This lemon-spice cake is my recipe gift to you today. It’s a visiting cake.
The occasion?
This week marks Blue Cayenne’s second birthday. Woo-hoo! Let’s party!
But, what in the world is a visiting cake?
Cooking diva Dorie Greenspan (Dorie’s Cookies, Baking Chez Moi, Around My French Table) recently wrote about “visiting cakes” for an On The Road column in The New York Times Magazine. A visiting cake is a gift cake, one that is necessarily sturdy, durable and full of long-lasting flavor. Historically, a lot of visiting cakes were fruit cakes, but we’re not going to go there.
The lemon-spice visiting cake that Greenspan includes in her Times piece is perfect for a visiting cake. Its texture is pound-cakeish (I’m sure that must be a word). It is flavored with bold spices (ginger and cardamom) and hand-rubbed lemon sugar. And, its moist crumb is locked in by a generous brushing of melted orange marmalade.
I can tell you from personal experience (trust me here) that the cake tastes great for days after it is baked. In fact, it is at its very best on the second and third day after you bake it.
But, back to our birthday…Both of us here at Blue Cayenne–me and my Chief Quality Officer Juliet–thank you for reading our posts and for your generous words of encouragement. A special thanks goes to Al Nomura, my talented photography mentor, who (amazingly) has never lost faith in my ability to improve as a photographer.
Truth be told, Juliet and I are having an awfully good time with this one hundred ninety-one post (and counting) project. We’re eating some very good food, too, and it is always more fun when you can share the recipes.
Thanks for visiting.
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This recipe is adapted from a Dorie Greenspan recipe. Here is the link: Dorie Greenspan’s Lemon-Spice Visiting Cake
Now it’s MY turn to wish YOU a happy birthday!
Thank you for the recipes, the gorgeous food photos and for making me simultaneously drool and smile at my computer screen :),
Thanks, Carole. I’m grateful to you for your kind words about Blue Cayenne. As you know, I’m loving every part of the blog experience.
“Happy birthday” to you both! It has been a true delight and an education reading your blog.
I wish you continued joy & success in your pursuit of experimenting and sharing.
Congratulations on your anniversary Lorraine! I admire your talent, wit and passion. “You go on girl!”