April 20, 2011
“I will not be making éclair cake for Easter, although it truly sounds heavenly. Rather, I will be making a tasty recipe, Passover Lemon Sponge Cake, if all goes well.
Personally, I like to eat out for Easter dinner, but once in awhile I crave my mother's traditional Easter fare followed by a lovely Easter cake of some variety or other.
I guess you could say I am homesick for glazed ham, creamy scalloped potatoes, deviled eggs, asparagus au gratin, candied apples, and yes, Easter cake. Oh, and chocolate Easter eggs go without saying.
For dessert, my mother once served something similar to Paula Deen's éclair cake, but what I remember most was mom's sponge cake with lemon filling. Some folks refer to it as Passover Lemon Sponge Cake, but she called it Italian Lemon Sponge Cake.
Reflecting on these delicious memories, I decided, one day out of the blue, to recreate the meal that would serve as a trial run before Easter Sunday.
I wanted to duplicate everything to perfection, but first I needed to search through my mother's recipes for assistance. Unfortunately, I discovered that none of these were written down, except for the Italian Sponge Cake.
I tried to reconstruct the rest of the menu items from memory hoping they would turn out exactly the way I recalled.
The ham and potatoes were ordinary at best, although I had better luck with recreating the baked asparagus au gratin.
I bought the candied apples.
As I searched for a recipe similar to the one I remembered for deviled eggs, I was surprised to find that Paula Deen's Southern Deviled Eggs recipe is almost exactly like my mother's.
Simply add to the mashed yolks: salt, pepper, mayonnaise and sweet pickle relish. When you are finished filling the egg whites with the mixture, garnish with paprika and chopped pimento.
Incidentally, the one difference between their versions is that Paula Deen does not add vinegar or sugar to her deviled eggs, according to her recipe. My mother added equal parts of vinegar and sugar to hers, but actually her filling was quite heavy on the vinegar as I recall. The more I think about it, I cannot imagine Paula Deen ever adding that much vinegar to anything.
Now, for dessert.
One can make the sponge cake the laborious way from scratch, or the down-and-dirty, make-it-fast way. In other words, buy a mix or a ready-made cake.
Don't become too much of a purist about making your own sponge cake, please. Even Paula Deen suggests purchasing some things already prepared--they can be just as good. Do make your own filling.
Here's a retooled recipe I use for Italian Lemon Sponge Cake:
Filling ingredients: 1/3 cup lemon juice, ½ cup sugar, two egg yolks beaten plus one whole egg, one stick butter cut into pieces.
Stir together the lemon juice, sugar, egg, and yolks in a saucepan with a whisk. Place over medium heat and add the butter in small pieces while still whisking. Cook until it is thickened and just starting to boil (too much boiling will curdle it). Pour into small bowl. Chill until completely cold.
Make a batter composed of 2 cups of heavy cream, just like Paula Deen would do, and whip with1/3 cup powdered sugar. Fold half of this into all of the lemon mixture. Use the remaining half of the cream mixture for icing.
Finally, slice the sponge cake into two layers. I like slicing it into 1/3 and 2/3 pieces rather than exact halves. Ice with the remaining cream mixture, and refrigerate over night or longer.
To make this cake, the Italian way, simply replace the lemon juice and the sugar in the filling mixture with ½ cup of Limoncello, an Italian liquer.
There you have it. Easter dinner almost like my mother used to make.
Disclaimer: I didn't actually cook any of this. One morning as I lay in bed, I cooked Easter dinner like my mother used to make, in my mind. Well, my hairdresser Ann tells me she cleans her house in her mind. It is a whole lot less work.
Didn't I say I like going out for Easter dinner? I thought so.
