Lemon Flaxseed Loaf Cake

This is a cake for lemon lovers. Sometimes I just want clean citrus flavors. Nothing else will do, not even chocolate or ginger. So faced with a yearning for citrus, a bag full of lemons, and dislike of poppy seeds, I came up with this moist, tender, distinctly lemon cake where the flax seeds give just a hint of nuttiness. If you are really crazy about lemon, double the amount of glaze and coat the loaf on all sides, slowly so it all soaks in.

Lemon Flaxseed Cake
90 g whole-wheat pastry flour (about 3/4 cup)
130 g all-purpose flour (about 1 cup)
20 g flaxseed meal (about 3 tablespoons)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
200 g sugar (about 1 cup)
1-1/2 Tablespoons lemon zest (2 large lemons, use juice in glaze)
1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
1/2 cup plain yogurt
1/4 cup half-and-half (or additional yogurt)
Lemon Glaze

Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease & flour a 9" x 5" loaf pan.

In a bowl, whisk together flours, flaxseed, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside. In a separate large bowl, whisk together eggs, sugar and lemon zest until pale. Add butter to egg mixture and whisk to combine. Add yogurt and half-and-half to egg mixture and whisk to combine. Sprinkle 1/3 of the flour mixture over the egg mixture and gently stir just to combine. Repeat in 2 more additions, stirring just to combine, lumps are okay.

Bake until tester comes out clean, about 40 minutes. Remove from pan and poke holes in the top and sides of the cake with a toothpick. Slowly drizzle glaze all over, making sure it soaks in and trying to waste as little as possible to drips. Cool completely.

Lemon Glaze
3 Tablespoons lemon juice (2 large lemons)
2 Tablespoons sugar

Heat lemon juice and sugar gently, stirring until sugar dissolves.

Miniature Elizabethan style scroll

When Her Majesty requested a tiny scroll in an Elizabethan grant/charter document style for an award dear to her heart I really wasn't sure what to do. The extra small scrolls are something I like to do but the style is heavy on calligraphy, not my strong point. The original plan was to collaborate where I would do the drawing/painting but someone else would do the calligraphy. We found examples of the style with portraits of Elizabeth in the initial capital E, sometimes in color, sometimes pen and ink. Being grants or charters, these were all of a rather large size, easily over 2 feet on a side.

The primary exemplar was a letter patent dated 1572 (UC Berkeley, Robbins MS 151). It is 609 x 761 mm (24 x 30 inches), which eventually got worked down to 4 x 6 inches, not entirely to scale but it looked okay. The wordsmith, also specially requested by Her Majesty, did an amazing job with creating a short text in the corresponding style. Not something that you'd historically see but it "felt" right!

Unfortunately, due to the way scheduling worked out, the calligrapher had a lot going on and I wasn't willing to add more to her plate just because I was afraid of a new writing style and those fancy cadels. Eek. I'd avoided this for a really long time but everyone kept telling me it wasn't so hard. Well, after a lot of practice, fiddling, tracing, graphing, and creativity, I came up with cadels I found acceptable. The hardest part was the B with the entire center section empty for the portrait. They were actually right about the calligraphy, not that bad! More like handwriting and a lot more forgiving than most hands.

The drawing was the easy part for me. At that size, really, just get it vaguely looking like the person and it's fine. The little acorn represented Her Majesty and the rose represented the award.

Whole Wheat Apple Cake

Occasionally, I get it in my head to come up with a baked good that will satisfy my mother-in-law's love of sweets but also fit with the low-sugar, low-refined carbohydrate diet that she should be following. Even more occasionally, this works.

The first version of this cake was way too dry & crumbly, although it tasted good. Just a bit more fat and it became something much more enjoyable to eat. If you use applesauce in place of the half-and-half, it will be a bit less tender but still good.

Whole Wheat Apple Cake
210 g whole wheat pastry flour (about 1-3/4 cups)
26 g ground flax seed (about 1/4 cup)
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon salt
200 g light brown sugar (about 1/2 cup)
2 large eggs
3/4 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup canola oil
1/4 cup half-and-half or unsweetened applesauce
1-1/2 cups sweet red apples (fuji), unpeeled, diced small (about 2 small)

Preheat oven to 375°. Grease and flour a 9" x 4" loaf pan.

In a large bowl, combine flour, flax seed, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, ginger, and salt.
In another bowl, whisk together sugar, eggs, buttermilk, oil and half-and-half. Add wet ingredients to dry, stirring just until moist. Fold in apples. Pour into prepared pan.

Bake until a tester inserted in the center comes out clean, about 30-35 minutes. Cool in pan on rack for 10 minutes. Remove from pan and cool completely.