Semi Homemade Lemon Pound Cake

Taste is one of the traditional five senses. It refers to the ability to detect the flavor of substances. According to Wikipedia, the sensation of taste can be categorized into five basic tastes: sweetness, bitterness, sourness, saltiness and umami. Sourness is the taste that detects acidity. Generally between India and US, I find people in US more receptive to the sour taste. There are so many items exhibiting the sour taste profile. I had been using lemon as an added flavor to our Indian dishes while making lemon rice occasionally. But after seeing so many recipes in Food Network where lemon was used as a star ingredient, I was inspired.

The lemon is presumed to have originated from India, northern Burma and China. It was introduced to the Americas in 1943 when Christopher Columbus brought lemon seeds to Hispaniola along his voyages. Lemon juice, rind, and zest are used in a wide variety of culinary applications. In my recipe I have used lemon juice and zest. 

Ingredients

Pound Cake or Yellow Cake Mix - 1 packet (I used Betty Crocker's Yellow Cake)

Ingredients as per the cake mix

Lemon - 4 (Depending upon the sourness level that you want, you can change this)

Sugar - 1 cup

Preparation

Prepare the cake batter as per the instructions given in the selected cake mixture. (If you are preparing the cake batter on your own, prepare the batter for plain sponge cake). Zest the four lemons. Extract the juice and keep it separately. Add the lemon zest to the batter. Mix thoroughly. Bake the cake as you normally would. Once the cake is ready, place it on a wire rack for cooling.

For Lemon Glaze

Melt sugar with 1/2 cup of water. (If you need nice white frosting replace plain sugar with confectioners sugar). Take it off the heat and add the lemon juice and mix thoroughly.

Pour the lemon glaze over the baked cake slowly allowing the cake to absorb the mixture. Lemon Pound Cake is ready and yummy!

Semi-Homemade Pizza

Did I forget the blog? Of course I did not forget the existence of this blog. Laziness..no. Writers block..yes. Chef's block? Luckily no.I have been trying couple of recipes and it sure has worked out on the positive side. Not updating the blog has sure been nagging me for quite sometime. Well now that I am here..moving on to the recipe: Homemade Pizza. Should I say semi home made pizza as I used store bought pizza base?

 

Ingredients

Pizza Base -1

Tomato Marinara Sauce - 1.5 cup (I used store bought tomato and mushroom pasta sauce)

Onion - 1 if big, 2 if small

Peas - 1 cup (I used frozen peas)

Cheese - 1 cup (I used Kraft Mexican Four Cheese)

Olive Oil

Preparation

Over the pizza base, spread the marinara sauce. Spread the cheese completely. Slice the onions thinly. Add the sliced onions and peas over the cheese. Pat it lightly so that it settles with the cheese. (By putting the onions over the cheese, I find that the onions caramelize better). Drizzle olive oil over the entire pizza. This helps caramelize the onions and gives a nice glow to the entire pizza. Bake the pizza in a 375'F oven for 23 minutes. Remove the pizza and allow it to cool for couple of minutes before biting into it. Pizza is ready and yummy!