Improv Cooking Challenge: {Gluten-Free} Candied Lemon Cake with Rosemary

Welcome to the first ImprovCooking Challenge of 2017. This group is now headed up by Nichole of Cookaholic Wife.

The idea behind Improv Cooking Challenge: we are assigned two ingredients and are challenged to create a recipe with those two things. 

This month's items: lemon and rosemary. Those are two of my favorites and I longed to put them together in a savory dish. But time got away from me this month and my Enthusiastic Kitchen Elf pitched in to make this while he was with my parents after school.

This is one of our favorite cakes. He makes it without limoncello to keep it kid-friendly. And he used gluten-free flour so Daddy could have some, too. Thanks, Little One!

Jake did pour himself some homemade limoncello to go alongside. I had to avoid both the cake and the liqueur since I'm on this Whole30 Adventure.

An InLinkz Link-up

{Gluten-Free} Candied Lemon Cake with Rosemary

Ingredients

Candied Lemon

• 1 C organic granulated sugar
• 1 C water
• 1 C thinly sliced organic lemons

Cake

• 1/2 C ground almonds or almond flour
• 1-1/2 C gluten-free all purpose flour
• 1/2 C butter
• 1 C organic granulated sugar
• 2 eggs
• juice and zest from 1 lemon
• 1 T fresh, chopped rosemary
• 1/2 t pure lemon extract
• 1/2 t baking powder
• 2/3 C + 3 T organic milk
• Also needed: parchment paper and butter for greasing dish and paper

The Glaze and Garnish

• 1 C organic powdered sugar
• 1 T pure lemon extract
• 2 T cold water
• fresh, organic rosemary sprigs

Procedure

Candied Lemon
Place the water and sugar in a pan and bring to a boil. Cook until the sugar is completely dissolved. Lay the slices in the syrup so that they are all flat and all submerged. Simmer until the rind is softened and translucent in places. Approximately 5-7 minutes. Remove from the syrup with a slotted spoon and set aside.

Cake

Preheat 350 degrees F. Butter a baking dish, line with parchment, and butter the parchment paper.

Beat the butter and sugar together in a large mixing bowl until lightened in color and fluffy. Beat in the eggs, one at a time. Pour in the milk, lemon juice, and lemon extract. Fold in the ground almonds, gluten-free flour, baking powder, rosemary, and lemon zest. Stir with a spatula until just moistened.

Spoon into the prepared baking dish. Bake for 45 minutes. Let cool for 5 minutes in pan, then invert onto a wire rack. Let cool while you make the glaze.

The Glaze and Garnish

Whisk all of the ingredients, except the rosemary, together until they form a glaze. Pour over the cooled cake.

 

Decorate with candied lemon slices.

 

And garnish with fresh, organic rosemary twigs.