Obvious winner: Meyer Lemon Coffee Cake

I knew this was going to be a winner because it was a pain in the ass to make.

There was "paper thin" slicing of five lemons involved and also three separate things to prepare and then add in a specific order.


It's a wonder I decided to take it on at all.

But I did - because my dwarf Meyer lemon was looking tortured under the weight of its fruits and when I mentioned the recipe from behind my surprise issue of Martha Stewart (I canceled my subscription months ago) the look on Bubba's face was nothing short of orgasmic.

He pressed his lips together, clasped his hands at his bosom and rolled his eyes so suggestively I thought I might need to leave the room. IfyouknowwhatImeanbutanyway...

Yesterday I donned my sombrero (dudes, it was HOT here yesterday!) and sauntered out to the patio for the big harvest of my tiny tree. And then about a hundred years and FOUR different baking pans later, we had some of this coffee cake. Half of which was incredibly awesome, the other half of which was slightly undercooked given the type of pan I'd chosen to use and the fact that I left Bubba in charge of taking it from the oven but failed to mention that he needed to test the center with a toothpick for doneness.

Whoopsy!

Lesson learned here: When the recipe calls for an angel food cake pan, it means it. Because a bundt pan won't work due to the rounded nature of the pan (and thus the rounded nature of the cake's bottom when flipped) and a springform pan *might* work, but you'll have to, like, stay around while it's baking to adjust for the actual baking time given the extra square footage of the cake without the angel food cake hole in the middle.


Do you see what I'm saying?

I hope so, because I'll tell you that it's not a *lot* of fun pouring the batter into a bundt pan, realizing that it's totally NOT going to work, then running out to the garage for a springform pan, washing it, drying it and the pouring the batter in there just to realize that it's too big so that you can then run BACK out to the garage for the smaller springform pan which also needs to be washed and dried before pouring the first layer of the batter in for what feels like the hundredth time. And also good job doubling the amount of dishes you have to do.

Yay.

If I were to make this cake again, and likely I will given Bubba's affinity for it, I will use the smaller springform pan again, but this time I'll put a round ramekin or something in the middle to act as the angel food cake pan hole because TEE DAH the springforminess of the pan was the most satisfying moment of my baking life to date.

Sad? Perhaps. But look at how beautiful the cake looks when you are able to spring the pan away from the cake instead of chop it away from the sides of the angel food cake pan with a knife as detailed in the recipe's instructions.


See? That is awesome. No hacking away at that perfect crust. No loss of precious crumb topping. Also, look how it's not face-down on my floor because the springform pan bottom acts as the perfect little plate which I can transfer right over to my cake stand instead of my usual manhandling of the cake out of the pan and off the cooling rack which inevitably ends up with the cake on the floor and a LOT of bad words. Anyway, wow, that's a lot of awesomeness from one pan and I now understand why someone smart invented these things.

Anyway - next time, I'll add the ramekin to the middle and see how it goes baking-wise.

Either way - we had a nice slice of it last night with some Caffe Roma coffee and it was a heavenly experience. I didn't clutch my bosom with the heavenliness, but Bubba did. He has a thing for lemon baked goods, bless him. And sorry this photo is so dark, I was too intent on eating my cake to move from my seat on the couch to a brighter lit somewhere for the sake of a photo. Maybe a future slice will be eaten in the light of day.

Cheers.