Boo hoo!!! I’m crying because I used the rest of my lemons on this cake. I can see more on Eileen’s tree next door. Just need to pull some pantyhose over my head tonight, drug her dog “Amanda Barks-A-Lot,” sneak on over there & help myself… That or ask her for some.

You probably have most of these ingredients:

You might not have lemon curd but can buy it pre-made at most grocery stores:

Lemon curd (click photo for recipe)

INGREDIENTS:
Crumb Topping
1-1/2 c all-purpose flour
2/3 c sugar
1 TBSP lemon zest
1 TBSP orange zest
1/8 tsp salt
1/2 c cold butter, cut into pieces

Cake Batter
1/2 c butter, softened
1-1/2 c sugar, divided
3 eggs, separated
1-1/2 c flour
1/8 tsp baking soda
1/2 c plain Greek yogurt
1 TBSP lemon zest
3/4 c lemon curd
1/4 c powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 350.

Make the crumb topping first. It’s easy. Combine flour, sugar, lemon & orange zest and salt. Add butter & cut into flour mixture with a pastry cutter.

Voila!

Cover & chill in refrigerator.

Now make the batter:

Beat the butter until creamy.

Then add 1-1/4 c of the sugar and beat for about 3 minutes. You want it fluffy. Add egg yolks.

The original recipe says to add them one at a time but I added them all at once because I have 2 small children who get all up in my business when I’m trying to cook.

(And here I thought I was being fancy by having them separated at ALL.)

Beat just until they’re incorporated.

In another bowl, whisk together flour & baking soda.

Just this leetle teeny tiny amount of baking soda makes a big difference!

Add about 1/3rd of it to butter mixture, then add 1/2 the yogurt,

then another 1/3rd of the flour mixture, then the rest of the yogurt and finally the last 1/3 of the flour.

Finally, stir in the zest. Be careful not to over mix this.

In another bowl – beat the egg whites at a high speed until foamy. Then add the last 1/4th cup of sugar, a little at a time, until stiff peaks form.

Fold whites into the batter. Pour batter into a greased & floured 9×9″ square pan.

Drop dollops of lemon curd on top of batter.

Swirl curd into the batter with a knife.

Sprinkle crumb mixture on top & pop into the oven for 45-50 minutes.

I definitely needed to bake mine for 50. Original recipe says stick a toothpick in to see if it comes out clean BUT it might not b/c of the curd. My curd tricked me and I baked it too long. What I recommend is gently shaking the pan – if it jiggles a lot it needs a little more time.

Sprinkle with powdered sugar & serve. YUM!

 
Source: Southern Living Magazine

We hosted our 3rd Annual Cox-Fitz Egghunt & Brunch this year!

Like the wreath? So did about 7 people at the Farmer’s Market. I think they assumed it was artisanally made or somethin’ because they kept asking me where I bought it.

TJMaxx. That’s where I bought it. HAHAHAA!!!

This is our third year having a yard and our third year hosting Easter. The kids were barely ambulatory when we started this so I’ve had to adjust every year. It’s really the most fun holiday for me, a non-religious person. I love it because:

a. It’s warm & sunny out.
b. You can decorate in pastels without receiving too much criticism.
c. Little girls in pastel dresses are soooooo cute no matter how anti-princess I am.
d. There are flowers everywhere.
e. The kids have a ball!

On Saturday night I was up till 2:00AM cooking & prepping. I woke up at 5:30AM (thanks a LOT, Bea!) and decided to stay up and let everyone else sleep. Around 6 I heard some tiny footsteps and an “Ohhhhhh WOW!!!!”

She had that bunny unwrapped and an ear bitten off quicker than I could say “April Valley.”

Then Bea woke up.

I distinctly heard Maddie exclaim, “This is REALLY GOOD!” while she looked through her basket.

Pure joy!

These pix were all taken with my phone and are a tad blurry. But still capture that golden halo of baby hair.

Meanwhile, I was cooking!

The Menu:
1. Sunshine Dazzler
2. Orange juice
3. Coffee
4. Cheese Grits
5. Summer Vegetable Torta (gluten free)
6. Coffee cake
7. Asparagus gruyere puff pastry (forgot to make until half the guest were gone & I’d had too many Sunshine Dazzlers.)
8. Fruit Salad (two kinds)
9. Lemon-Blueberry scones (scrapped these as I decided to have fun instead of keep cooking!)
10. Earth Wind & Fire Salad

Brooke brought cupcakes & Lyn brought some brussel sprout/walnut salad. YUM!!

This torta was really pretty and amazing!!! It’s gluten-free as well (not that I’m on a gluten free diet but just thought you’d be interested…) Here’s a link to the recipe.

These roasted potatoes look better than they were. I made some EXCELLENT ones this past week that were part of a broccoli gribiche recipe, soon to be shared. So if you come over again & see these, they’ll be WAY better!!

The kids’ fruit salad.

The adults’ Kir Royale Fruit Salad.

I quartered these for the Sunshine Dazzler cocktail. Love those blood oranges!!! Btw: I somehow neglected to take pix of the Sunshine Dazzler AND the Earth Wind & Fire Salad again. I got busy.

Suffice it to say, the Sunshine Dazzler (photo from blog.teroforma.com)

is a VERY easy, excellent brunch beverage. It totally beats a screwdriver or a mimosa in my opinion. Though it actually is a sort of combined mimosa/screwdriver with some mango juice. And you can make a big pitcher of it and just let guests get their own ice. YUM! Very pretty with sliced citrus floating on top.

Here’s the table in the early morning – still missing a few dishes but you can see the Earth, Wind & Fire Salad, the Sunshine Dazzler is in the glass pitcher way in the back and there was the most excellent coffee cake in the world under the foil. However, I made that around 1AM and I totally forgot a minor ingredient, baking powder. So I had to add it late and it was too late. Enough said, this wasn’t the best coffee cake in the world but here is the link to the BEST Coffee Cake in the WORLD.

Oh, there are the cheese grits too.

Lovely Lyn & Maddie pre-egghunt.

Guests melting in the hot driveway as the backyard was still verboten at this time.

LET THE EGGHUNT BEGIN!!

Bea’s first “walking” egg hunt. Lyn served as her butler.

Ava:

Frog Pillow oversaw the hunt:

This egg was empty.

I really don’t think I look like Mama Cass in real life. Or do I?

M’s basket at the end of the hunt. She is so non-competitive.

We only have good-looking friends.

Love. My own children don’t hug me this much.

My friend made these adorable cupcakes with rainbows & clouds on top. Email me if you want the “how to” and I’ll get it for you. I think the rainbow is some candy and the clouds are white frosting. Soooo cute!!!

We had so much fun and loved having our friends over!

Here’s the very first time the bunny sang – Easter morning. (Before the batteries started running down…)