TWD: Lemon Loaf Cake

I have made, over the years, rather a lot of lemon cakes. There's the lemon cake to impress and the demure little lemon cake and the lemon cake I make all the time.

Thanks to Dorie and our hosts this week at Treats and The Beauty of Life, now there's another one. Whatever shall I do? This one may become my "all the time" cake. It's a very simple recipe, requires one bowl and no mixer, is firm in texture and modest on the tongue, and goes excellently with an afternoon cup of tea. An excellent sort of thing to have in the freezer for Cake Occasions.

I have not been getting the camera out much lately, but here are before and after shots.

 

She left off watching Kipper as soon as the camera flashed, at which point I became very grateful for how quickly-put-together this recipe is.

I brought it to the office for an afternoon meeting, and it was well-received. I may have had three slices. Maybe.

I have been horrible at visiting everyone else's blogs. I will try harder this week, promise!

TWD: Pizza Rustica

I figured that this project would involve baking things I have never made before; that was pretty much the whole point. As someone who has been baking for well over a decade, I didn't expect that we would be making things I have never heard of. When I saw the words "pizza rustica" I thought, Hey, pizza. I make pizza all the time. Then people started talking about lattice tops and I thought, Uh... what?

Pizza rustica isn't pizza. It's kind of like a quiche, except it's mostly cheese instead of being mostly egg. It's kind of like a cheesecake, except it's savory. It's like nothing I've ever eaten.

But it is seriously good. Also--easy to make! The dough for the crust comes together in two minutes in the food processor, and is very soft and forgiving.

The filling gets a few turns with a spatula and you're done.

Lattice top? Like a boss.

 Put it in the oven. Bake it a bit longer than I did; at 35 minutes it was perhaps a teensy bit underdone, or else I didn't let it cool long enough because we were anxious to eat it!

For the recipe, check out Capital Region Dining and The Place They Call Home!

The recipe said it was usually served as a starter. Since we were having a friend over for dinner, we did that. I made a whole wheat walnut bread, roasted asparagus, Ina Garten's parmesan chicken, and for dessert we had ice cream and Outrageous Brownies. It was, in all modesty, one of the best menus I've pulled off in a long time.

And if you have any left over, I am informed that pizza rustica makes an awesome breakfast.