This cake was unplanned and the product of a need for cake (cake addiction is not a recognised addiction as yet) and trying to consume groceries before the use by date. There seems to be a fine balance between having ingredients on hand in case inspiration strikes and they are needed and/or using them within the time period while they are still fresh and not expired.
Browsing through my pantry I found
1 packet lemon pudding with sauce
1 packet lemon Madeira cake
1 packet lemon Aeroplane Jelly. (I like Aeroplane Jelly!)
which had relatively short shelf lives at this time (except for the jelly).
(Small aside: in Australia we call sweet gelatine products ‘jelly’. I am aware that people from the USA tend to call these items after the brand ‘Jello’. I much prefer the word jelly to jello as it has a fun sound and is the English/Australian word for this type of food.
If Australians were to call jelly after the most recognised Australian brand name, we would call it ‘Aeroplane’ as this is the most popular brand of jelly which would be very impractical and confusing. One advertising campaign for it included the song ‘I like Aeroplane Jelly’ hence the silly comment.)
Since starting this search I have made cakes with lemon pudding packet mixes, jelly mixes (by mistake) and other items so being of an adventurous frame of mind on the day I decided to combine the three. I did not have a recipe but as I have made this type of cake previously I felt a recipe was not needed.
What could go wrong? (Well, a lot of things. The oven could decide not to work; the made up recipe could be a disaster; the space/time continuum could unravel due to the combination of pudding and jelly; the second coming of the Flying Spaghetti Monster might take place, to name a few possibilities.)
Ingredients
1 packet lemon Madeira cake (or any other packet lemon cake)
1 packet lemon self saucing pudding
1 packet lemon jelly
3/4 cup vegetable oil (I used extra virgin olive oil)
3/4 cup water
4 eggs
1 1/2 lemons squeezed or juiced.
Method
- Heat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius or 392 Fahrenheit. Oil and flour a Bundt cake tin.
- Mix the contents of the packets together in a mixing bowl with a wooden spoon.
- Add the water and vegetable oil and mix together.
- Add the eggs, one by one and mix well. (Or you could mix all the eggs together and add to the mixture, or add the eggs when you add the water and oil.)
- Add lemon juice and mix well. If you wish you could also add some grated lemon peel for extra lemon flavour.
- Pour mixture into the prepared Bundt tin and place in oven for between 40-60 minutes depending on the oven used. Each has its own quirks.
- Allow to cool before attempting removal of the cake from the tin.
- Ice or glaze or eat as is.
It is a very easy cake to make.
There was one slight mishap. On trying to turn the cake out onto an unfamiliar cake holder there was a slippage and the cake fell apart, somewhat (see picture). Due to the damage the decision was made not to ice the cake.
As for the flavour? While it is not the cake I am seeking, it is by far the best lemon cake I have made during this search. It was eaten in two days and many requests have been voiced for the cake to be made again.
The search continues (at least for a short time).
Clean the Plate 