Lemon-Curd Cakes with Poppy Seeds

On Monday, I cooked dinner for the Scrabble Society, which included an omelet made with eggs, broccoli, and kale from the backyard, and a salad made with some backyard lettuce. We had Lemon-Curd Cakes with Poppy Seeds for dessert, which were exquisitely delicious and became an instant Scrabble Society favorite. They're a great riff on lemon-poppyseed muffins, with even more lemony deliciousness, and are great as a spring/summertime dessert. The recipe came out of January's Food and Wine. You'll need at least two good-sized lemons and a vanilla bean, and some creme fraiche or sour cream (I mention those in case you need to make a mental note before you go shopping).

Cake:
5 Tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
1 C sugar
5 large eggs, separated
3/4 C whole milk
1/2 C fresh lemon juice (I used Meyer lemons)
1/4 C cake flour, sifted (I didn't sift, but I'd recommend it for sure)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Spray 2 muffin tins with vegetable oil spray, and place them into larger pans, like 9x12 sheet pans. In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar until pale. Beat in the egg yolks one at a time, then in two batches, beat in the milk, lemon juice and flour.

Meanwhile, beat the egg whites to firm peaks. Fold them into the batter and then spoon that business into the muffin tins. They will be pretty full, and the batter is somewhat runny but should be fluffy. Add hot water to the sheet pans until it's about halfway up the sides of the muffin tins. Bake for about 20 minutes, until the cakes are slightly puffed and just set. Let cool, and then cover and refrigerate overnight (or all day, if you baked them in the morning, like I did).

Lemon Syrup
1 tsp finely grated lemon zest
1/2 C fresh lemon juice
1/2 vanilla bean, split and seeds scraped
1/4 C sugar

Combine ingredients in a small saucepan, and cook over low heat, stirring, until the sugar has melted (about 3 minutes). Remove the vanilla bean and give it to your friends to play with.

Poppy Cream
1/2 C heavy cream
3 Tbsp creme fraiche (or if you are not a fancy-pants French person with ready access to such things, sour cream instead)
2 tsp poppy seeds, plus more for garnish
2 Tbsp sugar

Beat the cream with the sugar utnil you get soft peaks. Add the creme fraiche or sour cream, and the poppy seeds.

Plate it all up, fancy-like:
Run a thin knife around the edges of the wee cake-lets. Invert them onto plates, spoon some lemon syrup over the top, and dollop on a bit of poppy cream. Then you can start to eat. Stopping is the hard part.

Fountaining

I've come up with a somewhat odd idea. The other week, while S and I were at the farmer's market, we strolled past the stall of a woman who takes old water heaters and turns them into fountains. S remarked that he's partial to Spanish-style concrete fountains; there's something about water running over corrosive metal that troubles him.

I had this thought in the back of my mind, along with thoughts about needing to come up with a cooling system for the chicken coop during the middle of the summer. At some point, the thoughts collided. I'd been considering a mister system, but I'm beginning to wonder if a fountain would actually be more efficient overall. It's certainly the more aesthetically pleasing option, although it would require electricity, which often requires more water than just plain water. If I can find one in my price range, or make one...it could make the backyard so much more pleasant in the summertime.

This thought also comes from hanging out with a long-time Arizonan, who pointed out that a lot of old buildings are constructed around a central courtyard that contains a fountain - those buildings stay remarkably cool during the summer.