Wednesday, December 8, 2010

LEMON DROP Cake Plus a Little Frosting Secret



I know I already posted a cake recipe this week.


This is one of my Top 3 Boxed Cake Mix Recipes.  Love when I can use an already Boxed Cake Mix and create something extra special.

LEMON DROP Cake.  Who in this whole wide world doesn't love Lemon Drops?

This is super duper yummy.

Plus I'll tell you about a little secret that I do with the frosting, so hang in there.

Simple Ingredients:


1 box Lemon Cake Mix
1 Tub Lemon Frosting
3 eggs
1/2 c. vegetable oil
1 1/4 c. water
2 lemons
1 c. Powdered Sugar

CLICK HERE FOR PRINTABLE RECIPE

Preheat oven to 350. 

I normally use two round cake pans, and that way I have two nice little round cakes. 

But today I'm using my jelly roll pan or 1/4 sheet cake pan (whatever you call it).

Spray your pan of choice with trusty ole Baker's Joy.

Make cake as instructed on box, by mixing together the cake mix, eggs, oil and water.

Pour into prepared pan.


 Oh how I LOVE lemon!


OOPS!

Bake at 350 until toothpick that has been inserted in the center, comes out clean.

Now while this luscious thing is in the oven, take your lemon and powdered sugar.

You know how the people on FoodTv take the lemon, and push down on it, and then roll it around on the counter with the palm of their hand before they cut it.  They say it makes it more "Juicy"?  Well they're right!



It does make the lemon juicier and much easier to squeeze and get more juice out of.  So take your lemon, and press down with the palm of your hand and roll it around on the counter a couple times

Cut lemon in half and squeeze juice  into a 1/4 cup measuring cup. Sometimes just ONE lemon will give me 1/4 cup, sometimes ONE lemon does not give me enough juice.  So I ALWAYS buy two lemons just in case.  I suggest you do the same.  Use the other half to squeeze into your ice tea or glass of water.

No matter how hard I try to dig out all the seeds, for some reason, those little buggers show up out of nowhere.



I have made this cake umpteen times and every single time, I "think" I pick out all the seeds, and sure enough, these little buggers show up when I squeeze!

Never fear, my little helper will get them for me!


In a bowl, put your 1 cup of Powdered Sugar and your 1/4 cup of seed-free lemon juice.  Take a fork and stir stir stir.  Get all the powdered sugar chunks out until it's smooth. This will take a while to get all smooth and creamy and lump free.


Set this lemony combo aside, and check on your cake.

Once a toothpick comes out clean, take out of oven and set aside.


YUMMY YUMMY YUMMY.

A few more steps, just hang in there.

Ok, now, let the cake sit and rest on the counter for 15 minutes.

After that time, carefully take a fork, and poke some holes in the cake.  Just poke here and there, don't over do it, just a few all around the top.


Don't get too carried away and make craters like I did. 


Now pour the lemony powdered sugar mixture all around the top. At first it will look like this:


So quickly you will  need to take the back of your spoon and spread it all around.  Spread the love.


Once you have spread around all the lemon mixture, place the whole thing in the refrigerator for about 2 hours.  Don't skip this step.

Set it in the Refrigerator right next to your bottles of Sauvignon Blanc.  I KNOW you have them in there, don't be ashamed.


Now, go read your email or do a load of laundry, or sit and watch The View, like I'm doing.

A couple hours later, come on back and let's get to the little Frosting Secret.

FROSTING SECRET:

Have you ever had a Texas Sheet Cake, and the homemade frosting is all crackled and you can tell it's homemade cause of the wonderful texture?

Well here's my little frosting secret.  I buy a regular Tub O' Frosting from the store, and heat it real quick-like in the microwave, and then pour it over my cake.  It sets, and gives it a sort of  "homemade" look to it. 

It doesn't taste any different, but the appearance makes it "seem" like it's homemade.  Know what I mean?  It doesn't look like you - bought a tub of frosting, popped open the lid, and spread it on top of the cake.


It just looks all yummy and wonderful and doesn't look like a boring old tub of frosting.

I ESPECIALLY like to do this with the chocolate frosting. It really really turns out wonderful looking.

Now BACK to the lemon frosting.  I do the "melting" trick to this lemon frosting, cause I like to make little designs on the cake after it's been frosted. 

Here's how I do it:

Pop the frosting tub in the microwave for 20 seconds.

Make sure you get all the silver metal tin foil stuff off the top of the lid.

Take out of the microwave, and stir it all around in the tub.  Its soft, but not super runny, just barely pourable.


So go ahead and take about 3/4 of the frosting, and pour onto your cooled cake.  Take the back of your spoon and spread it all around.  You know, using that "wrist trick" where it looks all swirly.  Like this:



Now if you want to, you could just stop there and you'd have a wonderful delicious lemon drop cake.

But for 1 minute more of your time, you can go from YUMMY to OH MY GOSH THIS CAKE IS SOOO GOOD!  SECRET: Not because you are doing anything to the "taste" of the cake, but because people are visual, and if it looks pretty, then by gosh, it tastes way better!

So take that tub of frosting, that has the last 1/4 of your frosting, and pop it in the microwave for about 12 seconds.  It should be really runny by now.

Take your spoon, stir it up a bit, and pull out your spoon, and drizzle little designs all over your "already frosted" cake.


See how it gives it a 3-Dimensional look?  Oh so swirly and pretty!

All from a Tub O' Frosting.  Who'da thunk it!

So that's my Lemon Drop Cake with my Secret Frosting Secret.



Oh I love Lemon Drop Cake!  Now you know why it's my Top 3 Recipes from a Boxed Cake Mix!



39 comments:

  1. OH MY GOODNESS...I am a lemon fanatic! So making this!!!

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    1. I think this is a really good article. You make this information interesting and engaging. You give readers a lot to think about and I appreciate that kind of writing. birthday cakes ontario california

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  2. WOWZA! This looks amazing! I found your blog off Tasty kitchen! I am your newest follower! I think I'm gonna make this cake for dessert after Christmas dinner! Thanks for sharing :)

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  3. Thanks Holly for stopping buy. Trust me, this cake is really really good! It's one of my favorites. By the way, I saw your blog (Love it), and I have made some notes cause I'm going back there and giving some of your items a try!

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  4. Hey Sally..I made this today for Easter dinner tomorrow and I snuck a piece. LOVED IT! I didn't have lemon juice but used blood orange juice instead and ZOMG was it so citrusy and deep...loved it. And the icing trick is winner winner!

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  5. My grandma used to make a cake like this many years ago, except with no frosting on the top...just the glaze after you poke the warm cake. I'm going to update this favorite!

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    1. Elizabeth TetreaultMay 13, 2014 at 3:56 PM

      went to my grand-daughter-in-laws house and this is the cake she made for desert. Oh my God was it wonderful. SO LEMONY GOOD

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  6. I don't know about jelly roll pans? What size?

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  7. If you microwave the lemon for 10 seconds before you roll it around, it will give you even more juice.

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  8. Made this tonight! SOOOOOO delicious...which I knew it would be! I didn't have lemon frosting so I just used what I had, which was cream cheese frosting. Then I added 1/2 tsp of lemon extract! I'm sure it would be better with the lemon frosting, but had to make do and it was still oh so yummy! I love any lemon dessert and this was very good! Thanks :)

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  9. Sounds yummy! Love your secret! Here's mine. . . If you only have vanilla frosting, add a little bit of lemon juice or lemon extract and tint yellow.

    (recipesplusmore.blogspot.com)

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  10. This sounds amazing, but heres my question.....Does the icing trick work if you use 2 round cake pans (stacked)? Or will the icing just run off when you pour it?

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    1. That's a darn good question. The icing trick will work, if the first go-round, to make sure you don't microwave the frosting too long. So it's not too runny. Just melty enough to frost. The second step, when you make your zig zag patterns, the frosting is going to be super runny, yes. So you'll only be able to zig zag the top of the cake, otherwise, yes, it will drip off. Thanks for asking.

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    2. Wow, lemon cake is my favorite so I can't wait to try this. Thank You for sharing.

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  11. I only have lemon juice from a bottle. Do you think that would still taste good? Not as good as fresh lemons. I have fresh oranges. How about that instead? Cake is cooling right now! Can't wait to try it!!!

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  12. I love lemon more than chocolate! this looks amazing! will try it for mothers day! thanks for sharing! oh, this would be incredible in a lemon trifle!

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  13. Wow! This looks delicious. I absolutely love any lemon dessert. I am going to try this tonight for a party we are having. Then I will let you know how it goes. Thank you for posting such detailed pictures and directions for your lemon drop cake.

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  14. I made it today for Father's Day! Super easy and DELICIOUS!!!

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  15. Yum! I'm sharing this (and making it) with my followers, with ALL credit and glory going to you. lol

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  16. This looks like a "secret family recipe" in the making. I don't have a lemon cake that sounds as good as this one, so I will be trying it very soon. Thanks so much for sharing it.

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  17. wonderful!!!! and very esay explained, thank you so much Sally, is my favorite cake and i didn´t know how to make it, thanks a lot, i will make it several times a thing. lol.

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  18. I zested my lemon before I juiced it. Then when I heated up the frosting I stirred in the zest. It took a dynamite recipe (thank you!) and gave it an extra zing!

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  19. Thank you for sharing - it is a great recipe, everyone loved it

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  20. I have made this cake many times--it is so yummy! Do you think it would be possible to make this into cupcakes? I am needing a good lemon cupcake recipe for Tuesday.

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  21. We also love your lemon cake--one of our new favorites. I love to hear my husband tell people about this marvelous new cake I make!

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  22. Looks amazing! Thanks for the frosting tip.

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  23. I have this recipe, but instead of using lemon juice, it calls for thawed frozen lemonade concentrate and it's GREAT!

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  24. If you add just a little more lemon juice and the zest of the lemon that you juice for the initial confectioner sugar mixture to the frosting it makes it look even more homemade.

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  25. Nice Information! I personally really appreciate your article. This is a great website. I will make sure that I stop back again!.
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  26. This is THE BEST LEMON CAKE EVER! It's that tingle in the back of your mouth type lemon cake and it's so delicious! I'm making it for the 6th time tomorrow for my hubby's birthday because he loves it so much!

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  27. Thanks for sharing! I made this cake for Christmas Eve tonight. It was super easy and very delicious! This one's a keeper!

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  28. Adding the zest of the lemon to the drizzled portion of frosting gave this already scrumptious cake an extra zing! Thanks for sharing. This is now my favorite dessert - and you get all the credit!

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  29. Sometimes the laziness is good for us to find out the quickest and easiest ways to make everything. Your recipe is an example. It's very useful, especially the beginners. Thank a lot.

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  30. does this need to be refrigerated if made the day before needed?

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  31. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  32. I couldn't find lemon frosting. Can you add lemon juice to buttercream frosting?

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  33. Can this be made in a 9x13 pan and does it need to be refrigerated after completion?

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  34. I have made this cake several times. It is delicious and looks fabulous!

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  35. very nice blog post really great and good content keep doing for share the incredible post's
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