Whipped Cream Cake

I recently rediscovered the beauty of the Settlement Cookbook, a book that my 'show' relied upon heavily back in the day. It is an excellent source of many simple, yet tasty recipes. Many of my early recipes were developed from old standards in this book. My mom owned the 1976 version, but gifted me with this version several years back. Interestingly, she didn't give me this version, which I am sure would have taught me to make cinnamon buns, of course landing me a man. ;-)

The other night, when looking for a cake recipe, and overcome by laziness (translation: I didn't want to have to go to the store) - I searched through several issues of Bon Appetit and Gourmet, and several of my cookbooks (Joy of Cooking, Bon Appetit, Martha Stewart) and found a lot of great chocolate cake recipes (I've done a lot of chocolate recently - and needed a break) or lots of exotic cake recipes, but nothing jumped out. (Ok, so I spent way more time looking for a recipe than a trip to the store would have taken....) As I was putting Martha back on the shelf, I noticed the Settlement book looking all lonely (dusty), and figured it was worth a peek. I found several recipes that called for few ingredients and sounded very nice. Of course, I couldn't leave well enough alone and had to adjust things the way that I thought they should be - but A) I got a tasty cake out of it and B) I didn't have to run out to Kroger.

The frosting for the cake was completely made up on the fly, so what I post here is approximate - you'll have to adjust things to your taste - as you should with ALL recipes.

Whipped Cream Cake (modified from the Settlement Cookbook)
1 cup heavy cream
1 cup sugar (I used vanilla sugar)
2 eggs
1 t vanilla
1 1/2 t lemon oil/extract
1 1/2 cups cake flour
2 t baking powder
1/2 t salt

Preheat the oven to 350F. Generously butter two 8" round cake pans (or whatever you are going to use).

Whip the cream and sugar until it thickens, in a separate bowl, beat the eggs, vanilla and lemon extracts. Fold the egg mix into the whipped cream. Sift the dry ingredients into the wet mixture and stir until combined - be careful not to over-beat. Pour into the prepared cake pans and bake for 30 minutes, or until it passes the toothpick test.

Frost when completely cool.

You can use just about any frosting you want for this cake - but I made a "lemon cheesecake" frosting by doing a slight twist on one of my nana's frosting recipes.

Lemon Cheesecake Frosting
1 pckg cheesecake pudding (prepare according to package directions)
1 cup whipped cream
1 cup sugar
1 8oz package cream cheese
1/2 cup butter
2 t lemon oil/extract

Blend together butter, cream cheese and sugar. Set aside. Whip the cream until fluffy. When pudding is about room T, blend with the cream cheese frosting and extract, then fold the resultant mixture into the whipped cream. This frosting has a very smooth texture and a really nice taste.