When life gives you lemons, make this cake!

While preparing at home for a fun cooking night with my family, I felt something was missing from our dinner plans.  Ah, yes of course!   I needed a tasty baked dessert that would bring a deliciously sweet conclusion to our family night.  This sweet conclusion should probably pair well with a cup of coffee too :).  I decided that a freshly baked cake would be a perfect dessert to have at the end of our family night of cooking!

One of the great things about this cake recipe is that you will most likely have all of the ingredients already in your kitchen.  This is the main reason why I choose to bake this cake.  I wanted a recipe with simple ingredients, so I didn't have to get my big butt up to drive to the grocery store.  So I asked myself, "What kind of cake can I make with the foods I already have in my fridge and pantry?"

After searching through my favorite cook books and my go-to healthy food blogs, I finally came across this Lemon Olive Oil Cake recipe on Christina's food blog, theblissfulbalance.com.  If you haven't checked out her healthy food blog, please visit and explore her fun and healthy recipes! 

This recipe only needed 6 ingredients, lemons, olive oil, sugar, flour, eggs and salt. How easy is that! I have slightly changed her recipe to fit my preferences, I swapped honey to replace granulated sugar, chose organic whole wheat flour, and also added a simple sweet lemony glaze to drizzle on top. Yum!

While honey doesn't have a ton of nutritional value, it does offer some great antioxidant benefits! It's also sweeter to taste than granulated sugar, and typically makes baked goods more moist, chewy and flavorful.
The lemony glaze is a simple and clean recipe, and can be prepared while your cake is baking!  
   
I hope you enjoy this delicious, nutritious, and very moist  Honey Lemon Cake with a Lemony Glaze!


Honey Lemon Cake

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 1 large lemon
• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 5 large eggs: 5 yolks, 5 whites, separated
• 3/4 cup of honey 
• Salt to taste

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees and grease a cake pan. (I used coconut oil.)  
2. Zest the entire lemon and mix with flour in a small bowl. Cut the lemon in half and juice both halves into a liquid measuring cup, set aside.
3. Add the egg yolks to the electric mixer with 1/2 cup honey and mix on high until it thickens. Reduce speed to medium and add olive oil and lemon juice, and mix until combined.
4. Add flour mixture and combine with a spoon.
5. Beat 5 egg whites with hand mixer with a dash of salt until a foam forms. Add 1/4 cup honey and beat for about three minutes until a super light, fluffy foam is formed.
6. Fold the egg whites into the yolk mixture and gently combine.
7. Pour the batter into your cake pan.
8. Depending on your oven, bake cake between 30-45 minutes, or until the cake is puffed up and golden brown. To ensure it's done, stick a knife or tooth pick in the center. If it comes out clean, it's finished!
9. While the cake is cooling, prepare your Lemony Glaze.  

​Lemony Glaze

Ingredients:

• 2 Tbsp coconut oil
• 2 Tbsp honey
• 2 Tbsp milk of choice
• zest and juice from 1 lemon
• 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract

Directions:

1. While the cake is baking, mix all glaze ingredients together in a small pot over low heat until it starts to simmer. Remove from heat and let sit to cool until the cake is finished cooking and cooling. Pour the glaze all over the cake. 
2. Let the glaze soak into the cake for about 10-20 minutes before sharing with your loved ones.  

                           Always craving good food,
                                        Jillian