When Life Gives You Lemons... Make Lemon Cake

I like fresh squeezed lemonade, but I like cake more than lemonade... and Meyer lemons are much more exciting to bake with. I made a cake for another office birthday using these great lemons. There are so many birthdays in the first 11 days of February - it's a little strange. I know of 6, and made a cake for 3 of them (4 if you count the double office party). Sad I couldn't make a cake for my sister on her birthday (shared with my boss who I did make this cake for). Next year I will plan it better and mail one! I only have one cake in my repertoire that I know mails well, which is the cookie cake tower. It's also good if you don't have to mail it.

My bosses are interesting people. They ballroom dance competitively, run an architecture firm, and enjoy watching Glee - which makes me laugh. I had the option of making chocolate or lemon cake, and I had that very day been offered a bag of lemons courtesy of a friend. I'm not exactly sure where they came from - maybe his uncle, or his uncle's neighbor... I'm just glad I was offered! Thanks R! Since I had lemons on the way, it made the choice much easier. Making decisions is very hard sometimes. (Especially when feeding a diverse group of people, and attempting to make a nice cake for your boss.) I did some research and ended up making a lemon poppyseed bundt cake from a new cookbook.

Bundt cakes travel well (even on the bus), and feed a crowd without all the added layers. You can fancy them up with fresh fruit or fresh cream, and they look so pretty dusted with powdered sugar. Picture me in the office kitchen/library using a tea infuser to dust the powdered sugar on the cake! silly, but it worked well. The lemon poppy cake I made had a lighter texture than most bundt cakes and was drenched in lemony syrup after it finished baking. The recipe called for more poppy seeds than I would normally use, but they offered a nice crunch. Our office joked afterward that we should all avoid drug tests (though we have no such requirement in our office). I'm pretty sure that Myth Busters proved that if you eat enough poppy seeds you will test positive on drug tests. Innocent cake lovers be ware.

I'm looking forward to our next office birthday - not until next month though. Hopefully I'll have something exciting to share with you all here.