I hope that this light, spring themed recipe will brighten up your day. Baking is one way I de-stress. I put on a podcast, usually Armchair Expert with Dax Shepherd, and whisk away!
It’s week three of work from home self-isolation life. Some days are better than others. I bought a spin bike last week so I can ride at home, and i’ve been doing a bit of online shopping to treat myself. Life is work, working out, and spending time with family. It’s very manageable, but the busy extrovert in me is still clamouring to get out on the weekend and do ALL the things.
I’ve started seriously propogating my succulents, i’ve been baking, I downloaded the SIMS 4, i’ve been going for lots of walks, and i’ve been talking to a lot of friends on the phone! Some days I wake up excited for another day of self-isolation, other days I wake up feeling really anxious.
I think the anxiety is more based on the global situation. I’m very proud of Canada, and especially BC. Every time I see Trudeau on TV I feel so proud to have such a kind and responsible leader, and i’m thrilled that the political parties, and all Canadians, are working together and taking this extremely seriously! As of Friday, Bonnie Henry was feeling “cautiously optimistic”, and that is possibly the first piece of ‘good news’ we’ve heard!
My work is very COVID focused, so it can feel like a lot to have the news cycling running 24/7. Everytime I run into a friend, neighbour, it’s all we can talk about- a global pandemic, seriously crazy. Another place my mind wanders is to international travel. My last three years have been defined by world travel with my partner. Long trips to Asia, long trips to Europe. Two places we won’t be able to go for a long while. In fact, last year, on this day, we were hiking in northern Italy.
On all the health blogs I visit, self-care is always a topic: “have a bath, meditate, etc.”. The importance of self-care has never felt more relevant than now. During a crisis that we have no control over, it is so important to be good to our bodies and minds. For me, this means eating healthy foods, getting exercise, and allowing time and space for enjoyment- whatever form that may come in. You may not have played the SIMS since you were a kid, (do it now- it’s so fun). You may never have time to cook (now you do- cook healthy food!). You may think you suck at baking (you don’t- it’s not that hard!). You may think you’ll never propogate a succulent (story of my life- it finally happened for me!!). Be kind to yourself, try something new, practice social distancing, and try to enrich this experience before life gets busy again.
This is a spring themed cake! I made it with blackberries that we picked last summer and froze (i’ve heard the frozen fruit section at the grocery store is pretty empty). My family loves lemon cake, and since i’m stuck with them, I thought i’d ease the inevitable tension with their favourite cake! Usually lemon cakes/loaves are dense and heavy. My goal with this cake was to make it light, moist and springy! It’s easy, and you can use whatever berries you have. I think raspberries and blueberries would be awesome. If you don’t have yogurt, try subbing for 1/4 cup milk. I know we’re all running low on groceries, but that shouldn’t mean you can’t make this cake. 🙂
Cake ingredients:
3 eggs
1 cups white sugar
1/2 cup grapeseed oil
1/2 cup greek yogurt
1 tsp vanilla
zest of two lemons
2 cups white flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
juice of two lemons
1 1/2 cups berries
Glaze ingredients:
1 cup icing sugar
2 tbsp melted butter
3-4 tbsp lemon juice (add until glaze is runny)
Directions:
1.) Preheat oven to 350, and grease two 8/8 cake pans. This recipe works best baked in two tins!
2.) Whisk together eggs, sugar and oil. Add greek yogurt, vanilla, and lemon zest and whisk until fluffy.
3.) Add 1 cup of flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt to your wet mixture. Add half of the lemon juice and whisk until fluffy. Then, add the final half of your flour mixture, and the last of your lemon juice.
4.) Mix in the berries and pour into two cake pans.
5.) Bake for 35-40 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Depending on how watery your berries are, and the temperature of your oven, you may need to bake for a little longer.
6.) Make the glaze by melting butter, and combining it will icing sugar and lemon juice!
7.) When the cakes are cool, pour half the glaze overtop of one layer, sandwich it with the other layer, and pour glaze overtop!
ENJOY!
Kendall Creates 