There's nothing like freshly-squeezed orange juice and a fruity slice of brunch cake to greet a warm spring day. This month, I'm sharing one of my favorite recipes. It combines two great flavors -- raspberry and lemon -- to make a light and fluffy slice of cake that's perfect for nibbling while reading the morning paper.
While this recipe calls for raspberries, you can also opt for blueberries or black berries. I'd recommend using frozen berries or, if they're available, dehydrated puffed fruit to avoid crushing the fruit and staining the batter. If you are going to be entertaining, you might want to make a large batch of the batter, split it into separate bowls, add several kinds of berries and bake them for 25 minutes in muffin tins instead. Then you can offer your guests a sweet choice!
As always, I encourage you to share your recipe ideas and comments. You can always post comments in the discussion board using the forms provided in the articles or email me directly at . Enjoy!
Raspberry-Lemon Brunch Cake
- 2 cups sugar
- 1/4 cup light olive oil
- 1 teaspoon grated lemon zest
- 1 egg
- 2 lightly beaten egg whites
- 1 cup nonfat lemon yogurt
- 2 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1 c. raspberries *see above note about berries
- lemon juice
- powdered sugar
- lemon curd
- 1/4 c. chopped almonds (optional)
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
In a large bowl, cream the sugar, oil, and zest. Add the egg and egg whites and mix completely. Add the yogurt and combine well. Add the vanilla and lemon juice and combine.
Slowly add the flour and the baking powder, stirring until completely blended.
When the batter is smooth, add the raspberries and gently mix until the berries are somewhat blended; do not overmix and break up the berries.
Pour the batter into a greased bundt pan. Place in the oven and bake for 40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean. Cool completely.
For the glaze, mix together the lemon juice, powdered sugar and lemon curd. Drizzle over the cake and sprinkle with chopped almonds, if desired.
- Yields: 18 servings
- Preparation Time: 50 minutes