Lemon Cornmeal Breakfast Cake
There are only three reason why I would rip the shirt off my body in public:
1. If a kitten were on fire and I needed to smother him, put him out, cuddle him, give him food, and make him mine forever.
2. If I discovered a bee… a ferocious, man-eating bee, down my shirt.
3. If a handsome young fireman needed my shirt to wipe his sweaty brow after saving a grandmother and her fluffy orange cat from the top of a burning tree. But even then… I’d make the fireman take his shirt off first. I have standards.
Yesterday, I ripped my shirt off in a spazzy, screaming fit on Main Street in Santa Monica. There was no kitten nor fireman in sight. There was a bee down my shirt. A live bee… buzzing down my shirt. Standing in front of a bike shop and across the street from a busy cafe, I full on FREAKED OUT and tore my shirt off my body. There was also FREAK OUT screaming involved. Then I spent another agonizing ten seconds trying to brush the bee off my body with the shirt I was supposed to be wearing.
Then I was just standing there… on the street… shirtless… in my ugly bra… the one that looks like my grandma’s sprotsbra. I just stood there, holding my shirt and staring squarely at the ground… at the bee struggling to walk away… at the bee that had rendered me shirtless. I knew that if I looked up from the ground I would be mortified times one million.
As I’m struggling with the sleeves, trying to get my shirt back on… I see a pair of feet stroll past me. I didn’t see one of those red tipped seeing eye sticks, so this person was clearly a seeing person. A witness. Ok. Carry on.
My sleeves were all wonky, I couldn’t button my shirt inside out. I was a hot mess… so I had to take my shirt off (again!) invert the spazzy sleeves and put my shirt back on. That’s twice that I’ve taken my top off… Enough!
I never did look up from the ground. I never did blush. I did, however, want to dig a whole through the concrete and tunnel home instead of putting my shirt back on and riding home. But that’s just what I did. And if anyone was pointing and laughing… well, I guess I can’t blame them. I was quite the site.
Lessons were learned. Always wear a cute bra.
In more important news, I made a lovely lemon cake.
Let me tell you about it… it’ll distract me from the humiliation.
This lemon cake is simple and unassuming. It’s combined with cornmeal and baked up in a cast iron skillet. It’s sort of like hearty Southern cornbread meets dainty lemon tea cake. The cake is topped with sweet lemon glaze while it’s still warm, and the sweetness seeps into the cake itself.
What the name of this cake doesn’t tell you is that is has browned butter in it. See? We’re friends for life.
This is not a fancy pants dessert… that’s why I call it a breakfast cake. Breakfast cakes don’t wear their pearls to the table… obvi.
Lemon Cornmeal Breakfast Cake
makes one 9-inch cake
recipe adapted from Bon Appetit, April 2009
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup yellow cornmeal
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
3 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup buttermilk
2 large eggs
1 tablespoons lemon zest
1/2 cup (1 stick) plus one tablespoons unsalted butter, melted until browned then cooled slightly
Lemon Glaze:
1 1/2 cup powdered sugar
3 to 4 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees F.
In a 9 or 10-inch cast iron skillet, melt butter over medium heat until browned and fragrant. Use a potholder to grab onto the cast iron and carefully tilt back and forth so the melted butter greases the sides of the pan. Remove browned butter from the cast iron to cool, and set the buttery cast iron aside. That’s what we’re going to bake the cake in!
If you don’t have a cast iron skillet, simply butter and flour a 9-inch round cake pan. Set aside. Brown the butter in a skillet over the stove top and incorporate into the recipe just the same.
In a large bowl, whisk together flour, cornmeal, sugars, baking powder, baking soda and salt. In a small bowl, carefully whisk together eggs, buttermilk, lemon zest and butter. Add the wet ingredients, all at once, to the dry ingredients and fold together with a spatula. Fold until very few lumps remain. Pour batter into the prepared buttered pan and place in the oven.
While the cake bakes, whisk together powdered sugar and lemon juice for the glaze. Set aside.
Bake for 30 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Remove from the oven and let cool for 10 minutes. Use a skewer or the tines of a fork to poke holes in the bake. Sporadic holes here and there will do. Pour over the glaze, spread evenly and let rest for about 30 minutes before serving. This cake will last for up to 4 days, well wrapped, at room temperature.
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It’s in the oven now. Smells awesome!
Just the kind of story that I needed to read in the late afternoon for a wake up laugh. Just hysterical. The visual was just priceless.
Love your writing and am eager to try your recipes! Saved to Favorites!!
First – let me say that I am sorry for you and I would have done the same thing. That said — that is the hardest I have laughed in days! My kids laughed just as hard. I’m sorry we laughed at your pain…but we appreciate the laughing.
if any consolation, about 32 yrs ago I had same thing happen to me in a public park at Beaverton, OR city park–’cept mine was a bee that zipped it’s buzzy little way up my wide leg, cotton, baby pink pants. Humiliation to the max–and the kids yelling, “Mommy! Mommy! whassamatter?” Ohhh, the sting hurt and then it hurt even more to realize that dang, it’s getting worse! Sure, I had to be allergic. Dang. Oh well–not the 1st embarrassment in my life and not the last… and so life goes. Yet, God is good and makes us be able to truly laugh at the memory, while we empathize with those who rip off their shirts–hahaahahaha!
amen amen.
Oh, wow! That was such an unexpected laugh… Seriously THE funniest thing I’ve read in weeks. My stomach hurts from laughing. You are a wonderful storyteller.
joy, i seriously think that we are twins separated at birth. girl, you CRACK me up! i would have done the exact same thing…and actually was about as embarrassed yesterday when i said “butt twitches” just as the president of the university where i work walked by. i.wanted.to.die. SO…you are not alone, and i thank you for the confirmation that i am not alone either. :)
I made this two nights ago and it was delicious! Thanks for sharing.
You’re awesome
I made this cake and wrote a blog post about it. You can read it tomorrow, March 2nd, at http://rosemarywashington.wordpress.com. I’ve linked to your blog in my post.
Thanks for your great recipe and inspiration!
i just found this blog. dear lord, you are hilarious! the cake looks fantastic, too!
Amazing..the first time I visit your blog I am both entertained and intrigued. Entertained by your encounter with a bee and intrigued by the possibility of making this cake gluten free. Which I did. (with a mix of sorghum and brown rice flours instead of regular flour) It was wonderful! Cornbread with lemon glaze. Does life get much better?!
Good that you had bra on!
In the apartments I used to live in, there was a guy who kept snakes. One day one of the snakes got out and made himself visible to a lady who was just taking a bath. She was petrified of snakes. She stood up and ran to her next door neighbor for help. Without any clothes.
That lady wasn’t me.
I like snakes.
Your story is hilarious!
Oh my goodness. That’s happened to me too! Twice. Usually stories about others who live in warm places with year-round farmers markets that they can bike to make me jealous. Today I’m just grateful that I live in the Midwest on a cul-de-sac in a city with 1500 people and probably only my own two children saw the spectacle.
I made this a few days ago, it was yummy. I thought corn meal with lemon would be weird, but it was so good. I am shamed to admit we ate it for breakfast, lunch and after dinner. : /
Nothing to be ashamed of, let no good cake go to waste!
Have been having a crappy week, so I made this for breakfast today…so glad I did…it’s amazing!
hahaha I love this post – because it made me laugh a much needed laugh and because it involves lemon cake. nice one!
Your writing is always so amazing! I think I laugh out loud every time I read your posts. I probably would have done the same thing if a bee was in my shirt, you can’t just leave it there!
This cake looks so good by the way. Anything with lemon is definitely my favorite.
OMG I just made this for breakfeast for the family. Very moist. I’m positive that this will become a regular for breakfeast. This reciepe was easy to follow and easy to do. Great to have also with mid afternoon tea.
I came upon your corner of the internet by chance. Man was it a great chance!!! I was trying to figure out how to make vanilla extract from scratch. I can’t wait to get started making the vanilla extract. Thanks. You have got some great yummys here and can’t wait to try some more of your reciepes.
Have a good one!!!
Love this recipe; such beautiful pictures. I love cornmeal and I cannot wait to try this recipe. Yummmyyy…
Have a great night.
Ok I am now blowing coffee out my nose…due to laughing so hard…that was freakin funny…Love the recipe too..thank you for making me laugh..
This is my first visit to your site, and that is one of the funniest columns I’ve ever read. Thanks!
Ha! This is hilarious and if I had seen it in person I would have totally been laughing and had it up as a facebook post and telling everyone I know about it for the next 5 years. Thanks for a good laugh.
I made this cake last weekend for a brunch with friends, and it was super yummy. I made it with spelt flour, since one of the friends has a gluten intolerance, which accented the cornmeal texture just a bit, but not in a detrimental way I also made it with white cornmeal rather than yellow because I couldn’t find yellow gluten-free cornmeal at the store at the time.
One thing I will say is to make sure, if you are using a regular cake pan, to make sure your sides are at least 2 inches high. My 9-inch pans’ sides are only 1.5 inches high, and the amount of batter was too much for it to handle.
Thanks so much. It got rave reviews.
good good tip!!
I was trolling the comments to see if anyone else tried making this without gluten. Thanks! Can’t wait to try it.
Don’t worry, I’ve done that before, but I was in the middle of a corn field. I also flipped out. btw did you get stung by that vicious, man eating bee?? I did…
You are flat out hysterically funny! Tears have come to my eyes reading your blog which I found via the Pioneer Woman’s Tasty Kitchen site… or some such thing. Anyway, your food sounds wonderful and I would make it… if I did the animal thing but I don’t. Still. I shall read your blog to lift me up and as a secret weapon against moments of wasteful self pity. Thanks be for YOU!
This was delicious! Yep and its pretty much gone now. I just started reading your blog and it cracks me up.
Okay, I love your blog, so there really wasn’t anything I could think of that would make me love it even more, but there you go–this story (and your awesome way of telling it) just made me love this blog beyond measure. And now I’m seriously reconsidering my bra collection–will need to cute-ify it up, in preparation for springtime bee disasters.
I’ve had a similar experience with bees…BUT you had a bra on and I did not….and I was in my neighbors yard chasing my puppy who got out of our yard…and I was in my pajamas….and I ran into a swarm of bees..I totally ripped of my shirt…and totally ran around like a goon trying to get those bees off of me and my girls….and I don’t know if the neighbors saw or not…yeah…….my dog got into a heck of a heap of trouble when we got back inside. lol
I LOVED THIS! Thanks so much for sharing this priceless moment. I know exactly where you are talking about and had a moment of my own with those bees from that cafe. I noticed lots and lots of bees buzzing around *inside* the cafe (it’s sort of an indoor/outdoor place anyway, but it looked like someone had busted open a nest. I ordered a green tea with boba. These beverages come with a lid and a thick straw for sucking the big tapioca balls up the tube. Well I was walking down the street happily slurping up my boba when suddenly one that I crunched down on had a bitter taste – I freaked out because I knew immediately I had just bitten down on a BEE! I was able to spit out the remnants onto the sidewalk but all that was left was a wing. I was completely freaking out! I was so terrified that I had swallowed the stinger and that it would be lodged in my throat and how was I supposed to get it out! Ack. I was quite beside myself for the rest of the day.
Yummy cake! I just made a quick gluten-free version of it on my blog. Credited you of course! It’s here if you wish to see: http://andcinnamon.blogspot.com/2011/03/gluten-free-lemon-cornbread-cake.html
I just made this and it was amazing! It would have been prettier in an iron skillet, but I made do with my 8×8 square pan. Thanks for the recipe :)
I have no bee stories for you, so I’ll share my most embarrassing moment with you instead: I donated blood. My bladder was full. I fainted. I peed myself. I was sixteen. It was at high school. My favorite teacher had to drive me home so I could change.
Your blog makes my life happy. Like I’m seriously in a better mood every time I read it. So thank you for sharing. : )
this looks amazing as I love cornmeal anything! it is a must try!!
I made this with limes because it was all I had…delicious!!!!
This is absolutely hilarious. I managed to outrun a bee for close to a mile. On the downside, I was on a walking trail with my son in a stroller. The upside, this memory has stuck with me for a long time and is still a favorite among my family. BTW, I am not a baker but I will try your pull apart bread.
so delicious! Mine did not look as pretty, it caved in a little due to the altitude, but it tastes amazing! Sweet and lemony, but no too much! Perfect.
Great balls of fire, this cake is freaking fantastic! I couldn’t wait for the lemon glaze to soak into the cake for 30 minutes, and dug in 10 minutes later while it was still warm. A. Maze. Zing.
Thanks for another fab recipe Joy!
The same thing happened to me, i got stung in the lip by the little sucker and ended up having a HUGE lip for two weeks. I was mortified #1. for freaking out and #2 for having to be allergic to bees.
I can laugh about it now. i love you recipies
rock on :)
Hi Joy! I just made this over the weekend and it was amazing! Just thought I’d let you know! Thanks for all the great recipes! (and the reminder to always wear a cute bra!)
Hi Joy!
I loved this recipe and want to try it immediately but it is not possible to find buttermilk in my country. What can i use as a substitute to buttermilk? coconot milk maybe? oor just milk?
Hey Joy–
what could I sub for the buttermilk? I don’t have any right now and would love to make this recipe but won’t have time to get to the store. I have milk and some varieties of yogurt…?
Lindsay
I am laughing at your bee story! sorry… I should have more compassion.. as I have a bee story of my own. Very top of a ladder… trimming a beautiful flowering hydrangea vine against the house… leaning on the vine as I merrily trimmed away.. meanwhile swatting away these nasty black and white bees… eventually they couldn’t be swatted .. there were too many.. I was leaning on their nest!!!! and had no clue… anyhooo.. they started stinging my arm.. and then one of the little nasties backed his little black striped you know what right up my nose!!!! I had to carefully step down the ladder and try not to break my neck while they made mince meat out of me.. once safely down.. I “beelined” (sorry) it out of the back yard with them in hot pursuit!! I too.. in full on FREAK OUT! Finally reached the safety of the front door.. and hubby asks.. what are you laughing at??? Hellooooo.. I AM CRYING!! We laugh now.. but it really did make me a little crazy! Thanks for all your funny stories and great recipes that I have to try! .. I am new to your blog and having a great time!
I love this recipe, it is so easy! I brought this to a dinner party, it works wonderfully as a dessert and the host can eat the leftovers for breakfast the next morning. I reduced the amount of granulated sugar to 1/4 cup, and substituted 1% milk plus 1 3/4 tsp cream of tartar since I didn’t have buttermilk on hand. Also, the glaze works equally well with lime juice!