Meyer Lemon Sponge Pie or Lemon Cake Pie

Saturday, February 13, 2010

Meyer Lemon Sponge Cake Pie
Meyer Lemon Sponge Pie

I've never heard of the Lemon Sponge Pie (sometimes referred to as a Lemon Cake Pie). It is attributed to the Pennsylvania Dutch. Where have you been all my life?

Fellow Trader Joe enthusiast, Leah of Wine Imbiber is having a Lemon LoveFest! And of course I'm going to join in! I've been a Meyer Lemon Fairy, leaving my dad's Meyer Lemons around town. Please check out her Lemon LoveFest and submit your favorite lemon recipe(s)!

And be sure to check out the Lemon LoveFest Library that is filled with many absolutely yummy lemon dishes!!! My to-do list just got a lot longer!

Click Here!

Meyer Lemon Sponge Cake Pie
The pie is magic! :) A layer of lemon appears on the bottom and a nice light topping floats to the top.

Meyer Lemon Sponge Cake Pie
Since my pie class at the New School of Cooking, I've been making pie crusts from scratch. Whoo hoo.

Meyer Lemon Sponge Cake Pie
It's Lemon Season. Pick up a few and make a Lemon Sponge Pie!

Lemon Sponge Pie / Lemon Cake Pie
Click here for a printable recipe

Recipe: Adapted from Bunny's Warm Oven (5/21/2008) who adapted it from Betty Crocker Baking Classics (appears to be out of print)

One 9" unbaked pie crust

3 large eggs, separated
2 T grated lemon peel (I used a microplane to zest the lemons)
2/3 cup Meyer lemon juice (Recipe calls for regular lemon juice, but I used Meyer Lemons)
1 cup milk (I used whole milk)
1 1/2 cups sugar (According to Bunny's Warm Oven, the original recipe calls for 1 1/4 cup sugar...so you should decide based on how tart you want your pie. I used 1 1/2 cups in mine)
1/3 cup flour
1/4 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Prepare pastry and line pie pan with crust. Leave unbaked.

Beat egg whites in a large mixer bowl until stiff peaks form, reserve.

Beat egg yolks; beat in lemon peel, lemon juice and milk. Add sugar, flour and salt; beat until smooth. Fold lemon mixture into egg whites. Pour into pastry-lined pie plate. Bake until golden brown, 45 to 50 minutes. (A layer of lemon will settle to the bottom and a soft meringue-like topping to float to the top.) Serve with sweetened whipped cream if desired. (I served it plain and that was fine).

My notes: I found the lemon mixture was very very liquid, and that made folding the egg whites into the mixture difficult. I mixed the lemon mixture by hand with a whisk...perhaps I should have whisked it on the KitchenAid to get the yolks into ribbons.

You may also be interested in this vintage recipe that adds butter to the batter.
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14 comments:

DailyChef said... [Reply to comment]

Wow, this looks amazing!

Nutmeg Nanny said... [Reply to comment]

I have never heard of this pie before either! I really need to give it a try. It looks awesome!!!

2.46% said... [Reply to comment]

This pie looks wonderful! Your pie crust is beautiful.

LetMeEatCake Eat With Me! said... [Reply to comment]

Your classes look so fun! I still struggle with pie crust, dough, etc. This lemon pie looks so good I want to jump right in!

kimberleyblue said... [Reply to comment]

This is the dessert for me! It sounds just great, and easy to make.

I think I know what I'll be having for dessert tonight!

Linda said... [Reply to comment]

hey meyer lemon fairy --- i've put those beautiful meyer lemons to good use, but have been procrastinating on my blogging.

i've never heard of this pie, and it looks really delicious!

librariane said... [Reply to comment]

Oh no... as you may have guessed from that bundt post I submitted for NBCD, lemons are a weakness for me!

And I love the librarian coming out in this post, alerting us to the fact the book is OOP. :D

Unknown said... [Reply to comment]

I love any citrus-y type of pie since it is difficult to find baking recipes for citrus. I will definitely try it! Thanks for posting.

Rachel said... [Reply to comment]

anything citrusy gets my attention!

devonshire said... [Reply to comment]

Had never heard of this pie before, but as a family of lemon meringue pie, this sounded like it would be well received.
Boy am I glad we tried it! I followed the recipe exactly and maybe added a tbs of butter to the lemon mixture. The results were astounding, the cake really gave both custard and sponge and I had a taste. Heaven! I wasn't sure it would be good competition for my really good lemon meringue pie, but it sure is a winner. Thanks so much for posting this!

eatme_delicious said... [Reply to comment]

This looks stunning! I love how it separates into 2 layers.

Jan said... [Reply to comment]

This pie looks magical! Love the way the filling looks!

j said... [Reply to comment]

lemon sponge pie has been served in our family for generations. its an oldie but goodie.

ssampedro said... [Reply to comment]

I made this pie last night! Soooo delicious. I am an American living in Spain and teaching English in a high school in Seville and I made this for my class. They are learning about food and commands, so they all had to write a recipe and bring in the finished product. I chose to make this and my students loved it! They don't make pies in Spain! Thanks for the recipe, I will definitely make it again soon!

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