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Golden Lemon Almond Cake

I meant to share this with you on Heavenly Bakers Free Choice week 12/20.

 
This photo tells you most of what you need to know about this cake: bright, clear lemon mixed with flavorful turbinado sugar form the base of this cake, which is Rose's favorite non-chocolate cake in Rose's Heavenly Cakes.

 
This cake doesn't look like a whole lot. Its plain golden brown appearance belies the depth of flavor inside. You wouldn't know it from the dearth of lemon recipes I have featured on this website, but lemon is likely my favorite ingredient in the whole kitchen. I love Greek, Mediterranean and Middle Eastern food, so I use lemon almost everyday in my savory cooking, lemon meringue pie (when done well) is my favorite dessert, and I love lemon curd so much, I teach it in classes as my favorite way to use up egg yolks.

Long story long, I knew I would love this cake from the beginning, and Rose was right.

Baked Apple Dumplings from Farmers' Market Desserts

  

pippin (left) and granny smith (right)

I know we are close to the end of apple season, but there are still plenty of apples at the farmers' markets near me, so I hope to convince you to find some you like and make Jennie Schacht's recipe Baked Apple Dumplings with Cinnamon Caramel Sauce from Farmers' Market Desserts (which was just featured on David Lebovitz' Favorite Cookbooks of 2010!!). Make them for any reason, but these dumplings scream dinner party; they would be the perfect fall or winter dessert for a gathering of 6-8 people (the recipe as written makes 6 dumplings, so adjust accordingly).  Though I tested many recipes from Farmers' Market Desserts, the baked apple dumplings were far and away the most popular with my testers, a fact I find important in passing along with a time or labor-intensive recipe. Don't you always wonder if the effort is worth it?