Have I mentioned I love anything lemon? Perhaps more than a few times, right? This past summer my “baby” in the garden was a Meyer lemon tree I bought for half price at my local Kroger, repotted it and plopped it down among the tomatoes, okra and asparagus. Several weeks later as I was watering it, I spotted these little jewels:
I had babies! Five of them to be exact. Hubs came close to having a heart attack when I called and told him we were having quintuplets!
You may be wondering, what are Meyer lemons anyway. Meyer lemon trees are a hybrid released in 1975 to the University of California. Until then, the Meyer lemon tree was imported from China. It was quite popular in the U.S., but it was highly susceptible to disease and eventually banned because of the danger of spreading a devastating virus to healthy fruit trees.
Today’s Meyer Lemon dwarf is a cross between an ordinary lemon and an orange. The thin-skinned fruit is sweet and grows readily under the right conditions. The tree can reach 6 to 10 feet in height unless pruned.
As summer turned into fall with its cool nights, I moved my babies inside under our grow light and watched and waited. And waited. And waited some more.
I harvested my first prize in late November, but waited almost two months to harvest the remainder. They were beauties! Much larger than the ones I had purchased in the grocery, they were closer in size to a small navel orange.
I might have been more than a little puffed up!
I’ve been dreaming of ways to use those precious orbs, being rather stingy with them as well. And this yummy Meyer Lemon Glazed Angel Food Cake is just one of them.
You may not have your own tree, but Meyer lemons are plentiful in the grocery right now. Pick up a bag and make this cake. Freeze the others for later use if you want. They freeze quite well.
Meyer Lemon Glazed Angel Food Cake
Notes
To Make Superfine Sugar: Put the amount of granulated white sugar called for in your recipe in a food processor. Add a couple of tablespoons more to compensate for a reduction in overall volume. Process for 1 to 2 minutes until the sugar feels like fine sand, letting the sugar dust settle before opening your food processor to check. Remeasure before using.
Ingredients
Cake
- 1 1/4 cups superfine granulated sugar
- 1 cup sifted cake flour
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 1/4 cups egg whites, about 10 large eggs at room temperature
- 2 Tablespoons fresh Meyer lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon cream of tartar
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon lemon emulsion
- fine zest of 1 Meyer lemon
Glaze
- 1/2 cup powdered sugar, sifted
- 1-2 teaspoons Meyer lemon juice
Instructions
Cake
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Sift the cake flour with 1/4 cup of the superfine sugar and the salt.
- Whip the egg whites with the 2 Tablespoons for fresh lemon juice until foamy, then add the cream of tartar until the whites are stiff but not dry.
- Fold in the vanilla extract, lemon emulsion and fine lemon zest.
- Gradually beat in the remaining sugar about a tablespoon or two at a time.
- Sift the cake flour and sugar mixture about 1/4 cup at a time over the batter and fold in gently after each addition.
- Pour the batter into an ungreased 10-inch tube pan and bake at 350 degrees for about 45 minutes or until golden.
- Invert the pan on a narrow-necked bottle and let the cake hang to cool completely.
- When the cake is completely cool, run a knife around the edges and the center tube; invert onto a wire rack and gently brush off crumbs, if desired.
Glaze
- Beat together powdered sugar and 1 teaspoon lemon juice, adding additional juice as needed for a medium-thin glaze.
- Drizzle over completely cooled cake and allow to air dry for 1-2 hours before serving.
