Comments on: Great-Aunt Ruby’s Lemon Iced Cake

By: carrie

carrie — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 21:22:57 +0000

You went to the trouble of making homemade cake mix and then added boxed instant pudding? What a shame.

By: LynneW

LynneW — Fri, 15 May 2009 19:16:33 +0000

Andrea and Alexandra, there is a recipe at HomeSteadingToday which I have copied below.

Instant Clear Jel is a modified food starch product, found in many of the items you buy. It is used as an instant thickener because it thickens instantly without heat. You should mix it with dry milk, sugar, honey, or spices, to avoid lumps forming. Shaking sugar and clear Jel in a bowl with a lid is an easy way to mix it. It may be put in a blender if you do get lumps, or they can be mashed out with a fork. Clear Jel is a shelf stable product. It will replace high priced pectin and uses less sugar.

Vanilla Pudding
1/3 cup instant dry milk
1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup Clear Jel Instant
1/4 teaspoon salt

Combine dry ingredients. Add 2 cups cold milk and 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract. Mix in blender or with a mixer. Thin if needed. May vary with lemon, coconut, etc. Add more sugar with cocoa.

I hope this helps and you can find a similar product in your area.
LynneW

By: KCRanch

KCRanch — Thu, 14 May 2009 15:01:34 +0000

Suzanne – I made this cake for my family last weekend and all I can say is OMG!! It was delicious, moist, tangy perfection. I did end up making extra glaze because we love lemon anything at our house and even added some of the zest to the glaze to keep the flavor in tact. The boys all agreed this one is a keeper and needs to be made again, like NOW. Thanks for another great recipe!

By: Suzanne McMinn

Suzanne McMinn — Sun, 10 May 2009 19:22:16 +0000

Hi! I do make my own vanilla extract and I’ve posted about it a couple times. You can see one of those posts here:
http://suzannemcminn.com/blog/2008/11/07/homemade-vanilla-the-big-bottle-method/

By: wm1

wm1 — Sun, 10 May 2009 19:13:12 +0000

Try making your own vanilla extract. I buy good bourbon vanilla beans at an online Juliet Mae Spices. Try making your own. it really makes a difference. Like fresh vs. canned.

By: Betty Jo

Betty Jo — Wed, 06 May 2009 16:45:17 +0000

OMGosh! This makes me want to lick my monitor! ♥

By: Kris

Kris — Tue, 05 May 2009 22:22:19 +0000

Instant pudding is made with gelatinized starch so you can’t make an exact replacement. I would start with some easy lemon pudding recipes, converting wet ingrediants like milk and eggs to their dry powdered forms. I’m not sure if you’d end up with the same results in the cake. Maybe the gelatin is the key?

By: Alexandra

Alexandra — Mon, 04 May 2009 22:02:13 +0000

Thank you, Suzanne and thank you Aunt Ruby. The cake sounds great but does anyone know what I can replace the instant pudding mix with? We can´t get that stuff here in Argentina.

By: Andrea

Andrea — Sat, 02 May 2009 06:04:10 +0000

I love lemon cake and am very happy because I have your yellow cake mix recipe, but this is not a scratch recipe. Lemon pudding mix isn’t a basic ingredient and is not available in England.

By: Diane

Diane — Sat, 02 May 2009 03:13:37 +0000

My sister wants a lemon cake for her graduation party. I think this will be the one I make! Btw, I tried your Quick mix recipe and made sausage cheese biscuits….they were heavenly!!!!! I will make them again and again and I have promised my husband I will make some for him to take to work. Thank you so much for posting the recipes with pictures…it really helps!!!!