Lemon Poke Cake

I am on a pretty strict nutrition plan and unfortunately, sweets aren’t a big part of the plan. Go figure, right?! I am allowed one day a week to eat whatever the heck I want. My free day is usually Saturdays. So I allow myself to bake one naughty treat once a week. This lemon cake has been on my to-make list for quite some time and now I can scratch it off.

I love Poke Cakes/Better Than Sex Cakes for a few reasons: 

1. Super easy to make
2. Super delicious. And I mean SUPER. Like Super Duper.
3. Super easy to adjust to your liking

I like I mentioned, I made this cake with lemon in mind. The traditional cake is made with (mostly) all things chocolate. The chocolate version calls for hot fudge to be poured over the cake. Lemon glaze is easy to make so I knew immediately it would replace the fudge. 

Heath Toffee pieces are used as a topping on the traditional cake but chocolate wasn’t going to work with the lemon. Fruit is the way to go! I used blackberries. My first thought was blueberries, but my local grocery store happened to be out of them that day. 

This cake has a burst of wild lemon citrus in every bite. We’re talking mega, major, serious lemon here.

For the cake:

1 box of lemon cake (and whatever the box ingredients call for)

1 can sweetened condensed milk

1 container of Cool Whip

Your choice of berry

For the lemon glaze:

3 cups of powdered sugar

Fresh squeezed juice from 2 lemons

5 Tbsp half & half or heavy cream

Prepare the cake per the box instructions. Once the cake is completely baked, pull from oven and immediately poke holes throughout the cake. I used the handle from a wooden spoon. Pour the sweetened condensed milk over the top of the cake.

Allow cake to cool completely.

While it cools, let’s make the glaze.

Combine powdered sugar, fresh squeezed lemon juice and half & half or cream. Whisk all together. I made mine somewhat thin because I wanted it to be easy to pour over the cake. You can adjust the thickness to your liking by adding or reducing the powdered sugar.

Once the cake has completely cooled, pour the glaze over the top of the cake.

Store cake in the fridge, allow the glaze to set. About 10 minutes.

Add Cool Whip and top with berries and you are done!

For me, these poke cakes are always better the next day!

Store leftovers in the fridge or if you’re like me, send them to work with your husband. The temptation is too much for me.

Enjoy!

Pomegranate White Chocolate Scones

Pomegranate and White Chocolate Scones

with a Lemon Glaze

I tried my first scone about a year ago. Isn’t that weird? How did I go 35 years without trying a scone? Since then I’ve tried a scone at about every coffeehouse in the city. I’m making up for lost time, you see. 

I consider myself an amateur cook/baker so the idea of baking scones sounded intimidating. The thought kept creeping into my head until finally I said to myself in a Julia Childs type tone “Enough is enough… get over it, girl”.  

I did just that. I got over my intimidation. I found a recipe to base my scone off and the rest is history. I have no idea what I thought was so intimidating. These amazing little pastries are surprisingly easy. 

Here we go!

Pomegranate White Chocolate Scones (with Lemon Glaze)

2 cups flour       
1 Tablespoon sugar
1 Tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 ½ sticks of cold unsalted butter, diced
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 cup cold heavy cream
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup dried pomegranate (I actually used Craisins infused w/pomegranate juice)
3/4 cup white chocolate chips

For the glaze:

1/2 cup confectioners sugar
1 Tablespoon fresh squeezed lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper or baking mat.

Combine the dry ingredients into a large mixing bowl.  Stir together.  Add the diced butter on low speed.  Mix until the butter is in pea sized pieces.  Combine the cream, vanilla and eggs in a measuring cup and slowly pour into the butter/flour mixture.  Combine until just blended.

Toss the dried pomegranate with 1 Tablespoon flour (this helps to distribute evenly throughout the batter). Add to the mixture, add white chocolate chips and combine.

Grab the dough and roll it out (shake some flour on the dough if it’s sticky). I rolled my dough to a generous thickness. These puppies don’t rise much, a little less than twice the size of the uncooked dough. Use a cute cookie cutter or cut the dough into a traditional scone shape. 

Put the cut out scones on the prepared cookie sheet and bake for about 20 minutes. Check scones at about 15 minutes. 

To make the glaze, whisk the confectioners sugar with the lemon juice and vanilla until smooth.  Add a little more sugar or some cream to get the correct consistency. 

Glaze the scones once they are completely cool. 

Gobble, gobble, gobble!!!!