Everything but the Cake

I wasn't sure what I was planning to do over the three day holiday weekend, but I knew that I wanted to bake a cake. In fact, I knew I wanted to bake a cake using the same Yeasted Sugar Cake recipe that Camilla made while I was visiting.

I didn't have any fruit to go with it, so I thought I would try out the Lemon Curd recipe in the Luscious Lemon Desserts cookbook. I've had store bought versions before, made by Dundee, but I had a feeling that something homemade might be a whole lot better.

The recipe sounded fairly easy to make. It called for six egg yolks and didn't need a double boiler, although that wouldn't have been a big deal, since I have one. Wait. What do I do with the whites? My mom suggested looking up pavlova in the Joy of Cooking, but that didn't seem to be in edition that I have. I googled "6 egg whites pavlova" and ended up with a recipe for 6 individual pavlovas on Maiapapaya.

At least that was settled. I began working on the lemon curd. After it thickens on the stove, you're supposed to strain it while pouring the curd into a bowl. That's easier said than done, because the curd really didn't want to go through the strainer. I had to keep stirring and pushing it through. Next time, I don't think I'm going to bother with this step, because while I'm sure it was an effort to maintain an ultra-smooth consistency, the leftover contents of the strainer tasted awfully good. The lemon curd itself ended up being pretty fantastic, though.

When I got home from dinner, I started working on the pavlovas. They were pretty easy, too. Next time I might use a full-sized baking sheet since these just barely ran together. These are supposed to be topped with whipped cream and strawberries soaked in Grand Marinier, but I suspect they will be good plain.

I decided to wait to bake the cake until tomorrow.