Lemony Goodness Part Deux

Meyer Lemon Cake. That was next on my list of lemony things to make. I had made it one other time months ago and got pretty good review so I thought I would revisit it. It's sweet, (but not too sweet) tart, creamy, and cakey. I love it when cake is cakey.

Meyer Lemon Cake
Makes 12 servings

Ingredients:
2-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 large eggs
2 cups granulated sugar
1 cup canola oil
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons Meyer lemon juice
2 teaspoons grated Meyer lemon zest, divided
3 teaspoons pure vanilla extract, divided
1 cup sour cream
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened at room temperature
6 ounces cream cheese, softened at room temperature
3 cups powdered sugar

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. and grease a tube pan. Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a small bowl.

2. In a large bowl, beat eggs together with sugar until combined. Beat in 1 cup of oil, 1/2 cup lemon juice and 1 teaspoon zest, and 2 teaspoons vanilla until well blended.

3. Gradually beat in flour mixture then beat in sour cream. Pour batter into tube pan and bake 1 hour or until a toothpick comes out clean. Let cake rest 15 minutes before inverting and frosting.

4. To make frosting, beat butter, cream cheese, remaining 2 tablespoons lemon juice, 1 teaspoon zest and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Gradually beat in powdered sugar until well blended. Frost cake when fully cooled and store in refrigerator.

Lemony Goodness

A few weeks ago we got a huge bag of Meyer lemons so I've been frantically searching for lemon recipes to make sure they didn't go to waste. I had seen a recipe on The Pioneer Woman for a baked lemon pasta so I decided to give it a go. It turned out so yummy that I made it again 2 days later cause I had all the ingredients. Really fast, really simple, and really good! The only tweaking I did was to add shredded cooked chicken.

Baked Lemon Pasta

1 pound thin spaghetti
1/2 stick (4 tablespoons) butter
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
Juice of 1 lemon
Zest of 1 lemon
2 cups sour cream
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, more to taste if desired
Plenty of grated Parmesan cheese
Flat leaf parsley, chopped
Extra lemon juice

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Cook spaghetti until al dente.
In a skillet, melt butter with olive oil over LOW HEAT.
When butter is melted, add minced garlic.
Squeeze lemon juice into the pan. Turn off heat.
Add sour cream and stir mixture together. Add lemon zest and salt. Taste, then add more salt if necessary.
Pour mixture over drained spaghetti and stir together, then pour spaghetti into an oven safe dish.
Bake, covered, for 15 minutes. Then remove foil and bake for an additional 7 to 10 minutes. (Don’t bake too long or the pasta will dry out.)
When you remove it from the oven, squeeze a little more lemon juice over the top.
Top generously with Parmesan cheese, then chopped parsley.
Give it a final squeeze of lemon juice at the end.

Serve with crusty French bread and a simple green salad.