#141 Lemon Meringue Pie Dream Cake

It’s Thursday, (early to be writing to you, I know), and I’ve spent every minute since we last spoke, aggressively tip-tapping my fingers, to the detriment of much else, in anticipation of cake-gate*. As you can imagine, this is a lot of things, none of them particularly useful, hence why I’m here already - offloading to you! I’ve been wildly unproductive (so many circle-walking, staring moments), inert (absolutely zero motivation to do… anything), also quite exhausted (from thoughts - mainly anticipating various potential cake catastrophes). Which has left me very frustrated, and annoyed; a sort of square and explosive version of myself, like anger from ‘Inside Out’, you know?
*if you’re new around here (Hi, WELCOME, get comfy for some turbulent yapping!!) or didn’t read last week’s newsletter, I’m making a ‘not wedding cake’ this weekend, which I’m ever-so slightly terrified about.

The thing about me is, I just hate the idea of having something to do and not being able to get on with it. Appointments, exams, homework, chores, deadlines, cakes, daily walk to the shop to get a newspaper and a pint of milk; I like to get it all done NOW, immediately, (yesterday would be optimal, actually), so that I can RELAXXXXXXX.

Obviously, this is ridiculous, and impossible and one would just find something else to worry about as soon as the list of ‘things’ was ticked off, but still, that’s how my head works. Naturally, it’s worse when I have something daunting up ahead, and so, with the cake project looming, this week has been particularly annoying, spiky, even a little tantrum-y, which is MAD of me because just, STOP Steph, come down off your worry cloud, it’s just cake, and for goodness sake, LOOK at the BEAUTY around you right now - the UK has been GLOWING this week, hasn’t it? Such soul-soothing, perfection.

BEAUTY

Last weekend, I decided it would probably be wise to reduce other baking activity through the forthcoming week, in the hope that I’d be ‘fresh and excited’ to bake at the weekend. Sort of like tapering for a marathon, ‘reduce training volume to perform optimally'. This immediately backfired, because I got itchy feet…

By 7am on Monday morning, I ignored my self-imposed baking embargo and chose to make my favourite ‘Emergency cake’. For reasons I’m unsure of, this cake is (one of) my ‘blanky’ bakes. I turn to it when life is a bit overwhelming and confusing, and I don’t want to think about other stuff… and so I ended up baking it 3.5 times, on consecutive days throughout the week, just for comfort - which, ironically, made me mad for other reasons - mainly because it felt a bit wasteful and unproductive; I could have been playing with other new and exciting ideas to share with you going forward, instead, I chain baked a simple sponge.

I also managed to mess up the quantities on the first occasion (hence the 3.5 attempts) which sent me a bit wild with worry - classic!! - thankfully, normal service resumed for the latter three attempts. And don’t panic, my neighbours and butchers benefited from the cake onslaught but still, I wasn’t particularly pleased with myself because I could definitely have used this time more productively… If you haven’t tried this cake, by the way, I really believe it will cure a lot of things - defo worth a shot if you’re in a worry hole.

EMERGENCY cake X a million...

Anyway, if you’re here to learn how this ‘not wedding cake’ has gone, I’m afraid I have nothing to report yet as it hasn’t happened, that fun is scheduled to start tomorrow and will continue until the moment you’re reading this… and I probably won’t be in any state to tell you how it’s going in time for this email to enter your inboxes… so let’s save that drama for next week shall we?

In the meantime, a few things have caught my eye, and I want you to know about them…

• Love this post from athlete Phily Bowden (check her out if you like running, by the way!), following her run in The London Marathon last weekend. Despite performing below her expectations, and initially feeling heartbroken, she acknowledged the huge positives of the day. Firstly, the feat that is, running a marathon, something I feel we massively take for granted these days. Also, the will to never give up, even when we’re fighting demons telling us to quit. The fact that we all, in everything we do, owe so much thanks to the people around us, who provide support in ways we often don’t even realise. And how much we learn from the days when things don’t turn out exactly how we envisioned; noting that nothing is EVER wasted. Whilst this post is very specific to Phily’s run, it felt like a perfect reminder that we should be embracing every single element of life (including daunting cakes) with excitement, curiosity, intrigue; we should keep our head up, and keep going no matter what, hear and lean on our respective cheerleaders, and at the end of the day, be grateful, learn, pivot and go again with even more fire in our bellies!

• TV feels like it’s taken a nosedive in recent weeks, don’t you think? But I stumbled across the film ‘Midnight in Paris’ on Amazon Prime on Tuesday evening (it happens to have won an Oscar and was directed by Woody Allen, so turns out it’s pretty big time), and Mum and I LOVED it. It’s a really unusual film - makes you head spin a bit, but in compelling way… also I subsequently fell into a Google hole reading about some of the iconic characters featured - I love a film that makes me want to learn more about stuff. Recommend it if you’re searching for something to watch!

• A siesta… or if you’re incapable of napping, an afternoon decompression hour where you sit and do nothing… just be! I did this on Sunday afternoon and it gave me a whole new lease of life for the remainder of the day - Spanish friends, you are very very wise.

• … and Matt Haig echoes that sentiment here, further support for the fact that rest is best!

• Food… still lapping up all the asparagus, tomatoes too, and strawberries already (seems early but they are thriving already, yes?) - not great for my bank balance, but all thoroughly delicious.

• And… this week’s mega dose of yum below, an LMP* Cake extravaganza that I’m still dreaming about. It’s SO light, moist, bursting with zesty freshness, words don’t do it justice, you just have to try it, ok?
  *lemon meringue pie

And I think that’s it for another week…

Sending all my love and hugs as always,

Steph X X X

P.s. Ok, quick Friday note - phase one complete - cakes made and wrapped… relief. Did, however, just realise that I have my leggings on inside out and back to front… apparently dressing myself is something I need practice with.

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Lemon Meringue Pie Dream cake

I shared a photo of this cake on my Instagram the week before last and it seemed to excite quite a few people… so I thought it was only right that I shared the deets here.

This really is one of the best lemon cakes I’ve made (and eaten). It’s comprised of a SOFT, light, fluffy sponge that’s also, somehow, incredibly moist, owing to the addition of olive oil, milk and lemon juice. Thin layers of the sponge are subsequently doused in a lemon, vanilla syrup for a little extra zing and moisture. They’re sandwiched together with lemon curd and a luscious, whipped mascarpone - a little cheesecake-esque. A thin layer of the mascarpone seals the outside of the cake followed by a marshmallowy cloud of Swiss meringue. It’s bit of a project but not daunting and the outcome is absolutely heavenly.

I really have nothing more to add here, you just have to try it! Can’t wait to hear what you think!!!

SO FUN, SO Lemony, SO good...