Lemon-Mint Cake

I have a girl crash on Giada DeLaurentiis.  I think she's so pretty and talented!

So few days ago, I tried this recipe and I just LOVEd it.  Crispy on the top and light yet moist texture.. yum..

Lemon-Mint Cake by Giada

The recipe calls for mint and syrup, but I took those out and it still tasted so good!  I didn't have any mint leaves at home and didn't want to stop by the market.. but maybe next time I will try with it. =)

I won't go step by step since you can see the recipe from the link above.  But few things I want to point out from the recipe~!

The recipe is pretty simple but it does take some time to whip up egg whites.  You want to make sure that eggs are room temperatured and have an electric hand mixer.  You want to try whipping by hand.. I highly do not recommend it.  Even with an electric hand mixer, it took me good 15 minutes to get the stiff peaks.

When you mix egg white mixture with yolk mixture, you have to be careful to "fold" these together yet mix very well.  If you don't fold, egg white mixture will lose its air-ness, and you won't get the light texture from the cake.

 And, don't try to mix all at once.  Half of egg white mixture at a time and keep folding to incorporate all well.

The mixture should look this light and somewhat fluffy.

See how the final mixture still has that texture from egg whites and make peaks??!! =D

 Then pour the batter into the pre-buttered/floured pan.  It calls for an 8-inch round pan, but I only had 12.  So I ended up using a square pan.

You can't tell very well from the picture, but the top of the cake is almost like meringue! crispy!

Let it cool little bit and enjoy!!!!!  It was just right amount of sweet for me without syrup.  But if you like your cake a bit sweeter, definitely try it with syrup!