The second of the attempts to replicate the cake my grandmother made.
Unfortunately it seems most of the supermarkets in my general area do not stock lemon pudding mix, instead it is only possible to obtain vanilla pudding. While this is not perfect, if the consistency of the cake is okay, it may be possible to adjust the flavours and make up for the lack of lemon within the pudding mix.
The final in the trilogy of Kebabs in the Canberra region. This time, we chose Queanbeyan as the venue.
Pashas Kebabs was the venue and we will go straight to the review with little preamble.
Warning: This is not a positive review.
My maternal grandmother was a wonderful cook. She baked regularly and I grew up with melting moments, jam drops, jam tarts, ‘cheese’cakes, and other delights for which I sometimes grow nostalgic.
The lemon pudding cake was my birthday favourite. Maybe because I like lemon, or because it was large, or the icing was the lovely mix between sweet and tart, or she decorated it with ‘Smarties’ and sometimes ‘Freckles’. The cake was always moist and not too crumbly.
Recently I found one of my grandmother’s recipe books but it did not contain the recipe for this cake. After talking with one of my siblings and recalling some conversations some conclusions were drawn. Unlike most of the cakes my grandmother made, this was made in a ring tin. It was also a combination of a packet lemon pudding and a packet lemon cake.
I do not, as a rule, like packet cake. It often has an underlying chemical flavour and not knowing exactly what is in the mix makes me uneasy. In spite of these reservations, I am determined to try to make the cake and record the recipe so I can make it and share it with others.
None of the baking books which I currently own contain a recipe for the cake I remember. In this case I turned to ‘Chef’ Google and began searching.
After a while it became clear to me that searching for a ‘ring’ cake has rather strange results including some reference to an obscure trilogy of books about hobbits, rangers, orcs etc. (and I do not believe one cake will rule them all) which didn’t seem to be helpful. Further searches led to something about weddings which did not feature lemon cakes very often, but did have lots of flowers made of royal icing. Further thinking and searching indicated that looking for a ‘Bundt’ cake might be more helpful. More searching and a few promising recipes were found (the links to these recipes will be included).
The first one selected was one which used lemon jelly (Jell-O in the recipe) instead of lemon pudding. As my search of the supermarket only revealed vanilla pudding, it was decided that this would be the first attempt to re-create the recipe.
Link to recipe:
http://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/glazed-lemon-flute-cake
It was very easy to make. It took very little effort and there was a slight guilty feeling attached to making this cake due to the ease of simply emptying packets and doing a tiny bit of measuring.
The Bundt pan was a present and this was the first time it was used. When the cake was turned out it looked similar, if a great deal smaller, than the cake I remembered.
On making the glaze, a problem was encountered. Instead of remaining on the cake most of it ran down the sides and settled on the bottom of the plate. This was not the result I wanted. When making the icing it seemed too thin but the decision had been made to follow the recipe properly.
Cutting the cake, it appeared to have the right crumb and was moist. Slicing it was easy and I eagerly bit into it.
It was not the cake I remembered, but I did not expect it to be. It is a quick and easy cake, has quite a pleasant taste and is moist with a similar consistency to the memorable birthday cake.
While I enjoyed the cake, I will probably not make it again as the package cake flavour, while subtle, is still present.
Verdict: A quick and easy moist lemon cake but not the one I am in search of.
Jamie
This is another unplanned review. Possibly more unplanned reviews should be included but then more consistent timing etc. would also be nice.
For a place the size of Bathurst, it saddens me to report that many of the places we’ve tried have been okay or immediately delegated to the ‘do not return’ category.
We went to Cobblestone Lane not long after it first opened. At the time the food was okay but the service was off-putting, in that we did not feel welcome.
Visiting Bathurst, I decided to try it again, especially as the lunch was $40.00 for two courses and $45.00 for three courses. Continue reading
Clean the Plate 