Raspberry Lemon Tea Cake

On to my second baking item of the year of 2011. I decided to go with another bread-like food. The Raspberry Lemon Tea Cake was delicious, however I did not use seedless raspberries, so if you make this for yourself use seedless! Also this recipe is "lower-fat" only 219 calories per slice (makes 10 slices).

A piece of cake and some vanilla yogurt = very good!!!!

Raspberry Lemon Tea Cake:
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- pinch of salt
- 3/4 cup low fat (2%) Greek-style yogurt
- 2 large eggs
- 1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 3/4 cup sugar
- zest of 1 lemon
- 1 cup raspberries (I used frozen and it worked just fine.)
- 1/3 cup canola oil

Directions:
1) Preheat the oven to 350F
2) Lightly sprat an 8 1/4 x 4 1/2 - inch loaf pan.
3) In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt.
4) In a medium bowl, whisk the yogurt, eggs, vanilla, sugar, and lemon zest. Lightly whisk in the dry ingredients until incorporated. Using a rubber spatula, fold in the raspberries and slowly pour in the oil, folding it into the batter. Transfer the batter to the baking pan.
5) Bake for 50 to 55 minutes, or until it is golden and starts to come away from the sides of the pan. A toothpick inserted into the center of the cake should come out clean.
6) Cool on a rack for 5 minutes, then run a knife along the edges of the pan to loosen the cake. Flip cake out of the pan to cool right side up.

It begins

I officially made my first baked good of 2011. It was surprisingly easy and I learned a lot. I learned how to cut shortening with a fork. (I went and bought a pastry blender the next day.) I made Baking Powder Biscuits
 and they were delicious. A little butter and Trader Joe's blackberry jelly... yummy!

Biscuits

Biscuit + Jam = yum!

Here's the recipe...

Baking Powder Biscuits
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
- 3 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup shortening, butter, or margarine
- 3/4 cup milk

1) Heat the oven to 450 F. In a medium bowl, stir the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt until mixed. Cut in the shortening, using a pastry blender or fork, until mixture looks like fine crumbs. Stir in the milk until mixture forms a soft dough and leaves the side of the bowl (dough will be soft and sticky).
2) Lightly sprinkle flour over a cutting board or countertop. Place dough on floured surface; gently roll in the flour to coat. To knead dough, fold dough toward you. With the heels of your hands, lightly push dough away from you with a short rocking motion. Move dough a quarter turn and repeat 10 times. Dough will feel springy and smooth.
3) On the floured surface, flatten dough evenly, using hands or a rolling pin, until dough is 1/2 inch thick.
4) Before cutting each biscuit, dip a 2 1/2-inch round cutter into flour to lightly coat it so it will cut cleanly through the dough without sticking. To cut, push the cutter straight down through the dough without twisting or turning. Cut the biscuits as close together as possible. On an ungreased cookie sheet, place biscuits about 1 inch apart for biscuits with crusty sides, or place with sides touching for biscuits with soft sides.
5) Bake 10 to 12 minutes of until golden brown. Immediately remove from cookie sheet. Serve warm.

Here we go...

So here it is 2011 and I am embarking on the most life-changing year of my life. I'm getting married on June 25th to the most amazing man in the entire world. Since we are getting married we get to register for stuff. One of the thing that I am registering for is a KitchenAid stand mixer. When I look at the mixer I think of all of the meat I will grind, cucumbers I will chop and pasta I will make. I do not, however, think of all of the things that I am going to use it to bake with. I am not a baker. I don't like to bake, I don't have tools to bake, but this year I want to change that. My goal for 2011 is to bake something new every other week so when I get my KitchenAid I can make the absolute most out of it!
The reason for the blog is so that can recount these baking adventures. I bought an oven thermometer yesterday so first tool- check.

Here's to a year of flour and flowers.