Someone I’ve been immensely grateful for is my mother-in-law.
Since the day I first met her in person on our wedding day in Singapore, I’ve always been impressed by her love for people. When she first saw me, her first words were, “Wai Jia, thank you for marrying my son!” I was speechless.
Even though we had never met in person before I married her precious son, her emails of encouragement, love and support thousands of miles away touched me deeply. I knew she was a sincere, genuine, loving mother. Deep down, I admired her profoundly, for going through the ordeal of migrating to Canada, only to find her only son diagnosed with an aggressive cancer at a tender age of ten.
When I had the privilege of going on a mother-in-law, daughter-in-law lunch date with her in Canada two years ago, and asked her how she had felt then, she said with a smile, “I knew things would be all right.” She has always told me so, that things would be all right, whenever I had worries pouring from my ears and when I most needed to hear that reassurance.
When I had to teach myself how to cook after we got married, and asked her for recipes her son might miss, she never hesitated to share her cooking tips with me. When I sent her the photos of my gastronomical experiments, she always lavished praise on me, saying how I had outdone her, even though she really is the Chef Legend in the Tam family.
So when she asked me how I made this SUPER CITRUSY Lemon Cake for Cliff, I was thrilled to share it. It’s really sour and tangy, just the way Cliff likes it, and goes AMAZINGLY well with lemon icing (which I normally never use, buts works divinely and magically for this cake!)
Here you go, Mum! Thank you for being the most encouraging Mother-in-Law I know! : )
Food for Love:
Lemon Cake:
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter (room temperature or slightly melted)
- 3/4 cup cups sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1/4 cup grated lemon zest
- 1 1/2 cups flour
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 3/4 cup lemon juice
- 3 tablespoons of Lemon Essence
- 1 tsp vanilla
Lemon Icing:
- Icing sugar (So happy to find this in Uganda!)
- Lemon juice and Lemon Essence
The Act:
1. Cream butter with sugar until light and fluffy.
(I don’t have an electric beater in Africa so stirring it with a whisk till my triceps ache is a good gauge for me, ha).
2. Add in eggs, one at a time, and lemon zest.
3. In another bowl, sift flour, baking powder, baking soda and a sprinkle of salt (optional).
4. Combine the lemon juice and vanilla in a small cup.
5. Add the flour and buttermilk, alternating, to the batter.
The resulting consistency was gooey, but a little thin.
6. Toss it in the oven!
7. After the cake has cooled, top it off with this divine icing,
simply made by mixing icing sugar with lemon juice/essence and
spread over the top with a spoon.
I’m usually not a fan of icing because it’s not very healthy, but icing on this cake REALLY makes a difference!
It bursts into flavours of sweet and sour and citrusy all at once!
Enjoy!