Cooking - Easy Lemon Cake

Lemon Snack Cake

I grew up eating snake cake and naturally assumed that everyone knew about them.  Turns out, not everyone knows.

A snack cake is a small cake that's easy to make.  They usually serve 6-8 people and they can be mixed and baked in the same pan.  It's literally so easy that a child could do it.

This cake makes a great mid week dessert.

This recipe comes from the Land o Lakes page and I've been making it for YEARS!

LEMON SNACK CAKE

Preparation time: 15 min Baking time: 30 min
Yield: 8 servings

Cake Ingredients:
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 Egg
2 teaspoons freshly grated lemon zest (optional)
1/4 cup butter or Margarine, melted OR canola oil
3/4 cup milk

Glaze Ingredients:
3/4 cup powdered sugar
1 tablespoon butter or Margarine, melted
2 to 3 teaspoons lemon juice

1.  Preheat oven to 350°F.

2.  While you could mix and bake this cake in 1 pan, I usually don't.  In a bowl combine flour, sugar, baking powder, salt lemon zest, butter and milk.  Mix well with a fork.  Break up any lumps.

3.  Lightly greased an 8-inch square baking pan. Pour batter into the pan.

4.  Bake 30 minutes.

Once you remove the hot cake from the oven begin mixing the glaze.  For the glaze combine powdered sugar, butter and lemon juice in a bowl.

You can pour the glaze over the hot cake or wait for the cake to cool and spread it over the cooled cake.


Variations:

Lemon Coconut cake - substitute light coconut milk for regular milk.  For a deeper richer favor you could use regular coconut milk.  DO NOT use coconut cream!

Vanilla Cake - omit the lemon zest in the cake batter.  Use milk instead of lemon juice in the glaze.

Cake for a crowd:  If you're serving more than just a few people, double this recipe.  Bake in a 13x9 cake pan.

Breakfast Cake:  Bake the cake in a loaf pan.  Cool completely and slice for a light breakfast treat.

Unglazed Cake in 9" pan

PRO TIPS:

*  This cake can be made with soy or any other non-dairy milk.
*  This is a great first cake recipe for kids who are learning to cook/bake/measure.
*  When its warm, this cake is very soft, slice with care.
*  I've tried this recipe with a variety of juices (orange, grapefruit, lime and lemon).  While it tastes fine with other juices lemon definitely yields the best result.

This post is courtesy of Mocha Kathy W.

For more recipes and cooking tips, click HERE!

Cooking: Brown Sugar Cake for 1 (with Frosting)

Brown Sugar Mug Cake and Frosting

Real talk - Sometimes you just need a little cake.  Not a lot of cake.  Not cake for the whole family.  Just a little bit of cake to get you though the day.

I've made snack cakes for years.  That's nice when I want a little cake for all 5 of us.  This recipe makes enough cake for just 1 person.

Brown Sugar Cake for 1 (with Frosting)

2 Tablespoons all purpose flour
1 Tablespoon brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
pinch of salt
1 Tablespoon milk
1 teaspoon milk
1 teaspoon oil
drop of vanilla

Mix all ingredients in a bowl.

Mix everything in a bowl

Pour batter into a small microwave safe container.  I use a 4 oz mason jar.

Ready to bake

Microwave for 32 seconds (Based on a 900 volt microwave).

Baked!

This recipe makes what looks like a tiny bit of batter.  Don't worry.  The batter will double in size when baked.

Unbaked batter

Fully baked batter

Now set the cake aside to cool and make frosting.

Frosting (for 1 cake)

3 Tablespoons powdered sugar
1 teaspoon soft butter (NOT melted)
1/2 teaspoon milk
1 drop of vanilla

Using a fork, mash powdered sugar into the butter.

Work the butter into the sugar

Add the milk 1/4 teaspoon at a time.  Frosting will be stiff.

Mash butter into powdered sugar

Stir in vanilla.  Believe it or not, that tiny bit of vanilla will make the frosting smooth and easier to stir.

Once the cake is cooled completely, frost the cake.

Bakers Tip:  If you frost a warm cake, the frosting will melt into the cake.  (Some people like it like that.)

Dessert! (or breakfast)

One of my favorite things about this little cake is that it fits easily into a lunch bag.

Nutritional Information:
Cake:  Calories-156, Carbs-25, Fat 5, Protein 3, Sodium 246, Sugar 12
Frosting:  Calories 154, Carbs-24, Fat 6, Sodium 126, Sugar 23

Save a few calories by sprinkling the cake with powdered sugar instead of frosting.


For a chocolate mug cake, CLICK HERE!

For mug brownie, CLICK HERE!

This blog post is courtesy of Mocha Kathy W.

For more recipes, CLICK HERE!