Watching What I Eat: Meyer Lemon & Limoncello Bundt Cake with Limoncello Glaze

Meyer Lemon & Limoncello Bundt Cake with Limoncello Glaze

I think lemon has to be my favorite fruit flavor. It's always been that way, ever since I was a little kid. It's only fitting since I grew up in Southern California, that & the fact we had a huge, very old lemon tree in our backyard. We used to get so many lemons off that tree, we couldn't give them all away.

I've recently fallen in love with another type of lemon, the Meyer lemon. I so look forward to finding bags of these golden-yellow beauties at the market. It's a real treat, since you never know when you might find them there. They have such a wonderful flavor, you can eat the skin & they're not quite as tart as a regular lemon ~ I think it's the elegant version of a lemon. When I'm lucky enough to find some, I like to turn them into a special treat. This time the something special was a birthday cake ~ mine to be exact. My day, my choice of cake. It turned out really good, just what I wished for. It was absolutely bursting with the bright, sunny flavor of lemons. The cake was full of different types of lemon ~ juice, zest, whole almost-pureed lemon (skin & all), lemon liqueur & lemon mixes. I was happy that I was able to work in my homemade Limoncello (I made a batch last fall, check out that post here). ~ Layer, upon layer, of that wonderful lemon flavor that I love. Oh, yeah, my birthday wish came true! :)

Meyer Lemon & Limoncello Bundt Cake with Limoncello Glaze

~ cake batter ~
1                 box lemon cake mix*
1                 small box lemon pudding mix*
3                 eggs
2/3 cup       oil
2/3 cup       water
1        Meyer lemon, seeded & finely chopped
(skin & all) in food processor
2 tblsp       fresh Meyer lemon juice
1/2 cup        limoncello liqueur

* if you want a bit less of the lemon flavor, use French Vanilla cake
   & pudding mixes

~ limoncello glaze ~
double if you like a lot of glaze
1 cup           powder sugar (or more, to get
   proper consistency)
2 1/2 tblsp    limoncello liqueur
1 tblsp           fresh Meyer lemon juice
1 tblsp     Meyer lemon zest (about 1/2 lemon)

~ thin slices of Meyer lemon for garnish, optional
~ powdered sugar for garnish, optional

1) preheat oven to 350 degrees & grease bundt pan

2)    slice Meyer lemon into one inch slices & remove seeds, then chop in
    food processor until it's been very finely chopped, reserve until batter
    is all mixed

3) in a large bowl, mix all ingredients (except the chopped lemon) with
hand mixer for 3 minutes, when done mixing batter, add the chopped
lemon & stir by hand until fully incorporated into the batter

4)    pour batter into greased bundt pan, hit pan on counter to release any air
    bubbles and then run a spoon in a circle, around the middle of the batter
(about 1" down into the batter) ~ this will help the cake batter rise
   properly

5) bake for about 45 min, or until tester comes out clean & cake is golden
~ let cake cool in pan until it is ready to release from pan, then let cake
cool completely before glazing