Why Lemon Almond?

I had been toying with the idea of starting a baking blog when I was browsing through my newly purchased book from Nigella Lawson. Her recipe for a Lemon Almond Cake just grabbed me and I knew that had to be the first thing I would make from her book.

It also occurred to me that this would be a great name for my new blog! Lemon and almond are flavours I’ve always enjoyed. While chocolate is sometimes a favourite (depending on the time of the month), lemon and almond are perennial. It also describes my kitchen - almond countertops and lemon coloured cabinets.

Of course, my future posts will not focus only on lemon or almond flavours. I look forward to being motivated by the many food blogging challenges that I hope will inspire me to try new things.

In my kitchen, I rely on a trusty old Kenwood A701A to do most of my mixing and whisking. I also strongly recommend an oven thermometer because temperature guesswork sometimes results in frustration and grief.

With the variety of cookbooks and recipes out there, its sometimes hard to figure out the proper measurement of the quantities needed. I prefer to use volume measuremets in my recipes simply because I’m too lazy to take out the weighing machine and have one thing extra to clean.

These are some approximate equivalents that I use:
Butter: 1 cup = 227g = 2 sticks = 8oz
Flour: 1 cup = 100g
Sugar: 1cup = 200g
1 egg = 3tbs (2tbs white, 1tbs yolk)

In addition, I also refer to this useful chart for converting volume and weight for all sorts of other ingredients.

So ends my inaugural entry. Look out for more good stuff!