After the Salad Luncheon Tea

Last Wednesday, the Lutheran Church in the little town 20 miles east of us had their annual Salad Luncheon. Friend Sally and I attended and had a great time, tasting all of the good salads -- always two meat, two vegetable and two fruit, with Sally's (but not friend Sally) breadsticks and a dessert -- this time it was a chocolate peanut butter cookie.

We did a bit of shopping after and then when we got back to Linderhof, there was tea and a cake awaiting us for a midafternoon nosh.

The table still held Tuesday's Quaker Lace tablecloth and the blue vase with the lacecaps. And, of course, I had to use my blue and white.
Spode Blue Room cups and saucers, tea plates and even a teapot. Mrs. Boland's silver forks and a wee starched pressed napkin.
There is nothing so homey as a lace tablecloth, a vase of flowers, a cake and the Spode!
And the cake -- a new recipe that I wanted to try. From an old cookbook bought at a garage sale during the last month. The 50 cent price was worth every penny if I got nothing else but this cake. It's French and translates to "Everyday Jam Cake". I fudged and added lemon zest to the batter and lemon curd instead of jam. Sally pronounced it "the best"!
With lemon in the cake and in between the layers, yellow sugared pansies seemed the ideal decoration.

It's Thursday and time for tablescapes. So please join Susan at Between Naps on the Porch to see what everyone is doing on their tables this Thursday. At Linderhof, we had afternoon tea! The tea of choice with this lemon cake? An Earl Grey with a hint of citrusy bergamont.

Gateau De Jour

(Everyday Jam Cake)

1/2 cup butter

1 cup sugar

1 t. vanilla

2 eggs

2 cups flour

1 T. baking powder

1/2 t. salt

1 cup milk

1/4 cup apricot jam

2 - 3 T. powdered sugar

Cream the butter, sugar and vanilla together in a large mixer. Add eggs and beat until blended. Sift and measure flour. Combine with baking powder and salt. Add to creamed mixture with milk. Beat only until blended.

Lightly oil a 9 inch layer cake pan with 2 inch sides. Dust with flour. Cut waxed paper to fit bottom of pan and place over flour. Spoon in cake batter and bake at 350 for 30 minutes. Cool in pan on rack.

As soon as cake is cool enough to handle, invert it onto yur hand and quickly peel off the waxed paper. Place cake sooth-side-up on serving dish. Split in half horizontally. Spread jam between layers. Place a lace paper doily on top of cake. Sift powdered sugar over top. Carefully remove doily. Serve the cake warm or at room temperature.

NOTE: I added the zest of 1 lemon to the batter. And then I used lemon curd instead of jam between the layers.