Lemon Cream Cheese Butter Cake

So, I have just found out that when you have a new, young citrus tree it is a good idea to pick the flowers off it for the first year or so. This is to ensure that the tree can concentrate its energy and nutrients on becoming well established to better hold large quantities of fruit. 
Apparently, if you let the tree bear fruit before it has become established, the tree will concentrate all of this energy into the fruit and therefore its growth will become stunted.  


I wish I had thought to read up on this when I first got my citrus trees.


To be fair, the torrential rain that Sydney had pretty much took care of any flower development on my Buddha's Hand and Lemonade trees (as well as general leaf and stem growth too..) but at least they haven't gone the way of my Meyer Lemon Tree (the newest addition to my failing citrus collection). 
You see, there was one flower on it that I didn't notice was there until it had begun to grow into a fruit. It was protected by branches and leaves and it seemed to survive all that mother nature threw at it over the Summer. 


Now there is a Meyer Lemon to look forward to - even if the tree that it is attached to is now naked. Seriously, there are spindly, green branches, five leaves and a (solitary) fruit that is coming along brilliantly! I feel bad that the fruit is sucking the life force out of my baby tree, but I really don't want to lose the lemon at this stage of its life.


I managed to get my hands on some Meyer lemons (something not very easy to do here in Sydney) and now, after tasting them, I am torn as to what to do with my lone Meyer lemon. You see, if I pick it now the tree will (hopefully) perk up and I have a better chance of getting a larger crop of fruit next year, but if I leave the fruit where it is in a month or so I will have a beautiful Meyer lemon (the first one I have grown).


Meyer lemons are like a cross between a mandarin (or orange) and a regular lemon. The juice is sweeter and less acidic than your regular variety of lemon and the skin is thinner and more fragrant. Because of this, Meyer lemons are very popular in desserts.

Which brings me to the cake, this cake; the best cake that I have ever made - so far.
I used the Meyer lemons in this cake and they were a beautiful addition. However those before me who have made this cake have made it with the good old Lisbon or Eureka varieties of lemon - so there is no excuse not to make this if you can't get Meyers. 

This cake is like a cross between a cheesecake and a butter cake. It is dense yet crumbly at the same time and the tangy, zested glaze seems to offset any richness.  I have never tasted a cake quite like it. This recipe was given to me by my cousin and it is my Aunt's go-to cake (I can certainly see why). It is a cinch to whip up as it only requires one bowl and according to the recipe, you can freeze it for up to a month.  Though why you would want to do that is beyond me.


Ok, full disclosure time: this cake is tasty for a reason and I am not talking about the lemons - it  contains a whole pack of butter AND a whole pack of cream cheese. Yes, you read correctly. 
Don't you just love that I left this detail out until the very end? 
So now you know this, it is probably a good idea not to go baking it every week. I don't think that the point of this cake is to bake it that often anyway. To me, it is such a special cake, you don't want to get too used to it. Save this one for special occasions or if you happen to get some really good Meyer lemons.

So I am going to ask you, my lovely readers, what should I do about the lone Meyer I have growing? Should I sacrifice it to help my tree or should I take my chances and leave it to ripen and hopefully the tree will right itself after that?


Lemon Cream Cheese Butter Cake
I am unable to attribute this to a source as I was given it written down. Apparently it comes from (and I quote) "some ancient 70's BBQ book"

• 125g (1 pack) of cream cheese
• 250g butter
• 2 tsp grated lemon zest
• 1 1/2 cups castor sugar
• 3 eggs
• 11/2 cups plain flour, sifted

Pre-heat the oven to 180C and grease a 20cm ring or bundt cake tin. 

Beat cream cheese, butter and zest together until smooth, add the sugar and beat until light and fluffy. Beat the eggs in one at a time, beat in the sifted flour lightly in 2 batches until smooth. Spoon the cake mix into your tin and bake at 180C for 30 minutes. Then reduce the temperature to 160C for a further 30 minutes. Cool the cake in the tin for 10 minutes before turning on to a wire rack to cool further. Once cold, drizzle the glaze over the cake and top with grated lemon zest.

For the glaze

• 1 cup icing sugar
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• Zest from 1 lemon

Mix the icing sugar and juice together until smooth and at a pouring consistency.