All Grown Up: San Diego Food Bloggers Bake Sale 2012

In the early days of my blog, I wasn't sure where I wanted to draw my focus. Obviously I wanted to talk about baking and occassionally to revamp or try recipes that were diabetic friendly. In my search for self discovery, I stumbled upon a blog called Meandering Eats and Marie was promoting the San Diego Food Blogger Bake Sale. I went to the sale held at Great News Cookware and Cooking School in Pacific Beach and got to meet a few local bloggers and try a few of their treats. After the sale, I blogged about the experience "When I Grow Up" and hoped that one day I would get to join this great group of bloggers and help raise money for a wonderful cause.

Less than one year later, I'm part of the San Diego Food Bloggers group and I have the opportunity to participate in this year's bake sale! I hope you can join us on Saturday, April 28 at Great News (1788 Garnett Avenue San Diego, CA 92109). Other than having the chance to try both sweet and savory treats from 40 local bloggers and bakers and doing a little shopping inside Great News (I can get lost in there for quite awhile), every purchase will be a contribution towards Share Our Strength's (Strength.org) fight against childhood hunger in America. I gave a few statistics about childhood hunger in my original blog last year and in researching for this year's bake sale, I came across a trailer for Hunger Hits Home: Our Problem, Our Children, Our Solution (See the documentary trailer here) that will be featured on the Food Network tonight. Unfortunately, it will already be playing on the east coast by the time I get this post up but luckily, the Food Network will be replaying it throughout the weekend and hopefully during the week.

Can't make it to the event? Visit San Diego Bloggers' Bake Sale page to make a donation, bid on one of the online auctions, or discover a new San Diego food blog. Not a San Diego local? Not to worry! Visit Bloggers Without Borders website which lists food blogger bake sales throughout the US. Last year,national food blogger bake sales raised $25,000. This year's goal is $50,000!

So what will I be baking for this fantastic event? Ideas have been rattling inside my brain for the past month on what I want to make and the problem is, I want to make it all! Of course I can't make it all but I did decide on making my Lemon Snow Cake...in a jar! Other items I'm considering are some kind of cookie and/or a mini pie. All of the items that I will be making for the sale (whatever they end up being) will be diabetic friendly whether they be made with Splenda, reduced sugar, or no sugar added. Other bloggers will also have vegan and gluten free items. I hope to see everyone there and a special thanks in advance if you can make it!

Springtime Sunshine - Lemon Snow Cake

Around 25 years ago, my grandfather planted this lemon tree in the family's backyard. It's definitely had its ups and downs throughout the years, with it's branches losing its leaves and producing lemons that yielded no juice. In the months approaching Spring this year, every time I came to visit my parents, I would peer through the sliding glass door to look at all the trees and plants my grandfather had loving planted all those years ago and for once, the lemon tree was showing a little sign of life.

Springtime is a time to celebrate life and new beginnings. Spring has always been special to me because of my birthday, Easter with my family, the birth of my blog, and just this week, my first steps without a crutch since my fall in January.  Now that it has become easier to move around the kitchen, minus the crutches, I knew it was time to really come back with something good and something to celebrate Spring. I wracked my brain trying to think of a good recipe that was Easter related and all I kept coming back to was carrot cake or some kind of eggy dessert like a custard. I bounced the idea of carrot cake off my mom and she made that face (she hates carrot cake), I knew I needed to go in a different direction. She mentioned that in the south, coconut cake is very popular and that the coconut is supposed to represent a nest. I instantly knew what I wanted to make.

When I was a little girl, my family use to buy this cake called Lemon Snow from George's Wonderful World of Cakes. Unfortunately, the bakery has since closed. The taste is strictly based on my childhood memories so this is my variation of one of my favorite cakes.

Lemon Snow Cake

White Cake
2 1/4 cups cake flour
1 1/4 cups sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups heavy cream

Lemon Curd
3 eggs
3/4 cups sugar
1/3 cup lemon juice
1 tablespoon lemon zest
6 tablespoons cold butter

3 cups of sweetened shredded or flaked coconut




1) Preheat oven to 350*. On a piece of parchment paper, sift together the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. In a small bowl, beat the eggs and vanilla together with a fork. Set aside.
2) In a separate bowl, beat the heavy cream with a mixer on high speed until stiff peaks form (thick whipped cream). Lower the speed and add the egg/vanilla mixture until blended. Slowly add the dry ingredients in thirds until the batter is smooth.

3) Spray two 8 or 9 inch round pans with cooking spray. Divide the batter evenly into the pans. Bake for 20-25 minutes. Check the cakes by poking with a toothpick and if it comes out clean, remove and cool. Remove from pans after 10 minutes and cool on a wire rack.





4) Cut the cold butter into chunks and set aside. In a double boiler or in a medium saucepan, bring water to a simmer. In a heatproof bowl over the saucepan, combine the lemon juice, sugar, lemon zest, and eggs. Whisk the mixture frequently for 8-10 minutes until thickened.  Remove from heat and add a chunk of butter, one at a time, whisking until melted. Allow the lemon curd to cool to room temperature.

5) Level the cakes with a knife or cake leveler. Place the bottom layer on a cake plate, add a generous layer of lemon curd on top, then add the other cake on top. Add an additional thin layer of lemon curd on the top and sides of the cake. Sprinkle the top of the cake with coconut. To add coconut to the sides, take a small piece of parchment paper, place some coconut on the paper, and gently press the coconut against the cake.

Sueshine Notes about this recipe

*Double Boiler: Do not be intimidated by the double boiler section of this recipe. I don't own anything fancy and all you need is a tall saucepan and a heatproof bowl that will fit snugly at the top of the pan. Make sure the water is not touching the bottom of your bowl.

*Lemon Curd: Do not walk away from the bowl! You have to keep on whisking or you will end up with scrambled eggs.

*Coconut: Believe it or not, adding coconut was probably the most difficult part of this recipe. It's going to get messy so make sure you lay down a towel under your work space for an easy clean up.

*Shortcuts: Say you don't want to mess around with the double boiler or you do end up with scrambled eggs, not to worry. Lemon curd is available in most grocery stores in the jam/jelly section. Not into making cake from scratch? Use white box cake and I won't judge!

*Substitutions: I of course wanted to try this cake so I substituted the sugar with Splenda's sugar blend. If you do use the sugar blend, be sure to read the label for conversions. If you go cup by cup, your cake/curd will be too sweet. I also tried this recipe with both cake flour and all purpose flour. I prefer the cake flour because the cake is softer and smoother and reminded me more of the lemon snow cake at George's. Remember, there is a conversion for the flour too: 2 1/4 cups of cake flour = 2 cups of all purpose flour. 

I hope you make this cake and enjoy a little sunshine on a plate this Spring. If you're a little scared to tackle this one, stay tuned for my next post to find out when and where you can get a bite of this cake (already made for you) and help a great cause!