Cake! One of the many joys in life – it is fun to eat but even more fun to bake. This cake was very different from other cakes I have made previously. A couple of differences it had were that it had lemon juice and a lot of egg whites. Another thing that is different is the fact that there is no butter in the cake! Only in the topping and streusel can you find butter! Folding in egg whites that are very fragile was a new adventure I got to take today, too.
Searching for ingredients is usually pretty easy in my Grandma’s kitchen, but today for some reason we had a tough time with ginger and lemon juice. My aunt thought she had left an extra lemon at my Grandma’s house the last time she was over, but to our surprise we could not find it! So we used the three-quarters of the lemon we had. My aunt and I spent a couple of minutes squeezing the life out of the lemon to get almost the amount of juice we needed and topped it off with some of the stuff you buy at the store in a bottle.
Although that problem was solved, soon after we came across the ginger problem. For the life of us, my aunt and I could not seem to find my Grandma’s ginger powder. we looked everywhere and even asked my Grandma where she kept it and still nothing. After a few more minutes of looking, we decided to use candied ginger instead, which we ground in a mini food processor. At that point, my grandma joined us in the kitchen and started looking for her ginger powder. She succeeded in finding the bottle, but when she picked it up we finally saw why we could not find it. The bottle was empty.
The adventures we get to enjoy in the kitchen as a family will make a lifetime of fond memories which I am very much looking forward to.
And now we wait for the cake to be done baking and for that amazing moment when we get to bite into our wonderful creation!
Until next time,
J 🙂
This week’s hosts are: Marlise and Susan. You can find everyone’s links here: Nectarine Upside-Down Chiffon Cake
Teresa said:
We all loved, loved, loved this cake. J didn’t get a chance to add that to her post before she left for home. I think this might become a summer tradition in our family. I noticed in the P&Qs posts that not many people liked the streusel. I thought it added a nice contrast to the lemony cake and our family all seemed to like it, too.
Cher said:
Ah, those kitchen scavenger hunts for the elusive ingredient… (although, sometimes, they do lead to discovery of other long forgotten treasures).
Lovely cake!
bangingpots said:
I always start to bake only to realize I’m missing an ingredient – story of my life. Glad you were able to make it work anyway!
Sara Pratt said:
I only had one lemon left too! So I used the same substitution haha.
Tammy said:
nice idea with the candied ginger. I’ll try that next time.
thekitchenlioness said:
Your Nectarine Cake looks wonderful with and without the streusel on top – I love the fact that not only do you all bake together but you hunt for missing ingredients together – seriously, I enjoyed reading your post and looking at the pictures very much! So glad that you all liked this late summer treat!
Have a wonderful week!
Cindy Harris said:
I love to bake with my daughters, we are a great team! This looks yummy.
Catherine Paulsen Daugherty said:
I can understand why your family loved this — it looks beautiful and delicious! Your cake looks lovely and I enjoyed your post. Blessings, Catherine http://praycookblog.com/2012/09/twd-bwj-nectarine-upside-down-chiffon-cake/
bakeawaywithme.com said:
We also loved this cake…I will definitely make it again! It sounds like you are all having such great times baking together and making wonderful memories! And you get to eat cake!! A very beautiful cake!
Created by Carlene said:
I like the idea of candied ginger. I am going to make this with pears when they are in season this fall and I think I’ll try the candied ginger. Like you I loved this cake.
kitchen therapy said:
Great looking cake!
I’m laughing cos I’m always trying to squeeze something to death to get the last drop or scraping the last bit of something!
Snow L. Winters said:
Beautiful cake! I didn’t think I would add chiffon cake to my list of cakes, but I’m sold. I can’t wait to experiment more with it.
Sharon said:
I love that you bake together as a family and I think your cake looks wonderful.
Lora @cakeduchess said:
Candied ginger is a great idea. Delicious! Your cake is so pretty and the streusel in the middle looks perfect:)
gfcelebration said:
Lovely cake and pics. We also were short on some ingredients and had to be creative. Great post.
Cathy B. said:
I bet candied ginger would’ve added a little chewiness to the filling. It sounds great! I put the teaspoon of ginger powder in my streusel, but I couldn’t really taste it. There was too much else going on.
Michelle Murphy Muse said:
Your cake turned out so good! I love that you added some candied ginger:) My family loved this cake too!
Cathleen said:
Your cake looks wonderful! I think that candied ginger would be a nice addition. Great story!
isthisakeeper said:
Your cake turned out beautiful!! I enjoyed reading about the search and squeezing the lemon to death…totally can relate ha ha 🙂
Baking is my Zen said:
Your cake looks great.
Carmen
Ckay said:
I’m so pleased you loved it that much. You made a wonderful cake. The idea to use candied ginger is great!
…unfortunately I did not like it (sorry to say that)
Teresa said:
There were really mixed reviews for this cake. It’s interesting to read how some folks adapted the cake and how many dealt with the extra time it needed to fully bake.
Wendy said:
I love your blog concept of baking with 3 generations – what a great way to share! Your cake looks lovely and using the crystallized ginger is a great idea! I did not use all the lemon juice the recipe required either as I didn’t want it too lemony and I added 2 teaspoons of vanilla to mellow the flavor. Thank you for stopping by my blog! Wendy
oven chaos said:
Not finding powdered ginger lead to a substitution that I will be using in the future 🙂 Thanks for the idea! Great photo with the glazed peaches.
Marilyn Kakudo said:
the top of your cake is really beautiful! almost a shame to cover it with streusel, although I am a streusel lover myself (most of the time!)
Jen said:
Beautiful cake!! I totally forgot there wasn’t any butter in it! Candied ginger sounds pretty tasty.
frolickingnightowl said:
Your cake turned out so pretty!!
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