My grandmother, Meme, always made a Lemon Cake for funerals, birthdays, baby showers or just because it was Tuesday. If there was a celebration or someone needed a warm-fuzzy, my Meme showed up with Lemon Cake!
The daycare needed to feel some love and what better way then to show up with food/cake! After I located Meme’s recipe, I checked my pantry and realized I needed Lemon Jell-O and Lemon Juice. I headed to Wal-Mart on my way home from work and grabbed Lemon Jell-O, a bottle of Lemon Juice, another yellow cake mix, and a bag of powdered sugar. Once home, I really looked at the Lemon Jell-O box and realized I grabbed pudding instead of gelatin. Enter freak-out moment – I searched high and lo for Meme’s handwritten recipe, once found, I reread the recipe. Yup, I had typed it correctly = Lemon Jell-O.
Okay, so here’s my issue, I edit recipes for the restaurant brand I work for, and with recipes, the more detail, the better the result. Was it Lemon Jell-O pudding or Lemon Jell-O gelatin???? I texted my mom and sister to which my sister replied “Lemon Jell-O” as if to say, “duh!” to which I replied, gelatin or pudding with a picture of the box. My mom finally chimed in, it was gelatin. See, in my family’s world, you called all gelatin, Jell-O. In my world, I needed specifics, not a brand. Once I took a step back and got out of my current way of thinking, it made sense. Any who, didn’t solve the issue of me having pudding instead of gelatin, aka Jell-O.
So, the cake made with the pudding mix would have to do. And do it did! The teachers raved about it – yay! I added a bit of joy to a really sad situation. Thank you, Meme!! Your legacy and lemon cake will live on – and now we know that pudding or gelatin can work 😉
Lemon Cake
Equipment
- 1 Hand or stand mixer
- 1 9×13 Cake Pan
Ingredients
Lemon Cake
- 1 box Yellow Cake Mix
- 1 pkg Lemon Jell-O – gelatin the pudding works, too!
- 4 Eggs
- ¾ cup Cooking Oil I use vegetable oil
- ¾ cup Water
- 1 tsp Lemon Extract
Glaze
- ½ box Powdered Sugar
- 5 or 6 Tbsp Lemon Juice
Instructions
Lemon Cake
- Mix together yellow cake mix and gelatin.
- Add eggs, oil, water, and lemon extract.
- Beat for 2 minutes.
- Pour in greased and floured 13×9 pan.
- Bake 350 °F for 30 to 35 minutes or until done.
Glaze
- Mix together powdered sugar and enough lemon juice to create a pourable glaze.
Final Cake
- Poke holes, with a large two-pronged fork, in the top of the cake while still hot.
- Pour the glaze over the hot cake.
- Let the cake sit until the glaze has soaked in the cake and set.