The Radio can be a Tempting Thing

I pretty much took Saturday off.  I ended up working on both Thursday and Friday, my normal days off and by Saturday I was just exhausted, so other than a few minor things that I had to get done I spent Saturday doing much of nothing.  

Normally on Saturdays I listen to WNPR one of Connecticut's public radio stations.  I particularly love Wait, Wait Don't Tell Me.  But if you know me, it is amazing how often I say the phrase "I was listening to NPR the other day and...." Well after Wait, Wait, there is the Faith Middleton Show's Food Schmooze. No normally I don't listen to the Food Schmooze as at least 90% of the time they interview a cookbook author and talk about various foods that are not vegetarian friendly.  But on Saturday I was doing something else and didn't turn the radio off so I continued to listen as Faith interviewed a cake cookbook author.  And as they described various cakes I realized that I wanted cake!  

So to my cookbooks I went.

But here is the problem - most cakes make.... well a cake.  Much more than the typical person living alone needs or wants to eat.  So I decided to make a cake for coffee hour the next day.  Unfortunately that meant my cake craving had to wait, it also ruled out chocolate as it is Lent and I'm sure even in my congregation were very few people give up things for Lent, someone had probably given up chocolate and I didn't want to tempt them.  (Sorry if they gave up sweets entirely, but I wanted cake).

I ended up making a variation of a chiffon cake that I'm calling a Lemon Poppy Seed Muffin Cake.  It is a muffin cake because the texture is more like a muffin than a cake - slightly dry and airy but not as airy as a typical chiffon cake. Also it is only slightly sweet, like a muffin - though the frosting makes a nice sweet finish that compliments the cake nicely.

For cake:

7 egg whites brought to room temperature

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1 cup sugar

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

5 egg yolks

3/4 cup water

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1 1/2 teaspoon lemon extract

1/2 cup poppy seeds

1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar.

For Frosting: 

6 tablespoons butter soften

4 cups powder sugar

3-5 tablespoons milk

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1 teaspoon lemon extract.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking power and salt.  In a separate bowl, mix together egg yolks, water, oil, and extract.  Mix egg yolk mixture into the flour.  Add poppy seeds.  Beat until well blended.  In another clean bowl beat egg whites and cream of tarter together until stiff peaks form.  Fold into egg mixture.  Spoon into a 10inch un-greased tube pan (angel food pan).  

Bake on lowest rake for 60 minutes or until top springs back, if it still look a little wet near center tube, bake an additional 5 minutes.  Remove from oven, invent to cool (I use a bottle wrapped in aluminum foil to help hold the pan up).  Cool completely and use a knife to separate the cake from the pan. 

For the icing, beat butter and powder sugar in a mixing bowl.  Add 3 tablespoons of milk, lemon juice & extract.  Add more milk for a thinner consistency and beat till smooth.  Frost cake by spreading over top, allowing icing to run down sides and center of cake.