Tiptoe Through the Lemon Sugar Tulip Cakes & A Visit to Keukenhof

Ever since I saw THIS fabulous Fight Club cake covered with poured fondant Ali over at Three Baking Sheets to the Wind created, I wanted to try the method myself.

As usual, tulips are everywhere in the spring, especially here in our little corner of Germany. We are located two hours from Lisse, Holland, home of the famous Keukenhof gardens.

With 4.5 million tulips in 100 varieties,  It’s not tulip mania there, it’s tulip insanity.

Speaking of tulip mania, did you know in the 1600s tulip bulbs were worth more than gold in Holland?

These are the same people who put a tax on the length of curtains hanging in windows. I’m just sayin’. I have to keep it friendly here since the Dutch border is only two kilometers away from my living room sofa. Hi neighbors! (waving)

A few years ago I visited the gardens. The overcast weather could not surpress the riot of colors. The gardens are truly something special. Here I am standing on top of a windmill. That strip of red behind me is a field of tulips.

I would love to blame the state of my hair on the motion of the windmill but it was standing still at the time.

Here is another view from the windmill.

Here’s the obligatory picture of a windmill in a post about Holland:

The varieties of tulips are incredible at Keukenhof. Many of them also had super sexy names like Flaming Parrot, Arabian Mystery, Queen of the Night and Blueberry Ripple.

The garden was originally the herb and vegetable garden for the royal palace. The name Keukenhof means Kitchen yard.

The blooming season at Keukenhof is short, from mid March until mid April. But it’s glorious.

It seemed every year I would miss it because I was out of town or working. This is why I tortured my husband one spring into driving me to see tulip fields closer to home.

The strip of yellow behind Dr. B is a tulip field

So I had tulips on my mind for a post theme and was rummaging around in the pantry looking for my tulip cookie cutter and spied this:

• 1+1/4 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• pinch of salt
• 1 stick butter
• 2/4 cup sugar
• 1/8 cup lemon sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 egg yolk
• 1 teaspoon lemon extract
• 1/4 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/8 cup lemon juice
• 1/4 cup milk

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
• Grease cakelet molds.
• Sift together flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl and set aside.
• Beat butter and sugar together until creamy.
• Add egg and then egg yolk. Blend thoroughly.
• Add extracts and lemon juice.
• Alternate adding the flour mixture with the milk until everything is blended.

• Pour into molds and bake for 20 minutes or until knife inserted into center comes out clean.
• Wat 10 minutes, un-mold the cakes, transfer to a wire rack and let cool completely.