Travels to Anywhere Snowy

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I love snow. I much prefer winter to summer, snow to sand. I understand that these are not particularly popular opinions, but I will take 28° F over 98° F any day.

Love of winter led to a love of skiing, and I have had the good fortune of being able to ski in some beautiful places, including Portillo, Chile – up in the Andes Mountains.

I have also had a chance to ski in various places in the American west, including New Mexico, Colorado, Utah, and Montana. There is nothing quite like a bluebird day on the slopes, but I also love the peace and calm of skiing while the snow is coming down. My pictures of Taos, New Mexico are all on actual film and in an album somewhere, so none are included here. The below are just a few from out west.

I don’t have to be out of the slopes to enjoy the snow. Last winter, while it felt like the world was shut down, I amused myself with a rubber duck snow mold. This year, it was a penguin mold that I brought to a small holiday gathering with family, and where we fortunately had fresh snow on Christmas weekend.

If you read the holiday cookies post, you already know that I have a bit of an obsession with snowflake cookie cutters. It turns out that King Arthur Flour makes a snowflake cake pan (https://shop.kingarthurbaking.com/items/snowflake-cake-pan-red), so, of course, I had to have that.

This time of year, I love all the available citrus fruits, including meyer lemons, so I decided to try for a Meyer lemon snowflake cake. The cake itself started as a variation of a recipe that came with some mini bundt pans, and it was a little more dense than what I wanted, with not quite enough Meyer lemon flavor for my taste. It was good, and I would not have been embarrassed to serve it, but I am going to work on making it lighter and more lemony before next year. Serving it with some fresh whipped cream with more Meyer lemon zest in the cream helped to increase the flavor.

Meyer Lemon Snowflake Cake
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Meyer Lemon Snowflake Cake

Course: Desserts
35-40 mins

Ingredients

  • Cake

  • 1/2 cup butter, softened

  • 1 1/4 cups granulated sugar

  • 2 large eggs

  • 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

  • 2 TBSP fresh juice from Meyer lemon

  • 1 TBSP Meyer lemon zest

  • 2 cups cake flour

  • 1 tsp baking soda

  • 1/2 tsp salt

  • 1/2 cup plain, full fat, Greek yoghurt

  • 1/2 cup buttermilk

  • Glaze

  • 1 cup confectioners sugar

  • juice of one Meyer lemon

  • 1 TBSP butter, melted

Directions

  • Preheat oven to 350° F
  • If using a pan like the snowflake pan, use a baking spray, and make sure to cover the complete surface to avoid sticking. Otherwise, grease and flour pan as usual.
  • Blend butter and sugar on medium speed of electric mixer for about 2 minutes, until light and fluffy. Add eggs, vanilla, lemon juice, and lemon zest. Be careful that zest does not clump on your paddle attachment. Blend until mixed, about 1 minute.
  • Add remaining ingredients and mix on low about 1 minute until blended, scraping bowl as needed. Once ingredients are incorporated, increase speed to medium and beat for about 2 minutes.
  • The batter will be thick. Scrape into prepared pan. Tap pan on surface until batter has settled.
  • Bake for about 35-40 minutes until tester inserted in center comes out clean.
  • Cool for 10 minutes in the pan on a rack.
  • Mix glaze. Stir melted butter into the sugar. Add the lemon juice a tablespoon at a time until slightly thinner than honey, so that it can be drizzled evenly over the cake.
  • Invert cake onto rack. Drizzle glaze evenly over the warm cake.
  • Let cool completely, then serve with whipped cream with a bit of zest in the cream.

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