Smitten Kitchen Food

WHOLE LEMON BARS

Steps:

• For the crust: Butter a 13-by-9-inch baking dish and set aside. Add the butter and granulated sugar to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment and combine until light and fluffy. In a separate bowl, combine the flour and salt and slowly add to the butter mixture until just combined. Pour the dough into the prepared baking dish and press, making sure the dough comes up the sides of the dish around the edges about 1/2 inch. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.
• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Bake the dough until lightly browned, 15 to 20 minutes. Cool on a wire rack. (Leave the oven on.)
• For the lemon filling: Cut the lemon in half and slice the lemon halves into thin wheels; remove any seeds. Toss the lemon wheels (with flesh and peel), granulated sugar and chunks of butter into the bowl of a food processor. Process, scraping down the sides as needed, until the lemon is thoroughly pureed. Add the eggs, cornstarch and salt and pulse until the batter is smooth. Pour into the prepared crust.
• Bake until the filling is set, 35 to 40 minutes. You can test this by bumping the pan a little; it should only jiggle slightly. In my oven, I find that the point at which the filling is set is also when it starts to get very light brown on top.
• Let cool on a rack. Cut into rectangles and dust with powdered sugar.

BEST BIRTHDAY CAKE (SMITTEN KITCHEN)

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350°F
• Butter two 9-inch round cake pans and line with circles of parchment paper, then butter parchment. (Alternately, you can use a cooking spray, either with just butter or butter and flour to speed this process up.).
• Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl. In a large mixing bowl, beat butter and sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer at medium speed until pale and fluffy, then beat in vanilla. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating well and scraping down the bowl after each addition.
• At low speed, beat in buttermilk until just combined (mixture will look curdled).
• Add flour mixture in three batches, mixing until each addition is just Incorporated.
• Spread batter evenly in cake pan, then rap pan on counter several times to eliminate air bubbles.
• Bake until golden and a wooden pick inserted in center of cake comes out clean, 35 to 40 minutes.
• Cool in pan on a rack 10 minutes, then run a knife around edge of pan. Invert onto rack and discard parchment, then cool completely, about 1 hour.