oh Ina…
March 16, 2008
Move over Martha. I do believe Ina Garten of Barefoot Contessa is inching in on your territory. She throws picture perfect parties, she has her own Hampton-entourage, she has numerous books here, here, and here. Next thing you know, Ina will have her own talk show, focusing solely on how cool her florist friends are. Because that’s exactly what the world needs, right? Another Martha…
I’ll admit, I never used to be an Ina fan. She seemed uptight, pretentious, and very East-Coast bored housewife. That was before I tuned into her show, and read the reviews of her recipe. Unlike Ms. Stewart, Ina has a pretty good repetoire among the baking world. I decided to give her a shot, and picked up a copy of her Parties! book at my library.
This book is a small one, but it holds a good amount of handy and delicious recipes, from Lobster Rolls to Chicken Pot Pie. If I only had more dinner parties, I’d be able to put these dishes to test. But my idea of a dinner party involves grabbing some pita bread and hummus at my favorite Greek restaurant or eating girl scout cookies with champagne. Classy right?
The one recipe that caught my eye is Ina’s Lemon cake. Buttery and dripping with a zesty fragrant syrup, it practically begged for me to bake it. It felt like a nice breather from the heavy chocolate desserts I had been baking. Seasons change, as do baked goods.
I did make some minor changes to the recipe. I used fresh local oranges in addition to some lemon juice. I wanted a more citrus-y cake than just an orange one and the end result was quite tasty. Also, I didn’t make the lemon syrup and opted to just drip freshly squeezed orange juice on top of the cake right before serving it along with some powdered sugar sprinkles.
The best part of this cake has to be the crumb factor. Sweet and tangy from the orange juice, it melts in your mouth giving way to the rest of the cake. Normally crusts on these kinds of cake can be too crunchy, too dry. But not this one. I enjoyed my slices of lemon cake with a nice cup of tea while catching up on my homework, and brought it into work the next day to celebrate my friend Rhea’s triumphant return to my work. Suffice to say, she loved it as well and instead of working, we sat around, catching up on (important) gossip and nibbling on this citrus cake.ps. If you want to wander on over here, you can see Deb from Smitten Kitchen’s take on this cake too.
Lemon Cake
from Barefoot Contessa Parties! by Ina Garten
Ingredients:
2 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 1/2 cups sugar
4 extra-large eggs, at room temperature
1/3 cup grated lemon zest, 6 to 8 large lemons (I used fresh oranges)
3 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon kosher salt
3/4 cup plus 3 1/2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice (I used the juice from my fresh oranges)
3/4 cup buttermilk, at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted. (optional)
Directions:
Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour two 8 1/2-by-4 1/4-by-2 1/2-inch loaf pans, and line the bottoms with parchment paper.
Cream butter and 2 cups sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment for about 5 minutes, or until light and fluffy. Mixing at medium speed, add eggs, one at a time, and lemon zest.
Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a bowl. In another bowl, combine 1/4 cup lemon juice, buttermilk and vanilla. Add flour and buttermilk mixtures alternately to butter and sugar mixture, beginning and ending with flour. Divide batter evenly between pans, smooth tops, and bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour, until a cake tester comes out clean.
Combine 1/2 cup sugar with 1/2 cup lemon juice in a small saucepan, and cook over low heat until sugar dissolves.
When cakes are done, let them cool 10 minutes. Invert them onto a rack set over a tray, and spoon lemon syrup over cakes. Let cakes cool completely.
For the optional glaze, combine confectioners’ sugar and remaining 3 1/2 tablespoons lemon juice in a bowl, mixing with a whisk until smooth. Pour over top of cakes, and allow glaze to drizzle down the sides.
Yield: 2 cakes.
Oh lord, I am totally a Barefoot Contessa disciple. I don’t know why people think of her so disparagingly - I find her comforting and homey, so familiar in fact that I frequently find myself drifting off late at night to reruns of her show on the Food Network (nerd alert.)
And I love the sound of this cake. Your citrus-heavy alterations sound right up my alley. This is being duly placed in the cake queue. Thank you!
I love Ina. I find her recipes to be very reliable, not to mention delicious. Your cake looks gorgeous.
I think you know that I love Ina Garten! And, you know what? I also love that top photo. Gorgeous (and yum).
I agree with you about Ina Garten. She rode the coat-tails of Martha, and now is doing so well. I like her laidback style, and this lemon cake looks delicious! I’ll have to give it a try. Great pics.
I love Ina! She’s such a great, fun home cook–really the only food network show (besides Iron Chef) that I love anymore. Jim’s family lives out in the Hamptons… every time I go out there I wish I was to go over to her house for lunch!
Amanda, I was about to bake that cake on the weekend but I was out of yogurt.
Your loaf looks perfect! One more reason for me to try this recipe.
ina is my new superhero!
hi amanda! thanks for your recent visits and many comments on my blog. you have a wonderful blog too and nice too hear that you still like your nasi uduk and krupuk too :D
i like ina too, in fact i only watch hers and giada’s shows on TV…i want to try her summer pudding when summer is here.
This looks amazing, I cannot wait to try it!
Ina is the queen! I knew I loved her when she whipped up a complete clambake for the construction workers renovating her house and made a centre-piece out of paintbrushes. She’s a genius. Awesome post.
thanks for this! Ina is one of my faves along with Giada de Laurentis!
T =)
That looks awesome! Especially with the jam!
I love your photos! Your cake looks dreamy! I’m not a big fan of ms Ina, but this cake might change my mind.
Great minds must think alike. I am obviously not alone here in gushing about Ina, and have been a fan for a long time. Funny you should publish this today, as I was thinking of making this cake for a meeting I host every Wednesday evening. And I’ve also substitued the orange for the lemon, with one exception. For the glaze, I use Grand Marnier. I’m sure Ina would approve…..LOL
My mum and I just made this a few weekends back and were equally as satisfied. Being the lemon lovers that we are, we added extra zest to the syrup and the icing - perfect! Nice selection… and yes, Ina is amazing.
*heather*
I didn’t like her much either but she grew on me as much as she did you apparently. I didn’t like the fakeness of the show but she’s trying to draw the reader in and make them feel like a fly on the wall or a secret friend which still irritates me but it’s a part of the show I’m used to now.
I do love her recipes and I always love Jeffrey popping up in the show. What really made me like her was the way they acted towards each other and how she cooked to keep him happy which really appealed to me since I definitely believe the stomach is a direct route to the heart.
Everyone has there own opinion, but Ina’s great, her recipes are wonderful!
Lemon cake looks awesome, I cant wait to try it as well! I have lemons sitting on my kitchen counter, waiting to be utilized!
Great website! Smiles,
Aysegul
http://www.nysdelight.com
I just got so excited when I saw this recipe come up in my google reader! I’m a huge Ina fan myself and have been putting off making this recipe for months solely based on the fact that I don’t have a microplane grater. Well, I’m planning on participating in a new blogging event focused on tools of the kitchen - the first round being the microplane and guess what I’m planning on making??? Thanks for inspiration to pull this recipe out and finally go for it! :)
“Lemon Cake”
Being an Aussie I’m not sure who Ina is, but judging by the photographs and recipe I now will be doing a little bit of investigating.
I’m sitting here drooling just looking at the photographs.
i *love* ina. i would much rather go to a party at ina’s than at martha’s. and jeffery is so cute!