Time to Pucker Up Lemon Cake

Lemon cake with Pudding and Limonata Pop

This cake is my contribution to my families Easter brunch/lunch today. I actually love the taste of lemon, I’ll take lemon over classics like chocolate or vanilla any day. Being Easter, I wanted something on the tart side and was the color of my favorite flower – the yellow daffodil.

This recipe is a take on another cake recipe that uses: cake mix, instant pudding mix and a can of pop. I used in my cake - lemon cake mix, lemon pudding (yes, there is lemon pudding out there) and Limonata pop. 

You can pick up this pop now almost anywhere now. I’ve seen it sold at grocery stores, Italian Centre and even London Drugs. The pop is from Italy and it’s made by San Pellegrino. They have other flavors available (orange, blood orange and grapefruit) I actually prefer this pop over others since it uses real sugar and fruit juice.

The cake is easy and super moist. It’s also very refreshing and great for any spring celebration.

Ingredients:

1 box of Lemon Cake Mix, 432 g

1 box of Lemon pudding Mix, 99 g

1 can of Limonata soda pop. 330 ml

1 cup of Oil (Canola, vegetable or corn)

3 Eggs, beaten

Cooking spray, butter or oil to grease the cake pan

Dash of flour to dust the cake pan

Icing:

1 Lemon, fresh and juiced completely (don't use bottled lemon juice)

1 cup of Icing Sugar

Pinch of Salt

Tools:  Sifter or strainer, large mixing bowl, hand mixer or mix master, wooden spoon, small bowls, whisk, tooth picks, juicer, measure cups, and a Bundt pan/cake pan.

Time:  +1 hour - Cook time 40 minutes, prep time 10 minutes and cooling time.

Preheat oven to 350

Grease the Bundt or cake pan and dust/sprinkle lightly with flour.

In a large bowl, sift the cake mix and pudding. This helps with mixing the batter smoother, since sometimes those packaged cake mixes can be clumpy.

Getting all the clumps out

Beat the eggs in a small bowl. I try to avoid putting eggs straight into the batter for two reasons: 1. beating the eggs separately helps with mixing and 2. If there a bad egg in the group or shell pieces, you can redo it no problem - if it’s in the batter – you lost a lot of ingredients.

Add the eggs, oil and soda pop to the dry ingredients. Stir with a spoon just to incorporate the ingredients. Then use the hand mixer/mix master for 2-3 minutes on medium speed. Don’t over beat the batter.

When the batter is all mixed up well, pour into the greased cake pan. Give the pan a little shake to make sure the batter is evenly spread. I then take a butter knife and run in the batter once or twice around to remove any air pockets in the batter.

Place into the preheated oven and cook for 40 minutes. 

If you are using another type of cake pan, try 30 minutes first and check the cake and determine if the cake needs more time or not. I usually test around 35 mark with a knife. If the knife comes out clean the cake is cooked.

Remove from oven and let the cake rest in the pan until it is completely cool. Do not try to remove a warm cake from the pan.  Not a pretty sight.

Making the icing:

In a small bowl, add the juice of the lemon and gently sift in the icing sugar little by little to to get a thick syrup like icing. You might need more or less icing sugar (depending on the size of the lemon or the thickness you like).

Once you get the consistency of the icing you prefer, add the salt and stir. The salt balances the sweet and sour.

When the cake is cooled off, flip it onto a serving platter or plate. I then take a toothpick and do a few pokes on the cake just to get the icing to seep or soak in a little.

Poor or spoon the icing sauce over the cake.

Let it stand either in the fridge or on the counter covered for 15 minutes to let the icing take hold.

Enjoy!