Lemon curd

I love lemons. To me, they are synonym to brightness and freshness. They alleviate any meal and/or desserts they are added to. So, when I want to make a light and not too sweet dessert, I always turn to lemons. And lemon custards are my favorite things to prepare because they can be eaten alone, with a simple cookie or wafer on the side, or they can be added to tarts, creams, cakes, and the list goes on and on! Lemon curd is super easy to whip up and is a life-saver!

My favorite recipe comes from Patrice Demers, one of the best pastry chefs around, and certainly the best one in Montreal. If you speak French, I highly recommend that you check out his books, La Carte des Desserts, Les Desserts de Patrice and Parcours Sucré. The recipes look intimidating at first but don’t let appearances discourage you! Individually, each recipe is surprisingly easy to prepare and the chef makes clear and concise instructions as to how to assemble the desserts so they look original professionally made. His books, among others, have become my baking bible.

Back to the topic at hand, lemon curd. The important thing to know here, is that it must be prepared at least one day before. So plan ahead and accordingly!

Lemon curd

ingredients

• 3/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice

• 1 cup sugar

• 4 eggs

• lemon zest (2 or 3 lemons)

• 1 cup non-salted butter, cubed

directions

1. In a medium saucepan, heat lemon juice, zest and 1/2 sugar until boiling.

2. In a bowl, whip the remaining sugar with the 4 eggs until well combined.

3. While whisking constantly, pour the hot lemon mixture into the sugar/egg mixture.

4. Pour everything back into the pan and heat at medium/high heat. Continually whisk the mixture.

5. Put the cubed butter in the bowl on an electric mixer.

6. When bubbles start appearing in the lemon mixture, take it off the heat and pour it on top of the butter.

7. Turn the electric mixer on at medium speed and whip until the butter has melted and is fully incorporated into the lemon mixture.

8. Press a plastic wrap directly on the surface of the curd and refrigerate over night.

And that’s it! The next day, you have a delicious, creamy lemon curd that can be used for any dessert! Seriously, I could just sit and eat spoonfuls of this stuff.

Lemons and Poppy Seeds

So I woke up this morning craving something sweet and lemony. Of course, the first thought that crossed my mind was poppy seeds. Why? Because lemons and poppy seeds, for some reason, make one hell of a team. I honestly cannot explain why I love this pairing so much. Is it the added texture that the poppy provides, or its subtle nutty flavor? I don’t know and I don’t plan on dwelling too much on the matter. Bottom line is, these two ingredients work together and help elevate each other.

Fortunately, I had everything I needed in my pantry so no need to change and go out. What is great here is that this recipe is really simple and doesn’t require too many ingredients (or too much effort for that matter!). I chose to make mini cakes because I love everything bite-size, and because baking time is reduced to only 15 minutes!

So is it a muffin or a cake that I’m making? Personally, I find that the only difference between cake and muffin is the presence of icing or frosting, or their lack thereof. If there’s icing or frosting, it’s a cupcake or a cake, depending on the size of your dessert. No icing or frosting means that it’s a muffin so you can eat it for breakfast without feeling judged. In this case, I used a thick lemony glaze. My point here is that you could use this recipe to make muffins or cakes, which is why I omitted mentioning either one of them in the title.

Lemon/ poppy seed cakes

Makes 24 mini cakes or 6 muffin size cakes

ingredients

• 1 1/4 cups flour

• 1 tsp baking powder

• 1/4 tsp salt

• 2/3 cup sugar

• 1 egg

• 1/2 cup vegetable oil

• 1/3 cup whole milk

• 1 tsp vanilla

• 1 tbsp poppy seeds

• Lemon zest (2 lemons)

• 1/2 sour cream

glaze (optional)

• 1 1/2 cup powdered sugar

• 1 1/2 tbsp whole milk

• 1 1/2 tbsp lemon juice

• 1 tsp poppy seeds

directions

1. Preheat oven at 375 degrees.

2. Place liners in muffin tin.

3. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, mix sugar, egg, milk, oil and vanilla until well combined, about 2 minutes.

4. Add poppy seeds and lemon zest. Continue mixing for a minute.

5. In a separate bowl, sift together flour, baking powder and salt.

6. Incorporate flour mixture into wet ingredients and fold with a spatula until everything is well combined.

7. Add the sour cream and stir until incorporated.

8. Spoon the batter evenly in the muffin tin.

9. Bake for 15 minutes for mini cake, and 22 minutes for muffin size cakes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

10. Let the cakes rest in the tin for 5 minutes before transferring them to a rack to cool completely.

11. While the cakes cool, prepare the glaze (optional).

12. Mix all 4 ingredients (powdered sugar, poppy seeds, milk and lemon juice) in a bowl. Mix well until the mixture is no longer lumpy. Add more powdered sugar or liquid (lemon juice or milk) for the desired consistency.

13. Pour a dollop of lemon glaze on cooled cakes.

The cakes are super moist, with a crunchy top which is the best! The lemon zest came through and each bite is full of flavor, while the poppy provides some added crunch. And, because I made mini cakes, they are bite=size and can be eaten like pop corn!!!

Variations

Instead of the glaze, you could also insert some lemon custard into the cakes. I opted for a glaze because I was feeling lazy, but the custard is definitely my preferred option.

If you’re not a fan of poppy seeds, you could make the same recipe with ground almonds. I personally find that lemon cakes taste better when there’s a contrasting nutty flavor that’s added. So mix together 1 cup of flour with 5 tbsp of ground almonds, and add 1/4 almond extract in the wet ingredients.

Also, the cakes are also packed with flavor so technically, they don’t really need anything else to improve their taste. You could eat them as they are and be completely satisfied. The up-side here is that if you choose to exclude any form of icing, frosting or custard, you could eat the cakes straight out of the oven!

Enjoy!