Another Birthday Cake

Roy requests lemon chiffon cake and blueberry ice cream every year for his birthday. This weekend we celebrated his birthday, so I made the usual. I also made him a dinner of the best fried chicken (seriously, check it out), mashed potatoes and green beans. You may have noticed that I like to show people that I love them by cooking or baking them things. As you can see, I love my husband very much. We both happily devoured this meal and dessert at about 9:00 p.m., which is a little late to eat, but we actually got to eat slowly and peacefully since Miles was in bed.

Happy Birthday Roy!

Here are the recipes for the Lemon Chiffon Cake (adapted from Williams Sonoma Baking) and my Blueberry Ice Cream. The combo of these two is like summer on a plate. I certainly don't mind making it every year.

Lemon Chiffon Cake

Cake:
1/2 cup lemon juice (from 3-4 lemons)
2 tablespoons grated lemon zest
2 1/4 cups cake flour
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup canola or vegetable oil
1/4 cup water
6 large eggs separated, at room temperature
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar

Glaze:
2 cups confectioners' sugar, plus extra if needed
2 tablespoons lemon juice, plus extra if needed
1 tablespoon heavy cream

Position rack in middle of oven and preheat to 325 degrees. Have an ungreased tube pan ready.

Sift together the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt into medium bowl. In a large bowl whisk the oil, water, egg yolks, lemon juice, and lemon zest together until well combined. Using a rubber spatula gently fold the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients.

In another bowl, combine the egg whites and cream of tartar. Using a stand or hand mixer fitted with the whip attachment, beat on medium-high speed until soft peaks form.

Using a whisk, gently fold in 1/3 of the egg whites into the batter. Then use a spatula to fold in the remaining egg whites until just combined. The batter will be foamy. Pour the batter into the tube pan.

Bake until a toothpick inserted come out clean, about 45-50 minutes. Remove from the oven and invert pan into wire rack. Let cake cool upside down in pan for 45 minutes.

Then loosen the cake from the pan by rotating a tapping the sides of the pan against a towel on the counter top until the cake disengages from the sides of the pan. Using the center tube pull the cake out of the pan. Spray the wire rack with nonstick spray. Invert the cake onto the rack and use your fingers to gently remove the cake from the bottom of the pan. Pull the pan bottom and tube out of the cake. Set the cake right side up and let cool completely.

Glaze: mix together the sugar, lemon juice and cream until smooth. Add a few extra drops of lemon juice if the mixture is too thick or more sugar if it's too thin. Place a piece of parchment under the rack to catch the glaze. Drizzle the glaze over the cake. Allow the glaze to set for one hour.

Serves 10-12

Note: The cake is best served the day it is baked. After that enjoy leftovers for a couple more days by storing in an air-tight container at room temperature. Also, a word about using a tube pan. It is left ungreased so that when the egg whites cause the cake to rise the batter clings to the side and is able to climb as high as it can. This makes for a nice light cake. Also, the cake is cooled upside down in the pan so that it doesn't compress as it cools and stays nice and fluffy. Don't worry, it won't fall out of the pan. 

Blueberry Ice Cream

2 1/2 cups (about 12 ounces) frozen blueberries
1/2 cup water
1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
1 tablespoon lemon juice
pinch of salt
2 cups heavy cream

Bring all ingredients except heavy cream to a boil in medium saucepan, stirring occasionally to dissolve sugar. Once it has come to a boil, turn off heat and allow to cool 15 minutes. Then transfer to a blender and blend until it is as smooth as possible (remove the center of the blender lid for heat to escape). Strain into a large bowl and refrigerate for at least 3 hours or up to overnight.

Stir in heavy cream. Process in ice cream maker according to manufacturer's instructions. Freeze in an air-tight container for about 3 hours before serving. Can also be made up to 3 days ahead. Keep stored in an air-tight container.

Makes about 1 1/2 quarts.

Note: I like to get wild organic frozen blueberries. They are easy to find year round may be more affordable then fresh blueberries. Of course feel free to use fresh blueberries if you have some nice ones on hand.