Thyme for Cake

The recent few days has been rather stressful. As some of you know I started doing a YouTube channel. Yep sir-ee I took the leap into vlogging past the 5 minutes I have been posting on FB as a weekly hello to my followers there. It has not been an easy task. From trying to create a banner all on my own, and failing, even with a program, past a basic one. Filming and uploading has not been easy either! I tried filming on my computer, and it kept freezing, or I would look not into the eyes of my viewers, but the camera; so I switched to using my phone, and that is easier, but I can not use my phone turned on it's size to film, I tried, my eyes always go to the little camera..not into the screen...then I found what I thought was going to be the answer, my kindle. I downloaded an editor/movie maker and all went smoothly, until I went to upload to YT, and the program wanted to charge me to upload it. So I gave up on it, as I refused to pay, and there was no other way to take the video and get it uploaded, well that was until my daughter suggested uploading to my P.C. and then to YT....well, we THOUGHT it had gone smoothly to save it in the P.C movie maker, and then when I went back to find it, it was gone and I had already gotten rid of it on the Kindle. Then I went in to Y.T. to edit on of the other videos, the second one, a long one, that I had posted as a way to introduce myself, and clicked what I thought was the proper button, and it deleted the video...the words I spoke after... the tears...the sheer panic attack...not good! I ended up making a late night explanation video and posted it that night, it took 4 hours to upload and process and I stayed up until it was done...it was 3 a.m before I could turn in. 

The next day after sharing with a friend what had happened, a fan/friend said that she had a low quality copy and sent it to me....oh what a God send she was with having done that and last night I was able to replace my original with this copy. Vlogging is not hard, what is hard, my dear lovelies is the filming of ( at least until I find the best way to do it) and uploading is the issue.....it is nearly a two day process to do it, even a short 20 minutes and under! I hope in time, I will learn how to make it less stressful, I would like to learn how to add a introduction and credits page, music, and learn how to get through it in one take would be nice too LOL !! I enjoy doing it, and the bit of feedback has been very positive and encouraging. I am not sure what I expect from it or where it will go, but as long as there is interest, I will do it.  So what has that got to do with the title of the blog?? Read on!

When I get stressed, I eat, and sweets/baked goods are my go to, but it is truly hard to make it so perhaps it is not so bad for us to eat, my husband and myself, not to mention it rather effects the "bottom line" ....then there is trying to stick to mostly recipes from the 1950's, which were not always the most healthy; they did not shy away from butter. It is a challenge, but it has also been quite fun!  One thing I have enjoyed doing is being able to send treats to my husband's work, where he puts it in the customer lounge, and then the other fun thing is taking a "base" recipe and tweaking it....which is the case for the cake recipe that I am about to share. I took a recipe for a Citron Cake, which called for orange juice, orange rind, and chopped up candied citron, and replaced it with lemon juice, powdered lemon rind ( more on that in a minute) and here is the biggest change, I used minced fresh thyme instead of candied citron.....interested? Let's get started....

Ruby's Lemon Thyme Cake

2 cups sifted cake flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp nutmeg *

1/4 tsp alspice* 

1/4 tsp salt

1/3 cup shortening 

1 cup sugar 

2 eggs ( room temp.**) 

1 tbspoon lemon rind* 

1/4 cup of fresh lemon juice

2 tbspoons of minced fresh thyme 

raw sugar to sprinkle on top. 

(* I used an all in one baking spice, apple pie or

pumpkin spice would work as well...I used a powdered 

lemon rind, but dehydrated or fresh certainly works..

if using dried or powdered , be sure 

 to lesson the amount as they are more concentrated

I used two servings egg beaters to make it healthier .) 

Pre heat the oven to 350 degrees 

What to do....

Sift flour, baking soda, spices and salt together, cream shortening, with sugar until light and fluffy. Beat eggs ( or if using egg beaters skip this step) , until thick, add to shortening mixture, mix until blended, and then add the dry ingredients and lemon juice alternately. Beat the mixture thoroughly, after each addition. Add the minced fresh thyme. Pour into a greased 8x8 square cake pan ( I used PAM cooking spray, then lined the pan with parchment paper so that it would lift out of the pan easily) and then sprinkle top with raw sugar. Bake in the pre-heated oven for 50 minutes or until knife comes out clean and or the top springs  back. 

Make sure you really mince that thyme 

What? You have to taste test the batter right? 

Raw sugar is a nice mild sweetness and crunch on top of this
rather savory cake 

You can just see the specks of thyme ...so it is not over powering. 

The cake was the perfect late night snack with a glass of
wine and watching Grease Live that we had recorded. 

All cut up into bite size pieces and packaged up for
hubby to take to work !

 

I hope you will, grab a piece of cake, a cup of tea and  join me over on YouTube