to add half the amount to avoid the cookies being too salty
• citric acid—this ingredient is available in most scoop shops and bulk stores (often used for making pickles). It's the secret ingredient to bring a tart flavour to these lemon cookies without having to add lemon juice (which may ruin the texture of the cookies).

Please see the recipe card for the exact ingredients and quantities.

Substitutions and Variations

This is a simple recipe with just a few variations and substitutions possible. Here are some ideas:

• Lemon variation—you can skip the poppy seeds and keep these plain
• Poppy seed substitutes—chia seeds could work in this recipe because there's not much moisture for them to absorb, but the flavour wouldn't be great. I would prefer to replace the poppy seeds with sesame seeds
• Orange poppy seed variation - replace the lemon zest with the same amount of orange zest (inspo: this orange poppy seed loaf cake)

How to Make Lemon Poppy Seed Cookies

I prefer to make cookie dough in the stand mixer. Here's how to make them:

Step 1—Combine the butter, cream cheese, sugar and lemon zest in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (image 1). Cream them together until light and fluffy before adding the egg (image 2).

Step 2—Whisk the dry ingredients together in a separate along with the poppy seeds (image 3) and add them to the mixer bowl (image 4). Stir until the dough comes together (image 5).

Step 3—Use a medium cookie scoop to divide the dough into 50 gram portions (image 6). I like to smooth out the scoops between the palms of my hands, then roll them in sugar to coat them (image 7).

Step 4—Bake the sugar cookies six at a time on a half-sheet pan (image 8) and bake until the edges begin to brown and the tops have set and cracked (image 9).

Storage

Store these sugar cookies in an airtight container. They can last a week, and if anything, the texture and flavour are even better after a day of storage.

Other Recipes To Bake With Citrus

If you love lemon and citrus as much as I do, here are a few more baking recipes with citrus to try:

If you tried this recipe for lemon poppy seed cookies (or any other recipe on my website), please leave a ⭐ star rating and let me know how it went in the comments below. I love hearing from you!

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Lemon Poppy Seed Cookies

Learn how to make the best lemon poppy seed cookies with this easy recipe. This cream cheese sugar cookie recipe is flavoured with lots of lemon zest and poppy seeds, along with a tiny amount of citric acid to give them the bright lemony flavour we all expect from lemon cookies.

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Prep Time 20 minutes minutes

Cook Time 14 minutes minutes

Total Time 34 minutes minutes

Servings 16

Calories 213kcal

Author Janice Lawandi

Equipment

• Danish dough whisk
• GIR spatula
• 1-⅓oz scoop
• Sheet pan

Ingredients

• 280 grams bleached all-purpose flour
• 14 grams poppy seeds
• 3.75 mL baking soda
• 1.25 mL citric acid optional but gives the cookies more zing
• 2.5 mL Diamond Crystal fine kosher salt or 1.25 mL (¼ tsp) table salt
• 300 grams granulated sugar plus extra for rolling the scoops of cookie dough before baking
• 115 grams unsalted butter softened
• 75 grams Philadelphia cream cheese (full fat, regular) softened
• 30 mL finely grated lemon zest
• 1 large egg(s)

Metric - US

Instructions

• Preheat the oven to 350 °F (175 °C). Line three large half-sheet pans with parchment paper and set them aside.
• In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, poppy seeds, baking soda, salt, and citric acid. If there are lumps, use a sifter. The salt and poppy seeds will not pass through, so dump them into the bowl with the rest of the ingredients.
• In a large bowl, using an electric hand mixer or stand mixer, cream together the sugar, butter, cream cheese, and lemon zest until it's very light and fluffy.
• Add the egg and mix well until the mixture is light and fluffy again. Clean down the sides of the bowl as needed with a big spatula.
• Pour the whisked dry ingredients into the mixer bowl, and incorporate them either on low or by hand with a big wooden spoon.
• Scoop approximately 50-gram portions of the dough, rolling them into balls between the palms of your hands to smooth them out, then rolling them in granulated sugar to completely coat them.
• Place 4–6 cookies per cookie sheet, being sure to space them apart and stagger them.
• Bake the cookies one sheet pan at a time until the edges are set and the surface cracks (this takes about 14 minutes).
• Let the cookies cool completely on the sheet pan while you bake the second pan.
• Store in an airtight container.

Notes

• For the salt, use 2.5 mL (½ tsp) of Diamond Crystal Fine Kosher salt or 1.25 mL (¼ tsp) of table salt
• I had to zest 2 lemons to get enough zest to flavour these cookies. One was insufficient and didn't impart nearly enough flavour
• Citric acid is available in scoop or bulk stores. It's used for making pickles, though I've also incorporated it in cream cheese frosting for the Milk Bar birthday cake to give it a more tart bright flavour.
• Use a cookie scoop to portion out the cookie dough easily. Then roll each scoop into a smooth ball so that it bakes perfectly. Evenly scooped cookies will bake at the same time, whereas if you portion out dough unevenly, they will not.
• If sealed properly, these cookies will last 4 or 5 days in an airtight container. 
  
• Please note that I bake with light-coloured uncoated aluminum sheet pans. If you are baking this recipe with darker bakeware, you may have to drop the oven temperature to 325 °F (165 °C) in order to prevent your baked goods from browning too quickly.

Nutrition

Calories: 213kcal | Carbohydrates: 33g | Protein: 3g | Fat: 8g | Saturated Fat: 5g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 2g | Trans Fat: 0.2g | Cholesterol: 30mg | Sodium: 127mg | Potassium: 38mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 19g | Vitamin A: 258IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 24mg | Iron: 1mg

The post Lemon Poppy Seed Cookies appeared first on The Bake School.

Combining fruit with almonds in desserts is a classic flavour pairing that I love. Ground almonds are often added to fruit tart crusts, while bitter orange is paired with almonds in chewy orange almond amaretti cookies. Berries and almonds go hand-in-hand in this gorgeous raspberry almond semifreddo, a frozen dessert combining almond-flavoured amaretti cookies with raspberries, and this blackberry almond layer cake (Milk Bar-style).

For this orange cake recipe, the whole orange is used. Just like for most of my marmalade recipes (like this classic orange marmalade recipe made from Navel oranges or three-fruit marmalade), you first have to boil the fruit. This softens the pith and the skin of the fruit so that it will have a better texture when blended to make the cake batter.

The cakes are moist and with a pleasantly coarse texture from the granular ground almonds. My favourite part of this recipe is that it uses the entire orange, peel and all. Just remember to boil the whole fruits (see recipe) to remove the unpleasant bitterness from the citrus. That's the secret to using whole citrus fruit in marmalade and cakes! The syrup I served it with reminds me of bitter-orange marmalade.

What You Need to Make a Gluten-Free Orange Cake

• oranges—use Navel oranges which have a fairly thin skin and no seeds
• eggs—I tested this recipe with large eggs. If you use eggs that are bigger or smaller, results may differ
• sugar—in order to allow the almond and orange flavours shine, use white granulated sugar. Brown sugar or maple sugar would interfere with the delicate flavours of this cake
• ground almond—this cake is gluten-free and grain-free, made with finely ground almonds, which is sometimes called almond flour
• leavening—baking powder helps to open the crumb a little so that the orange cake has a light, spongy texture.

Please see the recipe card for the exact ingredients and quantities.

Substitutions and Variations

• Oranges—I used Navel oranges, which have a thinner skin and no seeds. You can also try clementines. Use the same weight of clementines, check for seeds before processing, and measure the weight of the purée to make sure you don't add too much (or too little). Orange varieties with thicker skin, like some blood oranges and Cara Cara oranges, will have more pith and more bitterness.
• Nuts—I made this cake with ground almonds, but any ground nut will work. Ground hazelnuts would be excellent here, or even pistachios (but this will be more expensive).
• Orange syrup—I made homemade orange syrup as a topping for this cake, but you could also use orange marmalade, warmed to make it more spreadable. Another option would be to top the cake with a ganache glaze before serving.

How to Make a Cake With Whole Oranges

Instead of flour, these orange cakes are made with ground almonds and whole oranges. This would yield a denser cake if it weren't for two things:

• whipping the eggs with the sugar to incorporate air. Remember whipped eggs are an important leavening agent in baking: the eggs trap and stabilize bubbles of air, aerating the batter to reduce density and improve texture. It's the same principle as in this warm-milk cake or the chocolate genoise in this black forest cake
• baking powder acts as a chemical leavener which reacts to release a gas that provides lift to the cake batter as it bakes

By baking these orange cakes with almond meals, you end up with moist orange cakes that are both grain-free and gluten-free! On the other hand, this gluten-free lemon cake is made with mashed potatoes which lends a lot of moisture and softness to the cake. 

Step 1—place the oranges in a pot of cold water (image 1) and boil them for 2 hours until very soft (image 2). You should be able to press your thumb through the orange without much force when they are sufficiently cooked.

Step 2—Chop up the cooled oranges on a cutting board (image 3) then transfer them to a food processor (image 4) and process them into a smooth purée (image 5).

Tip—I like to do the boiling and processing of the oranges the day before I make the cake because these steps are longer.

Step 3—Combine the eggs and granulated sugar in the bowl of a mixer fitted with the whisk attachment (image 6) and whip them until pale and thick (image 7) before adding the orange purée (image 8). Whisk until smooth (image 9).

Tip: Make sure the orange purée has cooled before mixing it with the eggs.

Step 4—Whisk the almond flour with the baking powder (image 10). I like to use a Danish dough whisk for this. Add the ground almonds to the mixer bowl (image 11) and whisk them in. The batter will be thick but airy (image 12).

Step 5—Transfer the cake batter to a buttered springform pan lined with parchment (image 13) and smooth it from edge to edge with a mini offset spatula (image 14). Bake until deeply browned on the edges and golden on the surface (image 15).

Tip: This cake takes a long time to bake because of the high moisture of the oranges. The edges will be quite brown and pull away from the sides of the pan when the cake is baked. A cake tester inserted in the middle will come out clean and the cake will feel airy but set on the surface.

Step 6—While the cake cools, make the syrup by combining the orange juice, orange zest, granulated sugar, and alcohol (if using) in a small saucepan (image 16). Bring the mixture to a boil, ensuring all the sugar is dissolved and boil for 2–3 minutes. Let cool completely.

Step 7—Once the cake and the syrup have cooled, you can brush the surface of the cake with a thin layer of syrup (image 18), saving the rest for drizzling on the slices of cake as you serve them.

Serving Suggestions

I served this orange cake with the homemade orange syrup described in the recipe card, but you could also skip the syrup and serve this cake plain or with orange marmalade. You could also opt for a chocolate ganache glaze instead or even serve it with ice cream.

Orange Almond Cake Baking FAQs

More Citrus Recipes

Citrus gets many of us through the winter, here are a few other citrus recipes to brighten your spirits:

If you tried this recipe for the best orange almond cake (or any other recipe on my website), please leave a ⭐ star rating and let me know how it went in the comments below. I love hearing from you!

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Gluten-Free Orange Almond Cake

Learn how to make the best gluten-free orange almond cake with this easy recipe made with whole oranges that are boiled and processed into a smooth purée. This simple cake is served with an orange syrup.

Course Dessert

Cuisine French

Prep Time 25 minutes minutes

Cook Time 1 hour hour

Boiling time 2 hours hours

Total Time 3 hours hours 25 minutes minutes

Servings 12

Calories 272kcal

Author Janice Lawandi

Equipment

• Food processor
• 9-in springform

Ingredients

For the orange almond cake

• 350 grams navel oranges washed thoroughly
• 4 large egg(s) room temperature
• 200 grams granulated sugar
• 300 grams ground almonds
• 5 mL baking powder

For the orange syrup

• 60 mL navel orange juice
• 15 mL orange zest
• 78 grams granulated sugar
• 10 mL lemon juice optional
• 15 mL orange liqueur like Triple Sec or brandy/cognac, optional

Metric - US

Instructions

To make the orange almond cake

• Preheat the oven to 350°F (175 °C). Prepare the pan(s) you are using by generously greasing them (if gluten is not an issue, baking spray works well). To make 24 mini cakes, use a mini muffin pan like this one on Amazon. For a 9-inch (23-cm) cake pan (like this one on Amazon), line the bottom of the springform pan with parchment for easy unmolding after greasing. Set the pan(s) aside for later.
• Place the two oranges in a large saucepan, cover with cold water, and bring it to a boil. Boil the whole oranges for 2 full hours. The skins will soften and the fruit begin to collapse slightly. You can easily press your thumb through the skin and the fruit when they are fully boiled.
• Drain the oranges and refresh them under cold water to quickly cool them.
• Coarsely chop the oranges and remove any seeds. Place the chopped oranges in a food processor and process them until they become a smooth purée and there are no more chunks. Measure out 275–300 grams (9¾–10½ ounces).
• In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the eggs and sugar on medium-high speed until they are light, thick, and pale. This takes 5 minutes or more.
• Add the orange purée (up to 300 grams or 10½ ounces) and whisk it in.
• In a separate bowl, whisk the ground almonds and baking powder, then add the dry ingredients to the mixer bowl of cake batter and whisk it in. Continue folding until all the ingredients are incorporated.
• Fill the prepared pan(s) with the cake batter, smoothing it from edge to edge.
• Bake until a cake tester poked in the centre comes out clean. Be sure to bake until the edges are dark golden brown. A 9-inch cake will take up to an hour while smaller muffins take 30–40 minutes.
• Let the pans cool 15 minutes on a rack before carefully unmolding the cakes.

To make the orange syrup

• Place the orange juice, orange zest, sugar, lemon juice, and orange liqueur (or brandy) in a small saucepan
• Bring to a boil and simmer for 2–3 minutes. The syrup will thicken mroe as it cools.
• To serve, drizzle the sauce over the cake.

Notes

• Substitutions and variations:
  • Oranges—I used Navel oranges, which have a thinner skin and no seeds. You can also try clementines. Use the same weight of clementines, check for seeds before processing, and measure the weight of the purée to make sure you don't add too much (or too little). Orange varieties with thicker skin, like some blood oranges and Cara Cara oranges, will have more pith and more bitterness.
  • Nuts—I made this cake with ground almonds, but any ground nut will work. Ground hazelnuts would be excellent here, or even pistachios (but this will be more expensive).
  • Orange syrup—I made homemade orange syrup as a topping for this cake, but you could also use orange marmalade, warmed to make it more spreadable. Another option would be to top the cake with a ganache glaze before serving. You can also serve this cake with ice cream or lightly-sweetened whipped cream.
• You can bake this recipe in a large springform pan (like a 9-inch springform) or in mini muffin pans. This recipe makes 24 mini cakes.

Nutrition

Calories: 272kcal | Carbohydrates: 34g | Protein: 8g | Fat: 14g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.3g | Monounsaturated Fat: 1g | Trans Fat: 0.01g | Cholesterol: 55mg | Sodium: 22mg | Potassium: 131mg | Fiber: 4g | Sugar: 28g | Vitamin A: 180IU | Vitamin C: 24mg | Calcium: 97mg | Iron: 1mg

The post Orange Almond Cake (Gluten-Free + Grain-Free) appeared first on The Bake School.

The combination of citrus and poppy seeds is a classic for a reason. In cookie form, these lemon poppy seed cookies are thick and chewy cream cheese sugar cookies flavoured with lots of lemon zest and poppy seeds.

This orange loaf cake is one of my favourite cakes to make in the dead of winter because it is simple and bright, and an all-around lovely orange tea cake to serve in the afternoon! I find this recipe is a little more manageable for a weekday bake than this orange cranberry bundt cake, for example, which is much larger.

Ingredients to Make a Glazed Orange Cake

The beauty of loaf cake recipes like this one is that you probably have everything you need to make this right now. Here's a rundown of the ingredients:

• sugar—you will need granulated sugar for the cake batter and the orange syrup. Do not use brown sugar because it would add a molasses flavour that may overpower the delicate orange flavour of the cake. Stick to granulated or caster sugar for this cake!
• butter, preferably unsalted butter because you will add salt to the batter, but if you have salted, it will work. Just adjust the salt in the recipe accordingly, otherwise your cake may be too salty
• large eggs—don't use smaller eggs because your cake may be too dry, but don't use extra large eggs because they could affect the texture of the cake. Sometimes eggs can toughen a cake!
• vanilla extract is a great complement to orange flavour, but you could also try orange extract or even orange oil to bring even more flavour to the cake
• flour—I tested this with cake flour, which is lower in protein and higher in starch. Cake flour gives the cake a delicate, finer, more even crumb.
• leavening agents—baking powder and baking soda are needed in this recipe. The baking soda is a base (alkaline) and balances out the acidity of the sour cream in the batter, while baking powder helps the cake rise up. Read up on baking soda vs baking powder if you are unsure the difference
• salt is really important to balance out the sweetness. Don't skip it. I like to use Diamond Crystal fine kosher salt, but table salt will work, though the cake will be a touch saltier and you may want to halve the salt in that case.
• sour cream (full-fat) helps tenderize the cake and also the fat contributes to preventing the cake from going stale so quickly
• fresh orange (both the zest and the juice) is the secret to bringing the real orange taste to this cake recipe. While the zest is added to the cake batter to bring orange flavour to the crumb, we use orange juice in a simple syrup that you brush onto the hot cake to help infuse the crust with a burst of flavour.

Please see the recipe card for the exact ingredients and quantities.

Substitutions and Variations

With its simple list of ingredients, you can still make a few careful variations and substitutions on this recipe:

• yogurt—you can replace the sour cream with yogurt, preferably Greek yogurt with a higher fat content to ensure the cake is moist and not dry
• orange flavour—there are four main ways of infusing baked goods with orange flavour. I used a lot of orange zest and juice in this recipe. You can also enhance the orange flavour with orange oil or orange extract, but I haven't tested either of these so proceed with caution!
• other citrus—you can make this same recipe using two lemons or a ruby red grapefruit to create a lemon poppy seed loaf cake or a pink grapefruit cake
• flour—I tested the recipe with both bleached all-purpose flour and cake flour. I preferred cake flour but both work in this recipe.

See this lemon version of this recipe!

Instructions

I prefer to use a stand mixer to make the batter for this orange cake, but an electric hand mixer will also work fine. Here's how to make it:

Step 1—Before juicing the orange, make sure to zest it first (image 1). I like to use a microplane for this. You will need the zest and juice of 1 orange (60 mL or ¼ cup of juice). Reserve the juice to make the syrup later. Meanwhile, cream the butter, sugar, and orange zest together in a mixer bowl (image 2) before adding the eggs one at a time and the vanilla (image 3).

Step 2—Sift the dry ingredients together (image 4) before whisking in the poppy seeds (image 5). Then add the mixed dry ingredients to the mixer bowl (image 6), alternating with the sour cream (image 7), beginning and ending with dry ingredients.

Step 3—Transfer the poppy seed cake batter to the prepared loaf cake pan (image 8) and bake until a cake tester inserted into the centre comes out clean and the edges of the cake pull away from the sides of the pan (image 9).

Step 4—While the loaf cake is baking, make the orange syrup so it has time to cool down. Combine the orange juice and granulated sugar in a small saucepan (image 10) and bring it up to a boil. Boil for 1 minute. The sugar should be dissolved and the glaze clear and a little syrupy (image 11).

Step 5—Use a pastry brush to brush the surface of the hot loaf cake with cold syrup (image 12).

Storage

You can store this orange cake in an airtight container for up to 5 days. You may also freeze it, wrapped tightly, for up to 6 months. Unwrap it and defrost it on the counter overnight before serving at room temperature.

Loaf Cake Baking Tip

Many bakers and baking enthusiasts covet a loaf cake that has a perfect crack down the centre of the loaf. They see this as a sign of a good cake! You can achieve this at home in a few ways:

1. Pipe a thin line of softened butter on the surface of the loaf cake, straight down the middle. The butter will slowly melt in the oven, weighing down the middle line of the loaf, forcing the crack to appear in that area.
2. Cut down the centre of the cake batter in the loaf cake pan using a greased mini offset spatula or a bench scraper (image 13) before baking the cake (image 14). As you can see from image 15, the crack forms along where the cut was made.

Other Citrus Recipes

Looking for other recipes to bake with citrus? Try these:

If you tried this recipe for orange poppy seed cake (or any other recipe on my website), please leave a ⭐ star rating and let me know how it went in the comments below. I love hearing from you!

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Orange Poppy Seed Cake

Learn how to make the best orange poppy seed cake. This easy recipe is made with cake flour, orange zest, and sour cream to create a moist orange cake with a tender, yet sturdy crumb. The cake is glazed with orange syrup when it's still hot to add more delicious orange flavour. Great for slicing and wrapping for snacks, but can also be dressed up with vanilla ice cream and berries for a simple dessert.

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Prep Time 35 minutes minutes

Cook Time 1 hour hour 5 minutes minutes

Total Time 1 hour hour 40 minutes minutes

Servings 10

Calories 351kcal

Author Janice Lawandi

Equipment

• Loaf pan
• 5-quart KitchenAid Artisan mixer
• GIR spatula
• Thermapen

Ingredients

Lemon loaf cake

• 190 grams cake flour
• 50 grams poppy seeds
• 5 mL baking powder
• 2.5 mL Diamond Crystal fine kosher salt
• 1.25 mL baking soda
• 173 grams unsalted butter
• 250 grams granulated sugar
• 30 mL finely grated orange zest equivalent to the zest of 1 Navel orange
• 2 large egg(s)
• 5 mL pure vanilla extract
• 180 mL sour cream (14% fat)

Orange syrup

• 60 mL fresh lemon juice equivalent to juice of 1 orange
• 30 grams granulated sugar

Metric - US

Instructions

Orange poppy seed loaf cake

• Preheat the oven to 350 °F (175 °C). Brush with softened butter and flour an 8½x4½ inch (21.5x 11.5 cm) loaf pan OR a 9x5 inch (23x12.5 cm) loaf pan or a fluted 6-cup (1.5 L) loaf pan. Set aside.
• In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, poppy seeds, baking powder, salt, and baking soda. If the flour seems lumpy, you can sift the dry ingredients through a metal sieve to get out all the lumps before whisking it with the poppy seeds!
• In a large bowl, using an electric hand mixer or in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together the butter, sugar, and orange zest for at least 5 minutes until light and fluffy and well mixed. Be sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl often to ensure the mixture is evenly whipped.
• Add the eggs, one at a time, and the vanilla, mixing in between each addition and scraping down the bowl as needed. Beat the mixture until very fluffy and light.
• Add the sifted flour mixture, alternating with the sour cream, while stirring it in on low. You may want to finish mixing with a spatula to make sure the ingredients are all combined and to make sure there isn't any butter and sugar stuck to the bottom of the bowl.
• Transfer the orange loaf cake batter to the prepared loaf pan. Bake the cake on the middle rack until baked through. You'll know it's done because it will have cracked a little in the middle, it will pull away from the edges of the pan, a cake tester will come out clean, and the internal temperature will register around 100 °C (212 °F). It takes about 60 to 65 minutes to bake this cake in my experience.

Orange syrup

• While the cake is baking, make the syrup ahead of time so that it cools down.
• In a small saucepan, combine the orange juice and the 30 grams (2½ tbsp) of granulated sugar. Heat it until all the sugar is dissolved and it comes to a boil, then remove the saucepan from the heat and let it cool at room temperature.
• Using a pastry brush, immediately brush the cooled syrup on the hot cake. Use all the syrup. If you want you can poke a few holes on the surface to encourage the syrup to soak in further.
• Let the cake cool completely before icing and slicing (at least 2 to 3 hours).

Notes

• I used 1 Navel orange for this recipe: I used the zest of in the cake batter and the juice was used to make the syrup. You may need more or less oranges, depending on the season and how big they are.
• Variations:
  • yogurt—you can replace the sour cream with yogurt, preferably Greek yogurt with a higher fat content to ensure the cake is moist and not dry
  • orange flavour—there are four main ways of infusing baked goods with orange flavour. I used a lot of orange zest and juice in this recipe. You can also enhance the orange flavour with orange oil or orange extract, but I haven't tested either of these so proceed with caution!
  • other citrus—you can make this same recipe using two lemons or a ruby red grapefruit to create a lemon poppy seed loaf cake or a pink grapefruit cake
  • flour—I tested the recipe with both bleached all-purpose flour and cake flour. I preferred cake flour but both work in this recipe.
  • This recipe calls for Diamond Crystal fine Kosher salt. If using regular table salt, add half the amount or the recipe may be too salty!
• You can serve this orange loaf as is, or with spoonfuls of homemade lemon curd, scoops of lemon ice cream, or even sweetened whipped cream.

Nutrition

Calories: 351kcal | Carbohydrates: 43g | Protein: 4g | Fat: 19g | Saturated Fat: 11g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 5g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 80mg | Sodium: 158mg | Potassium: 115mg | Fiber: 0.5g | Sugar: 29g | Vitamin A: 590IU | Vitamin C: 3mg | Calcium: 52mg | Iron: 0.4mg

The post Orange Poppy Seed Cake appeared first on The Bake School.

A lemon loaf cake is a classic for most bakers and guests always enjoy a slice! This recipe is a twist on the classic, made with sour cream and cake flour, and includes both a lemon syrup and icing to ensure the most lemon flavour with every bite!

If you'd like to make a lemon poppy seed cake, start with this glazed orange poppy seed cake recipe, replacing the lemon juice and zest with that of an orange.

Ingredients to Make Lemon Cake

If you want to make a lemon bread, you will need the following ingredients:

• sugar—you will need both granulated sugar and icing sugar (powdered sugar), but they are not interchangeable. The granulated sugar is for the cake batter and the lemon syrup. Do not use brown sugar because it would add a molasses flavour that may overpower the delicate lemon flavour of the cake. Stick to granulated or caster sugar for this cake! The icing sugar is to make the icing to drizzle on at the very end.
• lemon—you will need fresh lemons for the lemon zest and the juice, which adds lemon flavour to the batter without adding extra liquid. You will mix the zest with the sugar first to help draw out the lemon oil from the peel to flavour the cake (this is how you make lemon sugar!)
• butter, preferably unsalted butter because you will add salt to the batter, but if you have salted, it will work. Just adjust the salt in the recipe accordingly, otherwise your cake may be too salty
• large eggs—don't use smaller eggs because your cake may be too dry, but don't use extra large eggs because they could affect the texture of the cake. Sometimes eggs can toughen a cake!
• vanilla extract is a great complement to lemon flavour, but you could also try lemon extract or even lemon oil to bring even more flavour to the cake
• flour—I tested this cake with all-purpose and cake flour. I preferred the texture with cake flour, which is lower in protein and higher in starch. Cake flour gives the cake a delicate, finer, more even crumb.
• leavening agents—baking powder and baking soda are needed in this recipe. The baking soda is a base (alkaline) and balances out the acidity of the sour cream in the batter, while baking powder helps the cake rise up. Read up on baking soda vs baking powder if you are unsure the difference
• salt is really important to balance out the sweetness. Don't skip it. I like to use Diamond Crystal fine kosher salt, but table salt will work, though the cake will be a touch saltier and you may want to halve the salt in that case.
• sour cream (full-fat) helps tenderize the cake and also the fat contributes to preventing the cake from going stale so quickly
• lemon juice (freshly squeezed) is the secret to bringing the mouth-puckering tanginess we expect from lemon desserts. While the zest is added to the cake batter to bring lemon flavour to the crumb, we use lemon juice in a simple syrup that you brush onto the hot cake to help infuse the crust with a burst of flavour.
• icing sugar is needed to make the icing for this cake. You can't replace it with regular white sugar because it's too coarse and we need a fine powdered sugar to make a smooth icing.

Please see the recipe card for the exact ingredients and quantities.

Substitutions and Variations

• yogurt—you can replace the sour cream with yogurt, preferably Greek yogurt with a higher fat content to ensure the cake is moist and not dry
• lemon flavour—there are four main ways of infusing baked goods with lemon flavour. I used a lot of lemon zest and lemon juice in this recipe. Use fresh lemons for these! Do not use bottled lemon juice because the taste isn't great. You can also enhance the lemon flavour with lemon oil or lemon extract, but I haven't tested either of these so proceed with caution!
• flour—I tested the recipe with both bleached all-purpose flour and cake flour. I preferred cake flour but both work in this recipe.

Special Tools and Equipment

Loaf cakes and quick breads don't require anything special. We are using the creaming method to make this lemon cake. Using a stand mixer makes it easier for you to mix the ingredients well and incorporate more air into the batter, leading to a finer crumb.

This recipe will fit in any 6-cup cake pan. You can use an 8.5" x 4.5" loaf pan or even a 9" x 5" (1 pound loaf pan). For the photos, I used a fluted loaf pan from NordicWare. It has an elaborate pattern, reminiscent of bundt pan shapes. By all means, use the loaf pan you already have in your cupboard, but the look will be different.

You will also need a pastry brush to brush the syrup onto the surface of the hot cake.

How to Make a Lemon Loaf Cake with Sour Cream

A lemon loaf cake is a weeknight staple for breakfast, snacks, or even dessert. Like most quick breads, you can use the creaming mixing method to combine the ingredients. This allows you to incorporate more air into the batter, creating a more delicate crumb.

Step 1—Start by creaming the butter, sugar, and lemon zest together (image 1) until light and fluffy before adding the eggs one at a time and the vanilla (image 2). Mix the batter to incorporate lots of air at this stage so it is light and fluffy (image 3).

Step 2—Sift the dry ingredients into a separate bowl (image 4) and then add them to the cake batter (image 5) alternating with the sour cream (image 6).

Tip: remember when alternating wet and dry ingredients, always begin by adding a third of the dry ingredients first, then half the wet ingredients, then another third of the dry ingredients, the last half of wet ingredients, and finally the last of the dry. Always begin and end with the dry ingredients to ensure the ingredients are properly mixed!

Step 3—grease your loaf pan with softened butter. Since I used an ornate loaf pan, I used a pastry brush to make sure there is a thin and even layer in all the nooks of the pan (image 7). Dust the pan with flour (image 8).

Step 4—Transfer the lemon cake batter to the prepared pan, smoothing the top and making sure the batter is even (image 9), then bake until set and golden brown on the edges (image 10). Use a cake tester to check the centre is baked.

Step 5—While the cake is baking, prepare a simple lemon syrup, combining lemon juice and sugar in a small saucepan (image 11) and heating it on the stove until the sugar dissolves (image 12). Brush the cooled syrup on the hot cake after unmoulding it onto a wire rack (image 13).

Step 6—Once the cake has cooled completely, prepare the lemon icing, sifting the icing sugar to eliminate any lumps (image 14), then whisking in hot lemon juice until smooth (image 15). Drizzle the lemon icing over the cooled cake before serving (image 16).

Please note the lemon icing will harden and form a crust on the surface as the cake sits. This is normal!

Trick for Thick Icing

For simple icings that are made of mostly powdered sugar (icing sugar) with a liquid, the key is to add very little liquid so that they don't become runny. For 60 grams (½ cup) of icing sugar, we only add 15 mL (1 tablespoon) of lemon juice. The icing is so thick that you have to spoon it onto the top of the cake. Then to achieve decorative drips, you have to nudge it over the edges.

The amount of liquid really doesn't seem like enough when you are mixing it with the icing sugar. However, if you use a small whisk, you can achieve a very smooth consistency. Make sure to work the two ingredients together until they form a thick paste.

Lemon Cake Baking FAQs

Other Loaf Cakes to Try

Loaf cakes are a real treat during the week. They come together quickly. You can dress them up to make them fancy for a dinner party or family dinner. If lemon cake isn't your favourite, try this chocolate loaf cake or a classic chocolate and vanilla marble cake, topped with vanilla bean ice cream. Or, during the fall, make this delicious pumpkin bread with cranberries!

If you tried this recipe for lemon loaf cake (or any other recipe on my website), please leave a ⭐ star rating and let me know how it went in the comments below. I love hearing from you!

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Lemon Loaf Cake

Learn how to make this lemon loaf cake. This easy recipe is made with cake flour, lemon zest, and sour cream to create a moist lemon cake with a tender, yet sturdy crumb. The cake is glazed with a lemon drizzle when it's still hot and lemon icing after cooling to add more lemon flavour. Great for slicing and wrapping for snacks, but can also be dressed up with vanilla ice cream and berries for a simple dessert.

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Prep Time 35 minutes minutes

Cook Time 1 hour hour 5 minutes minutes

Total Time 1 hour hour 40 minutes minutes

Servings 14

Calories 279kcal

Author Janice Lawandi

Equipment

• Loaf pan
• 5-quart KitchenAid Artisan mixer
• GIR spatula
• Thermapen

Ingredients

Lemon loaf cake

• 190 grams cake flour
• 5 mL baking powder
• 2.5 mL Diamond Crystal fine kosher salt
• 1.25 mL baking soda
• 173 grams unsalted butter
• 250 grams granulated sugar
• 30 mL finely grated lemon zest equivalent to the zest of 2 big lemons
• 2 large egg(s)
• 5 mL pure vanilla extract
• 180 mL sour cream (14% fat)

Lemon syrup

• 60 mL fresh lemon juice equivalent to juice of 1½ lemons
• 50 grams granulated sugar

Lemon icing

• 63 grams icing sugar
• 15 mL fresh lemon juice heated in the microwave (equivalent to juice of ½ lemon)
• 140 grams Fresh raspberries optional garnish

Metric - US

Instructions

Lemon loaf cake

• Preheat the oven to 350 °F (175 °C). Brush with softened butter and flour an 8½x4½ inch (21.5x 11.5 cm) loaf pan OR a 9x5 inch (23x12.5 cm) loaf pan or a fluted 6-cup (1.5 L) loaf pan. Set aside.
• In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, and baking soda. If the flour seems lumpy, you can sift it through a metal sieve to get out all the lumps!
• In a large bowl, using an electric hand mixer or in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together the butter, sugar, and lemon zest for at least 5 minutes until light and fluffy and well mixed. Be sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl often to ensure the mixture is evenly whipped.
• Add the eggs, one at a time, and the vanilla, mixing in between each addition and scraping down the bowl as needed. Beat the mixture until very fluffy and light.
• Add the sifted flour mixture, alternating with the sour cream, while stirring it in on low. You may want to finish mixing with a spatula to make sure the ingredients are all combined and to make sure there isn't any butter and sugar stuck to the bottom of the bowl.
• Transfer the lemon loaf cake batter to the prepared loaf pan. Bake the cake on the middle rack until baked through. You'll know it's done because it will have cracked a little in the middle, it will pull away from the edges of the pan, a cake tester will come out clean, and the internal temperature will register around 100 °C (212 °F). It takes about 60 to 65 minutes to bake this cake in my experience.

Lemon syrup

• While the cake is baking, make the syrup ahead of time so that it cools down.
• In a small saucepan, combine the lemon juice and the 50 grams (¼ cup) of granulated sugar. Heat it until all the sugar is dissolved and it comes to a boil, then remove the saucepan from the heat and let it cool at room temperature.
• Let the cool cake in the pan on a wire rack for 5 minute to firm up, then invert it onto a wire rack.
• Using a pastry brush, immediately brush the cooled syrup on the hot cake, all over the top and sides. Use all the syrup. If you want you can poke a few holes on the surface to encourage the syrup to soak in further.
• Let the cake cool completely before icing and slicing (at least 2 to 3 hours).

Lemon icing

• When the cake has cooled completely, make the icing.
• In a small bowl, whisk the icing sugar with 15 mL (1 tablespoon) lemon juice. You can adjust the consistency with more juice or more icing sugar as needed. Pour it on top of the cake and use a spoon to nudge the icing gently so that it drips down over the edge decoratively.
• Serve plain or with fresh raspberries (optional).

Notes

• For this recipe, I used a fluted loaf pan from Nordic Ware, which has an elaborate pattern, reminiscent of bundt pan shapes. It has a 6-cup capacity, like most 8.5" x 4.5" loaf pans.
• I used 2 large lemons for this recipe: I used the zest of both lemons in the cake batter (starting by making lemon sugar), and then most of the juice was used to make the syrup, holding back 15 mL (1 tablespoon) to make the icing. You may need more or less lemons, depending on the season and how big they are.
• For the flour, I tested this recipe with both cake flour and regular bleached all-purpose flour. Both work. I found the texture is a little softer and finer with cake flour.
• This recipe calls for Diamond Crystal fine Kosher salt. If using regular table salt, add half the amount or the recipe may be too salty!
• You can serve this lemon loaf as is, or with spoonfuls of homemade lemon curd, scoops of lemon ice cream, or even sweetened whipped cream.

Nutrition

Calories: 279kcal | Carbohydrates: 38g | Protein: 3g | Fat: 13g | Saturated Fat: 8g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 3g | Trans Fat: 0.4g | Cholesterol: 57mg | Sodium: 113mg | Potassium: 100mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 27g | Vitamin A: 425IU | Vitamin C: 6mg | Calcium: 41mg | Iron: 0.4mg

The post Lemon Loaf Cake appeared first on The Bake School.

For this recipe, we are using the classic shortbread ratio of 1:2:3 by weight, so 1 part sugar, 2 parts butter, and 3 parts flour, combined with lemon zest and lemon juice.

This is the same ratio I used for these lavender shortbread and it's the base for these easy lemon bars. However, instead of patting the dough in a pan to bake, you can roll out the shortbread to cut them with cookie cutters as done in the recipe below.

What You Need

You can make lemon butter cookies easily with simple ingredients you likely have at home all the time! Here's what you need:

How to Make Lemon-Flavoured Shortbread Cookies

Step 1—Combine the butter, sugar and lemon zest in the mixer bowl (image 1) and cream them together until light and fluffy (image 2) before adding the dry ingredients (image 3).

Step 2—Mix the cookie dough until it's crumbly, but still a bit dry (image 4) then add the lemon juice and mix until the dough comes together (image 5).

Step 3—Divide the dough into 2 equal disks (image 6) and wrap in plastic wrap to chill in the refrigerator for 1 hour. Roll the dough out on a lightly floured surface and press with a cookie stamps (optional) and cut out with cookie cutters (image 7). Bake on parchment-lined baking sheets until the edges begin to brown lightly (image 8).

Tip: Using a cookie stamp (like these stamps from Nordic Ware on Amazon I used here), pressed on the surface of the cookies before baking, leads to lots of nooks and crannies so the cookies can hold more glaze. The dents give place where a little extra glaze can settle in without running off. Stamping is optional, but I love the effect it gives and the extra glaze the cookie can accomodate because of the texture.

Step 4—while the cookie dough is chilling, you can prepare the lemon glaze. First sift the icing sugar to remove lumps (image 9), then whisk in the melted butter and hot lemon juice (image 10). Whisk until smooth (image 11).

Step 5—Brush the lemon glaze on the warm cookies so that it melts on. The glaze will harden slightly so that you can pack the cookies once completely cooled.

Note: The tart lemon flavour mostly comes from the glaze, made with lemon juice, icing sugar, and a little butter to round out the flavour. This is the same glaze used for these soft gingerbread cookies.

Baking Tips to Prevent Rolled Shortbread Cookies From Spreading

The trouble with shortbread is that they are high in fat and, sometimes, if the butter gets too warm, the cookies can spread in the oven.

Other Lemon Baked Goods to Try

If you are a fan of lemon desserts, you should definitely try these lemon crinkle cookies, a classic lemon loaf cake, lemon ice cream and, of course, these easy lemon squares, which everybody raves about!

If you tried this easy recipe for lemon shortbread cookies (or any other recipe on my website), please leave a ⭐ star rating and let me know how it went in the comments below. I love hearing from you!

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Lemon Shortbread Cookies

These easy lemon shortbread cookies are topped with a lemon glaze to give these butter cookies even more lemon flavour.

Course Dessert

Cuisine British

Prep Time 25 minutes minutes

Cook Time 14 minutes minutes

Chill time 1 hour hour

Total Time 1 hour hour 39 minutes minutes

Servings 28

Calories 135kcal

Author Janice Lawandi

Equipment

• Food processor
• Rolling pin
• Cookie stamps
• Pastry brush

Ingredients

Lemon shortbread

• 230 grams unsalted butter room temperature
• 100 grams granulated sugar
• 15 mL finely grated lemon zest
• 2.5 mL Diamond Crystal fine kosher salt (or up to 1 teaspoon fine kosher salt)
• 290 grams bleached all-purpose flour
• 22.5 mL fresh lemon juice

Lemon glaze

• 125 grams icing sugar
• 30 mL fresh lemon juice heated in the microwave so it's hot
• 28 grams unsalted butter melted
• 1 pinch Diamond Crystal fine kosher salt

Metric - US

Instructions

Lemon shortbread

• In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter, sugar, lemon zest, and salt until it is smooth, light, and creamy.
• Add the flour and beat it in until the mixture turns into a sandy crumble. Mix in the lemon juice. The mixture should come together into a uniform dough once you add the liquid.
• Divide the mixture in two and flatten each piece of dough into a disk. Wrap them in plastic wrap and chill for 1 hour.
• Preheat the oven to 350 ºF (175 °C). Line a few sheet pans with parchment paper.
• Working with one disk of dough at a time, on a lightly floured surface, using a rolling pin, roll out the dough to between ⅛–¼ inch (3–6 mm). Stamp out as many cookies as possible using floured cookie stamps, then cut with 3-inch (7.6 cm) cookie cutters.
• Transfer the cookies to a parchment-lined baking sheet, leaving a 1 inch space between them. If the cookies are too soft, chill them before baking.
• Bake the cookies until the edges are just beginning to brown, about 13 to 15 minutes. Prepare the glaze while the cookies are baking (see below).
• Let cool 5 minutes then brush generously with the lemon glaze so that the glaze melts onto the cookies. Let cool completely. The glaze should harden.
• Repeat with the rest of the cookie dough, rerolling the scraps.

Lemon glaze

• To make the lemon-butter glaze while the cookies are in the oven, as the glaze needs to be brushed onto the cookies while they are still warm.
• Sift the confectioners’ sugar into a small bowl. Add the melted butter, lemon juice, and a pinch of salt. Mix with a fork until you form a smooth glaze. The glaze should be the consistency of runny honey. Keep covered when not using and remix the glaze as needed.

Notes

• Please note that I bake with uncoated aluminum sheet pans that are light in colour. If you are baking this recipe with darker bakeware, you may have to drop the oven temperature to 325 °F (165 °C) to prevent your baked goods from browning too quickly.
• Use fresh lemons for this recipe. Do not use bottled lemon juice because the flavour isn't good. You need both the zest and the juice for this recipe so make sure to zest your lemons first before juicing them.
• This recipe calls for Diamond Crystal fine Kosher salt. If using regular table salt, add half the amount or the recipe may be too salty!
• You can try enhancing the lemon flavour in the cookie by adding a few drops of lemon oil or lemon extract, but I have not tested this. Most of the flavour of these lemon cookies comes from the lemony glaze.

Nutrition

Calories: 135kcal | Carbohydrates: 16g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 8g | Saturated Fat: 5g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.3g | Monounsaturated Fat: 2g | Trans Fat: 0.3g | Cholesterol: 20mg | Sodium: 45mg | Potassium: 16mg | Fiber: 0.3g | Sugar: 8g | Vitamin A: 230IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 4mg | Iron: 0.5mg

The post Lemon Shortbread Cookies appeared first on The Bake School.

Learning to make lemon curd is life-changing! Once you start making lemon curd from scratch at home, you will become a lemon curd snob and you will come to hate the store-bought stuff, which pales in comparison.

Ingredients

Lemon curd is made from a simple list of ingredients, specifically:

• fresh lemons—the flavour of lemon curd is superior if you use freshly squeezed lemon juice and lemon zest. Store-bought lemon juice sold in bottles is not a good baking substitution for lemon juice in this recipe.
• egg yolks or whole eggs—these help thicken the curd and provide body. The yolks contribute to the bright yellow colour, making it look less creamy
• sugar—use granulated sugar because the goal is to sweeten and enhance the lemon flavour without masking the acidity or interfering with it. Other sugars may overpower the lemon flavour.
• butter—I use unsalted butter here but a little salt in this recipe can enhance the flavours, but too much will interfere. If you want to experiment with salted butter, I recommend starting with a semi-salt butter to avoid adding too much salt to the curd.

Please see the recipe card for the exact ingredients and quantities.

Additional Ingredients (Optional)

Other ingredients that you may see in lemon curd recipes help to make the curd thicker and more stable. These ingredients include:

• Gelatin or agar agar helps to trap water, thickening the curd and stabilizing it. For example, for the blackberry curd, I added gelatin because the curd is a filling for a layer cake and needs to be stable enough to hold the weight of the layers.
• Starches or flour also helps thicken the curd, like in pastry cream. I tend to avoid these because I find starches and flour dull the flavour of lemon curd.

Important Note About Tools and Equipment

The pH of lemon juice is low, between 2 and 3. This means that you have to be careful with the cookware and bakeware you use when cooking lemon curd and baking lemon bars or anything else that contains a lot of lemon. Make sure to use high quality stainless steel tools. For example I use my OXO whisk to make lemon curd. I once used a dollar store whisk and the flavour was metallic and inedible.

Avoid uncoated aluminum bakeware (sometimes called "natural aluminum") and copper pots which are reactive. Favour anodized aluminum or aluminized steel bakeware, or bakeware with a coating on it.

How to Make Lemon Curd on the Stove

There are a few ways to mix the ingredients to make lemon curd and a few ways to cook them to achieve the perfect set. It's all dependent on comfort and skill levels. I prefer to make curd stepwise directly on the stove, as opposed to one-bowl methods in the microwave or over a double boiler.

Step 1—whisk the egg yolks with part of the sugar in a medium bowl (image 1) until they have lightened in colour (image 2), Meanwhile combine the lemon juice and the rest of the sugar (image 3) and bring it almost to a boil directly on the stove.

Vocabulary: "Blanchir les oeuf," is the French pastry term for whisking the eggs with the sugar until they are lightened in colour (instead of orange-yellow hue). You do this step to avoid leaving the eggs to sit with the sugar, which can cause the proteins to coagulate, like the eggs are hard cooked.

Step 2—Pour the hot lemon juice over the whisked egg mixture to temper the eggs (image 4). Whisk the mixture until it's homogenous and has a thin foam on the top (image 5).

Vocabulary: Once the eggs and sugar have been whipped and the sweet lemon mixture on the stove is hot, the hot liquid is poured over the eggs, while whisking. The baking term for this step is "tempering the eggs". The goal is to gently raise the temperature of the eggs so that they are warm without shocking them on the stove.

Step 3—Transfer the lemon curd mixture back to the saucepan (image 6) and heat it on low until it almost comes to a boil. You will notice that when the lemon curd is done cooking, it coats the back of a wooden spoon, is glossy and bright, and the foam has completely disappeared (image 7).

Note: Though I like to check on the texture with a wooden spoon, I prefer to use a whisk when I cook lemon curd to ensure that the curd doesn't catch on the bottom and scorch or burn. It's more likely to happen if you stir it with a spoon directly on the stove.

Step 4—Add the butter to the lemon curd (image 8) and stir it in (either with a whisk or a wooden spoon). It should melt in completely and disappear. The goal is not to incorporate air at this stage so don't whip it excessively. Pour the lemon curd through a strainer set over a large measuring cup (image 9) and strain it to remove any bits of cooked egg yolk or lemon pulp/zest. Cover with plastic wrap applied directly to the surface of the curd (image 10).

Top Tip: Lemon Curd Setting Temperature

Fruit curds have to be heated to above a certain temperature to set properly, just like marmalade has a setting temperature. This is especially important if you want to use lemon curd to fill cakes, tarts, and bars.

For example, these easy lemon bars are made from a 1-2-3 shortbread cookie crust topped with lemon curd, which was cooked on the stove. To be able to cut these bars, the lemon curd has to be cooked, almost to the boiling point, so between 77ºC and 93 ºC (170 ºF to 200 ºF). You can go higher (and even boil it), but there is more risk of hard-cooked bits of egg in your curd, ruining the texture.

Lemon Curd Variations and Spinoffs

You can take this base recipe and adapt it to make passion fruit curd (which I used to make passion fruit matcha tarts) or even grapefruit curd (which I used to make coconut sandwich cookies). The same principle behind this recipe is used to make a blackberry curd that is stabilized with gelatin to fill this Milk Bar-style blackberry almond layer cake.

Once you've mastered making lemon curd, you can take this technique and use it to make these easy lemon bars. You can also fold lemon curd into whipped cream to make lemon mousse. Lemon curd makes a great topping for cakes:

• you can spoon it over a pavlova with whipped cream and fresh berries.
• top a gluten-free lemon cake with a thick layer of lemon curd and fresh raspberries for another show-stopping dessert!
• I love to serve gingerbread cake with lemon curd

Fruit Curd FAQs

If you tried this recipe for the best lemon curd (or any other recipe on my website), please leave a ⭐ star rating and let me know how it went in the comments below. I love hearing from you!

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Lemon Curd

This recipe yields a creamy lemon curd that works great sandwiched between cookies or spread on toast, or even as a filling for layer cakes and lemon bars.

Course Dessert

Cuisine French

Prep Time 20 minutes minutes

Cook Time 10 minutes minutes

Total Time 30 minutes minutes

Servings 2 cups

Calories 39kcal

Author Janice Lawandi

Equipment

• ChefAlarm thermometer
• OXO balloon whisk

Ingredients

• 170 mL fresh lemon juice
• 200 grams granulated sugar
• 8 large egg yolk(s)
• 150 grams unsalted butter cut into pieces

Metric - US

Instructions

• In a medium saucepan, combine the lemon juice with half the granulated sugar. Set on a burner on medium–high heat.
• Meanwhile in a medium heatproof bowl, whisk together the egg yolks with the rest of the sugar. Whisk vigorously until the mixture turns a very pale, light yellow. Set aside.
• Place another bowl with a strainer over top next to the stove, and have the chopped butter ready on a plate close by as well. Have a heatproof spatula ready too. Do all this before going any further.
• When the lemon juice just comes to a boil, take the pot off the burner and pour the juice over the sugary egg mixture. Whisk to temper the eggs and combine all the ingredients together. Pour the mixture back into the saucepan and return the pot back onto the burner. Whisk the mixture over medium–low heat until it is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon and clings to it. You can use a thermometer to monitor the temperature: a properly cooked lemon curd is cooked to 77ºC and 93 ºC (170 ºF to 200 ºF).
• After the curd has reached the right set and temperature, immediately take the pot off the burner and turn it off. Drop the butter into the saucepan, whisking constantly.
• When all the butter has melted into the curd and disappeared, transfer it to the strainer set over a bowl. Collect the curd in the bowl, then cover with cling film pressed directly on the surface to protect it from the air. Chill overnight.

Notes

• For the brightest, best flavour, please use freshly squeezed lemon juice from fresh lemons
• Do not substitute the lemon juice sold in bottles at the grocery store! It won't yield the same flavour or colour.
• You can also add lemon zest along with the juice. Make sure to strain the curd to remove the bits of zest which will ruin the smooth texture of the curd otherwise.
• For a thicker lemon curd, I have brought it up to a boil, but there is more risk of lumps of cooked egg.
• Beware of the material of your bakeware and cookware. Use high-quality stainless steel to avoid imparting a metallic flavour to your curd.
• Calories calculated per teaspoon of curd.

Nutrition

Calories: 39kcal | Carbohydrates: 7g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 1g | Saturated Fat: 0.4g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.2g | Monounsaturated Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 47mg | Sodium: 2mg | Potassium: 10mg | Fiber: 0.02g | Sugar: 6g | Vitamin A: 63IU | Vitamin C: 2mg | Calcium: 6mg | Iron: 0.1mg

The post How to Make Lemon Curd appeared first on The Bake School.

Cranberries go well with citrus fruit, especially in orange-flavoured and lemon-flavoured baked goods. This moist orange cranberry bundt cake is the inspiration for these lemon muffins with cranberries folded into the batter before baking.

For this muffin recipe, we are using the reverse creaming method, which is a popular mixing method in baking to make moist cakes and muffins.

What you need to make lemon muffins

The beauty of muffin recipes is that they require just a few ingredients and you probably have most on hand. Here's what you need to make these cranberry lemon muffins:

• Flour—all-purpose is ideal, or you can try a mixture of whole wheat and all-purpose, but this will affect the texture a little.
• Sugar—granulated sugar preferably because the flavour of brown sugar will interfere with the delicate taste of lemon in these muffins
• Leavening agents—specifically both chemical leaveners, baking powder and baking soda
• Salt—fine kosher salt like Diamond Crystal is what I use. If you use a different salt that has more or less sodium per gram, you will likely have to adjust the quantities so the muffins aren't overly salty or under-salted
• Butter—either salted or unsalted will work, though if your salted butter has a lot of salt in it, you may have to adjust the salt in the recipe
• Eggs—use large eggs preferably because smaller eggs may lead to dryer muffins
• Sour cream, preferably full-fat (14 % fat) otherwise the muffins may be dry
• Vanilla extract to enhance the sweetness and the flavour of the muffins
• Lemon juice and lemon zest to add as much lemon flavour as possible
• Cranberries—fresh or frozen will work here. If using frozen, incorporate them into the batter when still frozen. Dried cranberries also work!
• Icing sugar—to make the glaze

See recipe card for quantities.

Tip: read about baking soda versus baking powder if you aren't sure what the difference is between them!

Substitutions and variations

• Cranberries—fresh or frozen will work here. If using frozen, incorporate them into the batter when still frozen. Dried cranberries also work!
• Sour cream—full-fat greek yogurt can also work in this recipe
• Chocolate—add white chocolate chips or chopped white chocolate to the muffin batter

Key steps to make cranberry lemon muffins

The zest is combined with the sugar.

Rub the zest into the sugar to draw out the lemon oil and other flavour compounds. This is the secret to making flavourful lemon baked goods!

For the reverse creaming method, the dry ingredients, sugar and butter are worked together to form a coarse crumbly mixture.

The mixture of liquids are added to the bowl of dry ingredients.

The wet and dry ingredients are combined with a wooden spoon.

The batter will be quite thick!

Add fresh or frozen cranberries to the lemon muffin batter.

Stir them in with a wooden spoon, just until they are evenly dispersed.

Pans, muffin liners, and special tools

I baked these muffins in two 6-cup muffin pans. You can also use one 12-cup pan if you have it! Makes it faster and easier to get all the muffins in and out of the oven at once.

For this recipe, regular paper liners work great (same as for cupcakes), or you can also opt to use silicone liners. I don't recommend parchment liners because the muffins won't stick to the parchment liners, which will fall right off.

If you would prefer to bake without any liners, I recommend using cooking spray to grease the wells of your muffin pans.

For scooping the muffin batter, I recommend using two spoons or a large disher.

Adding lemon flavour to muffins with a glaze

A great way to add lemon flavour to a lemon muffin or cake is to glaze it after baking. Even a simple powdered sugar glaze made from lemon juice can have a huge impact on the flavour of the muffin, bringing that acidity that the lemon zest lacks. This works especially well on muffin tops. Of course, the unglazed stump won't have that lemony hit, but the glaze still helps bring out the flavour.

You can also brush the surface of cakes with a lemon simple syrup, which again, will help bring some of that acidity to a layer cake.

This muffin recipe makes a thick batter, which helps contribute to the dome of the muffin top, which rises up instead of spreading out as they bake. That's how you make the best muffins!

Storage

You can store these moist lemon muffins for 3–4 days in an airtight container, but I prefer to freeze them.

Remember to fully cool the muffins to room temperature (for 3–4 hours) before transferring them to an airtight container or freezer bag for long-term storage (1–2 months). Freeze the muffins before glazing for the best results. Then ice them before serving.

Serving suggestions

Serve these glazed lemon muffins plain or you can also make some homemade lemon curd to enjoy with them!

Other muffin recipes to try

If you like to bake muffins on Sunday to have during the week, here are some other muffin recipes to try:

Frequently asked questions

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Cranberry Lemon Muffins

This easy recipe for cranberry lemon muffins is made with sour cream and has a lemon glaze on top to boost the lemon flavour. These cranberry muffins are tender, moist, and have a cake-like texture that is perfect. 

Course Breakfast

Cuisine American

Prep Time 20 minutes minutes

Cook Time 23 minutes minutes

Total Time 43 minutes minutes

Servings 10 muffins

Calories 339kcal

Author Janice Lawandi

Equipment

• Muffin pan
• OXO balloon whisk
• 3-¼ oz scoop
• Cake tester

Ingredients

For the muffin batter

• 200 grams granulated sugar
• 30 mL finely grated lemon zest
• 250 grams bleached all-purpose flour
• 2.5 mL baking soda
• 2.5 mL baking powder
• 2.5 mL Diamond Crystal fine kosher salt
• 115 grams unsalted butter room temperature, cut into small pieces
• 125 mL sour cream (14% fat)
• 30 mL fresh lemon juice
• 2 large egg(s)
• 5 mL pure vanilla extract
• 100 grams fresh cranberries or frozen

For the lemon glaze

• 125 grams icing sugar
• 30 mL fresh lemon juice

Metric - US

Instructions

• Preheat the oven to 425 °F (220 °C). Line two 6-cup muffin pans with 10 muffin paper liners being sure to space them out between the two pans to allow better air flow.

Make the muffin batter

• In a large bowl, combine the granulated sugar and lemon zest. Using your fingertips, rub the ingredients together. This will help bring out the oils in the zest, adding more flavour.
• Whisk in the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
• Add the cubes of softened butter and work it in with your hands, rubbing it in until the mixture resembles coarse sand.
• In a separate bowl, whisk together the sour cream, lemon juice, eggs, and vanilla.
• Add the wet ingredients to the flour mixture and stir it in (takes about 20 stirs to get the batter mixed).
• Fold the cranberries into the batter gently with a wooden spoon or spatula to evenly distribute them.
• Divide the batter between the 10 paper-lined wells of the two muffin pans.
• Bake at 425°F for 8 minutes, then drop the temperature to 350 ºF and continue baking until a cake tester inserted into the middle of a muffin comes out clean to check if the muffins are baked. This takes about 15 minutes more and the edges start to turn golden.
• Let cool slightly in the pan before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

Make the glaze

• Whisk together the ingredients of the glaze and drizzle the tops of the muffins with it. The glaze should be very thick so that it doesn't all run off. Make sure the muffins have cooled down fully before glazing or the heat will cause the glaze to run off.

Notes

• This recipe calls for Diamond Crystal fine Kosher salt. If using regular table salt, add half the amount or the recipe may be too salty!
• For a “puffy” muffin top: refrigerate the batter overnight, then scoop the batter into 8 to 10 muffin paper-lined wells of a muffin pan, sprinkle with streusel topping, and bake them at 350 °F for about 30 minutes.
• For a more fluffy, caky muffin, you can increase the sour cream in the recipe, from 125 mL (½ cup) to 170 mL (⅔ cup) but the muffin top won't be as tall.

Nutrition

Calories: 339kcal | Carbohydrates: 53g | Protein: 4g | Fat: 13g | Saturated Fat: 8g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 64mg | Sodium: 190mg | Potassium: 92mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 33g | Vitamin A: 413IU | Vitamin C: 2mg | Calcium: 37mg | Iron: 1mg

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