Okay, okay – I know I’m two weeks behind. I still haven’t even done the bread sticks from week three but today, I finally got to the Grappa Soaked Sponge Cakes from week 4. Now, like so many of my fellow Sunday Slow Bakers, I did not have mini-bundt pans and though my intention all week had been to hit Bed Bath and Beyond to see if I could get some there, I never did. So like others, I improvised using a small bundt pan for half the batter and my large muffin tin (6) for the other half. Also, I don’t have grappa, and at this point in my life, I don’t feel like buying any. I’m not a grappa drinker. Normally, when a recipe calls for grappa, I sub brandy but after reading Palma’s blog, I decided to go with limoncello instead (it was a toss up between limoncello and Disarono but more members of my family prefer lemon flavor, so the limoncello won).

The cake is pretty easy to put together though with a few distinct steps (e.g., making the glaze, dry ingredients, wet ingredients, separate eggs – oh and I always wonder, should I have sifted the cake flour and then measured or measured then sifted?). Also I feared I may have deflated my egg whites some when I incorporated them into the batter but everything seemed to rise just fine. Baking time was exactly 25 minutes, and while I enjoyed brushing the limoncello glaze on at the end, I realized I need new pastry brushes, as little bristles got left behind here and there.

Here are some shots, sorry no decoration with them and my results weren’t nearly as pretty as my fellow bakers. Oh and I didn’t do such a hot job of greasing the bundt pan (all those nooks and crannies), so the cake came out in two pieces leaving a bit behind in the pan.
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Now these weren’t a new favorite of any of the three taste-testers in my family, as noted previously, but I have to say, truth is in the eating and this little wedge was all that was left of the cake I put out on Mother’s day (also note, having made it Friday late afternoon, it held up fine until Sunday).
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When I served it, I dusted it with some powdered sugar, and served slice strawberries and whip cream next to it. It ended up as a much bigger hit than the raspberry pie I served from Emery’s, which was also good but in a different way.

And of course, I figured out the points, at 12 servings, it comes in at eight Weight Watcher points, but when I cut that cake into 12 servings (since it was half the batter), each of slices came in at four points each (i.e., at 24 servings), which is totally doable!

Will I make it again? Maybe. I have another lemon cake that is good, so I think, I may just incorporate the limoncello glaze with the other cake instead.