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This year’s Easter Cake

by & filed under Portraiture.

When the girls were little I introduced the tradition of making a lemon cake for Easter. The results were hit or miss but the girls loved the process- especially decorating the cake – and last year I found an exceptional recipe. Though it’s vegan, I use butter. (We have a recipe that uses traditional flour here) It is super moist and delicious. Our cake decorations have become a little more sophisticated and we will be using dried lemon slices for 2020.

Whether you are celebrating Passover or Easter we send you our love and positive thoughts.

The Lemon Cake We Make for Easter

by & filed under Recipes.

Lemon Cake

(From 2019) Each year the girls and I make a lemon cake for the family’s Easter Sunday dinner. This Easter will find us in Miami and we may or may not be able to convince the girls to leave the beach for a hot kitchen, and I may not be able to convince myself! But for those of you, especially with little ones, I thought I’d share this recipe in the hope you’ll choose this year to make a special cake with them. Know that no matter how lopsided, burned or oddly decorated your cake may be- the memory of making it together will always be sweet!

Easter Lemon Cake

16 Servings
  • 2 cups flour
  • 2 cups sugar
  • 2 tsps baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/2 cup buttermilk
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1 cup water
  • 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, cut into 10 pieces
  • 1/4 cup oil
  • 3 eggs
  • 2 tsps vanilla extract
  • 1 T grated lemon zest (the zest of one large lemon or 1 tsp lemon extract

LEMON WHIPPED CREAM CHEESE FROSTING:

  • 2 packages (8 ounces each) cream cheese, softened
  • 3/4 cup granulated sugar
  • 2 cups heavy cream
  • 1 1/2 tsps lemon extract
  • 1 tsp yellow food coloring (or whatever color you like- or none- it’s very pretty white)
  • 1 13.75 oz package of Whoppers Easter Robin Eggs

PREPARATION

Preheat oven to 375°F. For the Cake, grease 3 (8-inch) round cake pans. Set aside. Sift flour, sugar, baking powder and salt into a large bowl. Set aside. Mix buttermilk and baking soda in small bowl. Set aside.

Bring water and butter to boil in small saucepan, stirring to blend. Add the hot butter mixture into the flour mixture; mix with wire whisk until well blended. Add the buttermilk mixture, oil, eggs and extracts; mix with whisk until well blended. Pour batter into prepared pans.

Bake 15 to 20 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Remove from oven. Cool in pan 5 minutes. Remove from pans; cool completely on wire rack.

For the Frosting, beat cream cheese and sugar in large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed until well blended. Gradually beat in heavy cream on medium speed until light and fluffy. Add lemon extract and food color; mix well.

Place one cooled cake layer on serving platter and spread with about 1/2 cup of the frosting. Top with second cake layer and spread with another 1/2 cup frosting. Top with remaining cake layer. Frost top and side of cake with remaining frosting. Decorate as desired. Cover and refrigerate cake until ready to serve. Bring to room temperature when ready to serve.

#HobokenStrong- Share a Rainbow!

by & filed under Portraiture.

People in the UK are putting rainbows in their windows to color the world in these dark times. I want to highlight a local mom and artist, Sarah Reever, who created a coloring sheet for children, to color and post in windows across the City. Drag or save this image to your desktop- print out, color and display in your window!