Lemony Love

I. Love. Baking. It's true, I'm that girl that tries to bring the most impressive or elaborate dessert to a party for everyone to oooh and ahhh over. The key word there is that I try. Normally, this results in me experimenting with a fancy, new recipe before a get-together only to have it turn out to be a total flop. While I might love baking, I am all too familiar with some serious baking failures. But that doesn't keep me from trying.

Initially, all of the different g-free flours totally intimidated me. Was there a magic ratio for ways to combine them? And what the heck is xanthan gum? I gave myself a little break from the world of baking in order to tackle some delicious g-free cooking first. Now that I have plenty of tasty recipes in my repertoire, it was time to tackle the next challenge.

Yesterday was my mom's birthday, and she requested a lemon cake, but I knew it couldn't be just any lemon cake. It needed to be something extra special, and I went all out. My mom has been so supportive in helping me adapt to my new g-free lifestyle, so of course, she also requested a g-free birthday cake. Since it was her special day, I wanted my mom to have exactly what she wanted instead of choosing something just for me. But my mom being the selfless, considerate, generous lady she is, insisted I be able to share it with her. And you can bet I wasn't complaining :)

I scoured the Internet to find the best recipe, but when I came across a recipe for layered lemon cake with lemon whipped cream frosting, I knew that was the winner.

Did I mention the two layers of rich lemon curd? And even with all the layers, the lemon flavor and whipped cream frosting still made the cake feel light and not too rich. Not only did it have the perfect amount of lemony flavor, it looked beautiful too!

I wouldn't tell my mom before hand what I was making, and she was very pleasantly surprised when she saw this gem waiting for her. The cake received rave reviews AND I accomplished my goal of serving up an impressive and tasty dessert. I'm pretty proud of myself for this one. Gluten free baking? Piece of cake! At least I make myself laugh :)