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Lemon Cornmeal Breakfast Cake

February 25, 2011 by Joy the Baker 337 Comments

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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.

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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.

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Lemon Cornmeal Breakfast Cake

makes one 9-inch cake

recipe adapted from Bon Appetit, April 2009

Print this Recipe!

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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  1. Ashley

    September 22, 2013 at 3:31 pm

    THIS WAS soo good!!!!! the be story was funny and tramtizing i would be sooooo scared love our blog

    Reply
  2. Meg

    May 10, 2013 at 9:20 pm

    Might one make this if one doesn’t happen to have a skillet? Or one has a skillet but doesn’t know where said skillet is (how one comes to lose a large heavy fry pan is a question better not asked)…

    Reply
  3. Shannon

    August 27, 2012 at 7:41 pm

    I just recently found your site and loved it already, but this story had me laughing so hard! I can totally sympathize – I’m sure I would have done the same thing!

    Reply
  4. Amara

    July 31, 2012 at 2:35 am

    Just made this today, it was SO GOOD! Thanks so much :D

    Reply
  5. Andrea

    March 26, 2012 at 3:01 pm

    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!

    Reply
  6. Janice

    February 16, 2012 at 3:49 pm

    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!

    Reply
  7. Lindsay Beck

    October 2, 2011 at 1:16 pm

    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

    Reply
  8. arasim

    September 7, 2011 at 5:16 am

    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?

    Reply
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Trackbacks

  1. Cornmeal Skillet Cake + Blueberry Simple Syrup says:
    May 2, 2015 at 5:08 pm

    […] skillet cake? I think we’re on to something here. I first adapted this recipe, lovingly, from Joy the Baker, and she tops hers with a lemon glaze that I am sure is delicious. I’ve chosen instead to soak […]

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  2. Friday Five: Joy the Baker - Magical Mugz says:
    October 17, 2014 at 5:10 am

    […] stole my heart a few years ago, delivering beautiful photography, delicious recipes, and hilarious stories like this to my inbox every morning. To celebrate the release of her new book, Homemade Decadence: […]

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    April 1, 2014 at 5:14 am

    […] story that’s random and funny, like the Joy Bee Story that I just found! […]

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    April 16, 2012 at 6:18 am

    […] sugar early in the morning, I screw myself over and gorge on it for the rest of the day. I made this Lemon Cornmeal Cake a few weeks ago, and while they were good, they were way too sweet for my breakfast. So I decided […]

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  6. Cake for breakfast | Chez Moi says:
    March 24, 2012 at 3:15 am

    […] debate the the fuzziness of the breakfast/cake boundary, and when of them posts a recipe for Lemon Cornmeal Breakfast Cake without even a hint of irony, it turns out that this line can be crossed rather effortlessly after […]

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  7. FO: Lemon Cornmeal Cake « ella made that says:
    March 20, 2012 at 11:21 am

    […] with very good results, so I was confident that I could make it in a hurry. The recipe is from Joy the Baker, and I made it with almost no modifications. I added vanilla to both the cake and glaze, just […]

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