When Life Gives You Lemons

Student Journalist
4 days ago
2 min read

Bringing a family recipe to life...

Even while moving from state to state in India, the Gupta family’s love for food & cooking has remained constant.

And here comes the best of the best from their recipes: the lemon caramel cake. To say that it is simply a cake would be a travesty; it boasts of a complex flavour and nuanced textures, that have been prepared consistently over the last decade.

It is made of simply three parts: firm Italian lemons, a sponge cake, and a delicious lemon caramel sauce. What it brings to the table, so to speak, is the warmth and love of a family of

food fans.

The candied lemons go through an arduous process. First, they are sliced thin, and dropped into a pan of boiling water and sugar, then a minute later deposited in a bowl of ice water. They are then cooked in sugar syrup, strained and put into the oven on a low temperature to become the sweet, chewy treat that everyone craves.

The ingredients for the sponge cake, the second part of the recipe...

...are mixed together to make the batter: a simple mixture of flour, eggs, sugar, milk, baking powder, and vanilla extract, with a dash of lemon zest.

After the mixture is blended into a thick, creamy batter...

It is deposited into a pre-dusted cake tin...

...and placed in the oven to bake.

First, the butter and the sugar are put in a pan on the stove and whisked until they are melted together.

While the cake bakes, the ingredients for the lemon caramel sauce are gathered.

The mixture begins to caramelize and thicken, changing from a pale yellow colour to a more nutty brown tint, which is when it is taken off the stove.

The lemon juice is then added to the mixture, which makes it hiss and spatter. To calm it down, the cream is immediately added to the mixture. It is then whisked further, and strained to remove

any hardened sugar lumps, thereby resulting in a thin silky sauce.

And with these final steps...