The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake by Aimee Bender
The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake by Aimee Bender 2 1/2 eggs
This is a marmite book.
A book that will have you loving it or hating it.
I think it’s been a bit of a shock as a choice for the Foodie Book Club, an unexpected choice, but one that I think has been a little bit of a pre curser to some of the books coming up.
Books to challenge our reading genres, to widen our choices and to try to find books to satisfy everyone’s taste too.
My first thoughts about the premise of the book was that it sounded fun, everyone knows that I do love a good mystical, magical book about food and feelings.
The idea that you could taste the emotions of the people who cooked or baked the food I ate, sounded, to me, like a superpower.
Not until I started reading the book, did I think about the negative side of this phenomena.
To be able to detect every underlying feeling, good, bad, happy, sad, angry, despair and desperation, became more of a burden the more I read about Rose Edelstein growing up with this affliction.
As a child of nine, biting into a lemon and chocolate cake her mother had made for her, she’s suddenly able to feel the raw emotions of her mother’s loneliness,
Time moves on and she feels her mother’s affair within the roast beef.
After her brothers “disappearing”, she stays at home while others go off to college, and Rose looks for local cooks to find food that she is able to eat, not surprising taking an interest in becoming a cooking herself.
No more spoilers.
Only to say, that this book is about loving people in your life, while knowing their secrets. Maybe that ever sought-after unconditional love to an extent is a way to describe it.
I’ll let you read the rest for yourself.
For me, The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake by Aimee Bender was a new scope of reading.
As I’ve mentioned before, I’m not into metaphors when I’m reading, just a personal idiosyncrasy of mine.
I like to read a book, enjoy the theme and the flow without always having to wonder, is it real?
As with most things, art, writing even love itself, it’s very subjective.
To like or not to like.
For me, it won’t be a book that I would add to my favourites list, although I will be willing to choose another of Aimee Benders book again in the future. So, get ready Foodie Book Club Folks!
I give this book 2 ½ Egg rating
The Foodie Book Club Book for July Is:
The Mistress of Spices by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
Now the recipe.
I’ve decided to make a very lemony pie, a lemon & lime shaker pie, otherwise known as Ohio lemon pie.
Ok, so I had to add a little bit of me to the recipe and add some limes.
Originally this pie was attributed to the Shaker community. Two versions were thought to come from there, a lemon pie very much like the lemon meringue pie, and a more cost-conscious version using all of the lemon including the rind.
This all-in version is the recipe I’ve made here.
The key to this pie is to slice your lemons (or lemons and limes as in this version), skin and all , wafer thin. Mix them in with the sugar (as gently as possible, and let them stand, covered, in the fridge for no less than 4 hours.
I usually leave mine overnight, giving them a gentle stir every now and then.
A magic thing then happens.
All the sugar dissolves and the lemon rinds soften so that all that’s left is a sticky, tangy lemony syrup with pieces of sticky citrus fruit.
Once mixed with the eggs and baked between two layers of my buttery pastry, you have a delectable pie with a filling which is a cross between a marmalade and a lemon curd.
Go on, give it a go and let me know how yours turns out.
Enjoy Your Sweet Life
Lemon & Lime Shaker Pie
Buttery crust and a syrupy tangy middle .
What You Need
3 or 4 lemons and limes
400g Castor sugar plus more for decorating
4 large eggs – beaten
1 beaten egg for egg wash pastry top
3 tablespoons plain flour plus more for dusting
60g Butter - melted
1/4 teaspoon Malden sea salt
The all butter pastry is really delicate but tastes divine
Pastry
250g butter – room temperature
350g plain flour
100g castor sugar
ice water – to bind if necessary - See Tip Box
Wafer thin slices of lemon & lime
How It’s Done
Wash the lemons and limes.
Once washed, zest the rinds of all the fruit and place into a bowl.
Slice all of the citrus wafer thin, throw away the ends – See Tip Box
Place all the fruit in the bowl with the zest, cover with the sugar and stir gently to compete mix.
Cover the bowl in wrap and leave in the fridge for no less than 4 hours, stirring occasionally. Overnight is better – See Tip Box
For this pie the more pastry the better, but if you want to be fancy , go on, do your thing!
Pastry
Add all of the pastry ingredients, except the water, to a food processor and mix until it all comes together.
If needed, add drops of water to the mix until you get a smooth pliable consistency.
Remove from the food processor, wrap and put it aside for 15 minutes rest. – See Tip Box
Heat the oven to 180c
Once the pastry has rested, cut in half and roll half out the pastry out to fit your pie dish.
To your lemon, lime and sugar mixture add the four beaten eggs, the melted butter, flour and Malden sea salt.
Mix it really well and pour it into the pastry bottom.
Cut the pastry lid to fit, crimp all the way around the edges to seal them and cut two or three small holes in the top to let the steam out.
Glaze the top of the pie with the beaten egg, sprinkle castor sugar on the top and bake for 22-24 minutes– See Tip Box
Once cooked, leave to cool for 40-60 minutes
Serve with a sprinkling of sugar on the crust
Inside, so tart you’ll have to pucker up!
Tip Box
Pastry – a) Before adding water, make sure all the pastry crumbs come together into a ball in the food processor. The butter may be enough.
b) You want the pastry quite pliable so it doesn’t break too much when rolling it or adding t to your pie dish. Add the water drops at a time, and mix in between so that it doesn’t get very wet.
c) If it’s too hot to rest your pastry out of the fridge, set it in the fridge to rest but make sure you take it out of the fridge before rolling so that it becomes pliable again.
d) If you want to be fancy, you can plait the pastry for the top, cut holes in it or do a lattice pattern pastry top.
e) My all butter pastry is very delicate to handle but tastes amazing. But if you have a great sweet pastry recipe that you prefer, use that instead.
Lemons & Limes- a) The thinner you can slice your citrus fruit the better it will turn out.
b) When resting in the fridge, there is a much better outcome if they are left overnight, stirring 3 or four times.
Ovens – a) All ovens vary so adjust your cooking time accordingly.
b) Once coked the pie should have a golden brown top and it may even have some of the caramelised filling showing .
A thing of beauty
