LEMON CAKE - for Julia, the boys and some time ago, Elizabeth.

 We celebrated a 'big' birthday of Julia's a few weeks ago with a wonderful party at Napa.  During the planning stage we had talked about Iain and I providing a cake each, which would also be dessert.  This did not work out.  I was a little disappointed as I was planning to make this cake which I knew Julia would love. "You can make it for me some other time" she said.
LEMON LAYER CAKE WITH LEMON CURD AND MASCARPONE
The occasion arose yesterday, dinner at Julia's with Iain and Rick, who recently announced they are moving to London, very sad for us.  Anyway, seemed like the right time to make this, although only 5 of us I knew they would be an appreciative audience and it is the kind of cake that might even be better on the day after it is made.
Luckily we had the day off work on Friday and I could start it then as it is a labour of love, making this cake.  I did the cake layers on Friday and the lemon curd, then did the syrup and frosting on Saturday morning and put it all together in time to have it in the fridge by lunchtime as it has to refrigerate for at least 6 hours.
The fun coincidence was that it was Elizabeth's birthday yesterday, so 8 years to the day when I made this cake for her, the only other time I have made it!  At that point we used to do an Oscar party, which doubled as Elizabeth's birthday party.  It grew over the years, various people hosted and it was always a fun filled evening with great food.  It was a girls only affair (most men did not share our opinions on the frocks and we were not interested in hearing theirs!).  This particular year I was hosting and asked Elizabeth what she would like for dessert/birthday cake.  "The cake that is on the cover of the current Bon Appetit" she replied with no hesitation, perhaps she was waiting for me to ask?! To be honest it was probably the most ambitious cake I had attempted at the time, but I enjoyed making it and it was delicious, as it was last night.

JOSEPH'S FAVOURITE BREAKFAST

Since Charlotte gave me the pan and the mix for these filled pancakes they have become a regular breakfast request on one of the weekend mornings.  I finally ran out of mix and had to improvise. I used my regular pancake recipe, only thing I changed was to separate the egg and whip the egg white before adding to the mixture.  They were definitely different, but Joseph declared them to be even better! Thanks again Charlotte.

• Sift 1 cup flour with
• 1 tsp sugar
• pinch of salt
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• add one egg yolk
• one cup buttermilk and whisk til smooth
• beat the egg white till fluffy (I do this first so I don't have to wash the beaters)
• carefully add the egg white and 2 TSPS melted butter

I thought the mixture was thicker than it should be and added another dollop of buttermilk.
In the meantime have the pan warming on a medium heat with a dab of butter in each dent. Put 1 TBSP of mixture in each and add filling of your choice, our favourites:

• Raspberries
• Blueberries
• Banana
• Peanut butter & jelly (actually Chelsey's fave!)

cover filling with more mixture.  When the bottoms are done carefully turn over with 2 wooden skewers and cook minute or so more.  My one tip is not to have the heat too high or the edges will burn before the middle is cooked.
Serve with melted butter and maple syrup, if you like.